May
12
Make Homemade Turkey Sausage!
ByWe LOVE ham and sausage at our house…but from what I read, pork is not the best for you. This Turkey Sausage is a delicious alternative…it’s easy and it tastes great!
See…it looks like sausage and everything?! My kids devour this sausage!
Homemade Turkey Sausage
1 lb ground turkey
3 T. minced onion
¼ t. cumin
¼ t. marjoram
¼ t. ground pepper
¼ t. oregano
¼ t. ground nutmeg
1/8 t. cayenne pepper
¼ t. ground ginger
½ t. dried basil
½ t. thyme
½ t. sage
2 t. sea salt
1 egg
Mix all ingredients. Chill for about an hour. (If you forget to chill this ahead of time…it cooks up okay anyway!) Form into patties. Saute in butter.
You’ll find more recipes like this in my ebook: Think Breakfast…Outside of the Box!
Could you explain why you think pork is not good for you? I have heard several people say the same things lately but do not know what the explanation is behind it.
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Elizabeth Reply:
November 25th, 2009 at 1:40 am
In the Bible there is a list of creatures which God says not to eat, including owls, bats, mice,
vultures and other types of animals that most people would not dream of eating. Pigs are on the
list of “Do not eat” animals along with others that are commonly eaten such as shellfish. The
types of animals we are permitted to eat (according to the Bible) include fish that has both
fins and scales, birds that are not birds of prey or carrion such as vultures, hawks and eagles.
As far as mammals go, we are permitted to eat that which has a split hoof and chews the cud, such
as cattle, buffalo, venison, sheep, goats but not pigs, horses, donkeys or rabbit etc, because
while they have a split hoof, they do not chew the cud, or they chew the cud, but do not have a split hoof.
As far as pork goes, pigs do not chew the cud and they have a very simple digestive system.
They will eat anything at all, including dead things. It is this that makes pork unhealthy, the fact
that its very simple digestive system would allow all sorts of toxins from the food it eats ultimately
to find its way into the flesh. Cattle are supposed to eat grass, and as we know, grass fed cattle
produce healthier and leaner meat that corn fed. What an animal eats ends up in its flesh.
This is also the reason for the ban of shellfish such as oysters, clams and scallops, which are filter
feeders and absorb all the toxins around them, and shellfish such as shrimp, lobster and crayfish, which
are scavengers and will eat anything. I think of them as the cockroaches of the sea.
Eating ‘clean’ animals that are fed their own natural organic diet (ie grass and not corn laced with protein
meal made from dead roadkill or unhealthy animals… cattle, sheep and goats are supposed to
be vegetarians) will get you one step closer to good health.
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Danielle Reply:
February 18th, 2010 at 9:09 am
That’s old testament in the New Testament, God made all things clean, and are ok to eat. Read Mark 7.
Truly what is unhealthy is the nitrates found in sausage/pork etc. If you buy nitrate free it’s better.
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Patrick Reply:
February 20th, 2010 at 12:08 am
If that were true then it all would be a lie, because if any part
of the word is a lie or false, it all is a lie or false,
look at 1 John 5:4.
Lora Reply:
February 20th, 2010 at 10:57 am
Yes this is God’s truth and praying a blessing over your food is my suggestion. I also eat pork regularly due to beef being a gout trigger for me, via the Lord. I have not noticed any physical issues from eating pork.
Danielle Reply:
February 20th, 2010 at 1:00 pm
Patrick, it’s not that it’s a lie. The Bible tells of what was
in the Old Testament, and how it was BEFORE the law. If we went by
the Bible ALL the time and went by what was written in the Old Testament
women would not be allowed out of the house for WEEKS because of her
cycle. And NO marital relations for 3 months after the birth of a
daughter. If that’s how you do it in your home that’s fine, but you
can’t pick and choose what you want to believe and live by.
Christ redeemed us from the CURSE of the law. Part of the curse was food restrictions.
