Polenta with Turkey Sausage

I’ve only had polenta twice in my life but I really enjoyed it both times. I finally got around to buying some and found a wonderful recipe to use it in! You can use regular Italian sausage in the sauce but I prefer the less fatty taste of turkey sausage. This recipe serves 6-8.

Polenta is coarsely ground corn. Some people make polenta from regular cornmeal but I prefer the substantial texture that the coarse grind gives the finished product. You can use polenta as a side dish (like rice or potatoes). You can also make it into patties and fry it in butter. As I experiment with it I will post my results here!

Polenta with Turkey Sausage

2 cups whole milk

2 cups water

1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 cup polenta

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

4 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded

1 pound ground turkey

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons dried sage

1 teaspoon fennel seed

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 teaspoon white pepper

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon allspice

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley

1 (14.5 ounce) can Italian stewed tomatoes

1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste

1/4 cup shredded Parmesan or Romano cheese

In a large pot over medium-high heat, bring milk, water, and salt to a boil. Gradually whisk in polenta. Reduce heat to low, and cover. Cook 20 minutes, until creamy, lifting the lid and stirring every 3 or 4 minutes to prevent sticking. Remove pot from stove, stir in pepper and butter. Gradually stir in cheese.

Meanwhile, brown the ground turkey, herbs, spices and minced garlic in a large skillet. Add parsley, tomatoes and tomato paste; bring to a boil. Remove from the heat.

Spread half of the polenta in a serving dish; top with half of the sausage mixture. Repeat layers. Sprinkle with cheese. Serve immediately.

Broccoli Salad

So since I mentioned making broccoli salad I thought I better post the recipe! It’s best to make the salad a day before you need it. That way the dressing can soften the broccoli a little. Any nut can be used or you can leave the nuts out! When grapes are a good price I like to use them in place of the Craisins.

Broccoli Salad

10 slices bacon

1 head fresh broccoli, cut into bite size pieces

1/4 cup red or green onion, chopped

1/2 cup Craisins

3 tablespoons white vinegar

2 tablespoons white sugar

1 cup mayonnaise

1 cup sugared pecans

Place bacon in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium high heat until evenly brown. Drain, crumble and set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine the broccoli, onion and Craisins. In a small bowl, whisk together the vinegar, sugar and mayonnaise. Pour over broccoli mixture, and toss until well mixed. Refrigerate for at least two hours.

Before serving, toss salad with crumbled bacon.

Candied Pecans

Today I decided to make Broccoli Salad for dinner. I love candied pecans in it and want to share my recipe with you! I hope that there will still be some pecans left to put in the salad. They keep jumping into my mouth! :-D

Candied Pecans

2 egg whites

2 teaspoons water

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 pound pecan halves

1 cup white sugar

3/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 250° F (120° C). Grease one baking sheet or line with parchment paper.

In a mixing bowl, whip together the egg whites, water and vanilla until frothy. In a separate bowl, mix together sugar and salt.

Add pecans to egg whites, stir to coat the nuts evenly. Remove the nuts, and toss them in the sugar mixture until coated. Spread the nuts out on the prepared baking sheet.

Bake at 250° F (120° C) for 1 hour. Stir every 15 minutes.

Whole Wheat Bread

My mom taught me to make bread when I was 9 years old. I haven’t ever found a better recipe! The key is using fresh-ground flour. I buy grain in bulk and currently use a Vita Mix blender (dry container) to grind the grain into flour. I hope to buy a Nutrimill grain grinder in the near future. I believe that it’s one of the best out there.

To knead the bread dough I use an older model of the Magic Mill DLX 2000 heavy duty mixer. I wouldn’t trade it for anything else! My family has had the same mixer for over 10 years. Using a heavy duty mixer cuts out the hand kneading and first rising which makes the whole bread making process less than 2 hours long!

Like any other grain, wheat has lots of good things packed into one little whole kernel. Once it’s broken open the nutrients begin to expire. In three days all the nutrition is gone. So if you bake several loaves at one time and won’t use them up in three days, put some in the freezer.

Bread made with 100% fresh ground whole wheat is very healthy for you! The nutrients in it help to reduce potential diseases and health problems such as, appendicitis, varicose veins, constipation, a hernia, etc… I have some good health information that I will post at a later date.

I use my whole wheat bread dough for dinner rolls, cinnamon raisin bread, cinnamon rolls and caramel rolls. I’ve tried using it for French bread, pizza crusts and hoagie rolls but it’s just not the right recipe. I’ll have to post my recipes for those items some other time.

I use a 50/50 mixture of Prairie Gold Hard White Wheat and Hard Red Winter Wheat from Wheat Montana. If you can only get one kind of grain, get Prairie Gold Hard White Wheat. Every couple years I go in on a bulk order with friends and family in the area. Another good resource for buying grain is through a local co-op. I use Azure Standard. You can go to their web site and find the co-op closest to you.

You’ll see a couple ingredients in my bread recipe that you may not be familiar with and may not know where to purchase. Vitamin C powder, lecithin granules and gluten flour can all be found at your local health food store. These three ingredients are very important to use in the bread recipe. Be sure you get gluten FLOUR and not just gluten. It may also be called vital wheat gluten flour.

To test the hot water, you should be able to put your finger in comfortably. But if you wiggle your finger in the water it stings. Sounds weird but it really works!

One final note. The measurement of grain is more important than the amount of flour it makes. This recipe calls for 8 cups of grain. It grinds into about 12 cups of flour, but just make sure that the 8 cups of grain is carefully measured. You’ll use all the flour even if it’s not exactly 12 cups.

Whole Wheat Bread

8 cups whole wheat
5 cups hot water
2/3 cup olive oil
1/2 cup honey
1 tablespoon salt
1/4 teaspoon vitamin C powder
2 tablespoons lecithin granules
5 tablespoons gluten flour
2 tablespoons yeast

Grind the wheat into flour. In the bowl of your heavy duty mixer, combine hot water, oil, honey, salt, vitamin C powder, lecithin and gluten flour. Blend well with a whisk. Add half the flour and stir well. Sprinkle on yeast and add the remaining flour. Attach the kneading arm (or it’s equivalent) and turn the mixer on low until everything is combined. Turn mixer up to medium/high and knead for 12 minutes or until dough cleans itself off the sides of the bowl. Dough should be very stretchy.

Turn dough onto a well oiled counter. Divide into 5 equal lumps. Take one lump of dough and stretch it into a small rectangle. Starting at a short end roll up the dough tightly. Tuck ends under on each side and place in well greased 4x8 inch loaf pan. Repeat with remaining dough. Cover with lightweight towel. Let rise until doubled. Bake in preheated 350° oven for 25-30 minutes or until nicely browned. Remove bread from pans and cool on wire racks. Store in plastic bags at room temperature or the freezer. Do not refrigerate.