Italian Sausage - one of my new favorite things!

I have a confession to make. Until just a few years ago, everything I knew about Italian sausage came from pizza. Like most people, I'd had it on pizza - along with lots of other things (Redeye will order a Meat Lover/Carnivore/Man's Man pizza every time if I let him) and I'd used it in one recipe - exactly one - ever. And do you wanna take a stab at what that was? Yep. Pizza. A stuffed pizza at that. It consisted of Italian sausage, peppers, onion, etc. sandwiched between (get this) two frozen pizzas and topped with cheese. Sounds very Julia Child, no? OK, so I haven't made that in a REALLY long time. Don't see it in my future either.

But several years ago, dear hubby showed up with probably 10lbs of Italian sausage from his new deer processor. Neither of us had any idea what to do with it. So I started digging around on Allrecipes for what I could make with it. We tried several Sausage, Onion, Pepper (and sometimes Potato) combinations - something you don't see much of here in Mississippi - and of course I used it in lasagna, baked ziti, things like that. I certainly wasn't being adventurous - just trying to use it up. We've since changed processors & haven't gotten any more (venison) Italian Sausage. But I knew I needed to try the real thing.

Since then, I've turned to Johnsonville® (my go-to brand for Brats - Yum!) for Italian Sausage. AND I've ventured out and found that I can incorporate Italian Sausage into so many other things - even Non-Italian things. I know this should have been obvious, but truly, it wasn't.

A while back I was making up a big batch of spaghetti sauce. As is often the case, it was a fridge & pantry cleaning-out project. Of course I didn't write anything down - just threw it all in. There was ground beef, Johnsonville® Italian Sausage (Hot, I think), zucchini, mushrooms, onion and obviously tomatoes & sauce and lots of seasoning. It was, hands down, THE best spaghetti sauce I've ever made. Hopefully I can recreate it.

Another thing I love is Italian Wedding soup. A friend turned me on to it about 15 years ago and I'll order it any time it's available. Sometimes (gasp!) I even eat the canned version. I cannot imagine why it took me so long to finally make it. I know I didn't think the Red man would eat it. It turned out great!!! And I was wrong - He Loved it! Wants me to make it again & again!

Italian Wedding Soup

I also tried the Italian Sausage Market Meatloaf. Besides being full of veggies, it has a layer of spinach & provolone in the middle too - hubby thought that was pretty awesome. It was jam-packed with flavor! Definitely not your momma's meatloaf! (I'm going to go ahead & apologize for the terrible photo - it tasted way better than I made it look).



Italian Sausage Market Meatloaf

This sausage is also delicious incorporated into South-of-the-border-type dishes. I've made the Chiliville Chili before. It has a bit of sweetness to it, not what I was used to, but great flavor. < I have a photo of it somewhere, I'll come back & post if I can find it. >

Sizzlin' Sante Fe Dip

This dip is super easy & very hearty (Red found it totally man-worthy). It looks like your typical Mexican dip, but the Johnsonville® Hot Italian Sausage really added something special to it. Now Johnsonville® All Natural Italian Sausage is available in 1lb. bulk packages - no casings to remove & the perfect size to easily replace it for another meat in some of your old favorites too! I'm really looking forward to finding more new ways to use it!

Now I certainly don't mean to imply that Italian Sausage is all Johnsonville does! For goodness sake, Don't forget the Brats! And you may not know that they also make smoked sausages, breakfast sausages, chicken sausages - they even have frozen products. Check out the Johnsonville® website for ideas, product availability, recipes & promotions. Oh! The possibilities!

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