Amish Turkey Sausage

The other day one of my bestest buds in BakeSpace mentioned these Amish Sausages that she made from a recipe that was posted by another dear sweet "bakespacer". It had all begun with a healthy recipe quest.....sausage? healthy? Isn't that an oxymoron? hmmmm....make my own sausage? I was immediately intrigued.

Before I go much further into this post, I want to give props to Pettit and her wonderful Amish Sausage Recipe. YUM!!! These were fun, easy and really tasty. Pattit used hers for breakfast....but with the seasonings that I added to mine, it was more of a dinner sausage. I'm gonna seriously think twice before buying Italian Turkey Sausage at the store next time. 

As many of you may know, my youngest daughter is way more conscientious about what she eats than I am. She won't eat pork, which is fine....and she likes turkey sausage. However...even turkey sausage has pork casings (at least the ones at my local market do). What I usually end up doing is cutting the casings open and browning the meat like I would ground beef. Thats what I use now when I make any of the marinara sauces with meat. Plus....sometimes these sausages have quite a bit of sugar, or maybe a spice that we don't care for. Now...here's where Amish Sausage comes into play. You can play around with the seasonings and get any flavor you want! woooohooo...nothing like playing with your food flavors!

Ingredients for my version of Amish Turkey Sausage:

2 lbs ground turkey

1/3 cup finely chopped onions

2 teaspoons minced fresh Italian parsley

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon rubbed sage

1 teaspoon dried basil

1 teaspoon dried margoram

1 teaspoon creole seasoning 

1 teaspoon poultry seasoning

1 - 2 teaspoons garlic powder

1 teaspoon pepper

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes, crushed

FYI -My photos will reflect this recipe halved (I only had a little more than a pound of turkey on hand)

Are you ready for some really complex directions? :P Actually, the most difficult part was having to wait at the end before cooking....ooooh, and did I mention the aroma? HEAVEN!!!

Combine all your ingredients....get your hands in there and squish away!!

Scoop out onto a piece of wax paper. Divide in half and shape into 2 sausages, about 6" in length (visualize those Jimmy Dean Sausage Rolls). 

Wrap each sausage in some plastic wrap and refrigerate over night. Or...if they're for dinner, you could probably make it in the morning and use it that night. You just want to make sure those seasonings get all incorporated into your meat.

The next day, slice each roll into 1/2" segments and fry them in a greased pan until thoroughly cooked. 

You know....if you want, you can just break up the rolls and fry them like ground beef and serve over pasta....or shape into balls.