I can only see half of what I’m writing, sorry in advance if the
breaks are off.
Janet Reply:
July 6th, 2010 at 6:47 am
don’t stop there to prove your point. Read further. The Bible will explain itself.
TTessa Reply:
June 7th, 2010 at 10:44 am
Eating pork and pig in general is bad because they eat whatever is fed to them which sometimes includes pig. This causes lots of bacteria and it is said that one in five people gets worms from eating pig.
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Rachelle Reply:
July 30th, 2010 at 9:33 am
In love I say, the law is not a curse by any means. God gave it to us for our good. He is holy and his ways are not our ways. When we see His commandments as a curse we are giving up the blessings that He meant for us. The verse, “If you love me you will keep my commnadments.” speaks volumes to me about His heart for us. Breaking God’s law is longer to death for us. Messiah saved us from the wages of our sin, (death). But why would we want to go ahead and sin just because we are forgiven for our sin. Granted, there is no way to follow all of the law and the law was never meant to be salvtion. But it was meant for our good! It just breaks my heart to know that we as Christians balk at the goodness of our Father because it doesn’t make sense to us. Remember the greatest commandments and the weightier matter of the law which is to love God and others. The love of our brother is before our own need to obey! And BTW it’s not hard to stay away from pork. There are plenty of great alternatives!
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I’ll try to work that information into my “Getting Real About Food” series!
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Oh yummy!
I have an old recipe for this but it’s not near as good as yours sounds!!! Your recipe uses several more spices that sound wonderful!
Can’t wait to try it!
My kids and DH, have been getting a kick out of your Peanut Butter Raisin Balls…I’ve made them 3 times in the last week or two!…as a matter of fact..shhh….there’s 4 “hiding” in the fridge right now..shh!;-)
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Thanks for your recipe…I’ve created several sausage recipes so I can use ground beef instead of pork (my husband loves pork, but I try to sneak other meats in instead), so I’m REALLY happy to try another sausage recipe. Always looking for the perfect recipe! I’ll try it with turkey too.
And my other favorite thing is to make breakfast for dinner…since I don’t have time to make a five-course breakfast in the morning. :)
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Oh wow! Thank you SO MUCH for posting this! I’m eager to try it. I love sausage but have given up pork for the same reason. I’ve been eating the veggie sausage, which isn’t horrible, but it’s not great either.
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Yummy! This looks good! I’ll have to try it when I make sausage gravy next time. Only I’ll probably add some red pepper flakes, ’cause we like our sausage spicy! :-)
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Your recipe sounds tasty – I’ll have to give it a try. I do want to point out that pork, in and of itself, is not -bad for you – it’s the fat that usually is found with it. If you use a lean cut (loin is best) and have it ground you could use it just as the turkey. And either way, you’re replacing the bad quality of the pork with the 2 T. butter – better to spray the pan with non-stick oil.
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What kind of ground turkey do you get? I’m trying to find farmers to buy my meat from and the turkeys that will be ready in the fall are going to be expensive. And not ground.
I was hoping that turkeys are not raised the same way chickens are (crammed in big buildings and fed a diet of antibiotics). I thought maybe since there was less demand for them people don’t try to raise them as quickly. I was hoping the cheap stuff at the grocery would be okay, I used to like to stock up when it went down to $1 a pound.
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Laura Reply:
February 26th, 2010 at 2:30 pm
I try to get Shelton’s Free Range Ground Turkey from Azure Standard. I’m completely out right now though, so I’m just going to get some regular stuff from the store. I don’t like to eat it on a regular basis, but I don’t feel too bad about it if we eat it occasionally.
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Without looking at my Sue Gregg cookbooks, this reminds me of her recipe — is that your inspiration for this?
I’ll have to try it with beef since that’s what’s in my freezer.
(g’night again ;-))
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Laura Reply:
March 5th, 2010 at 8:05 am
No, I actually adapted it from a recipe in Nourishing Traditions.
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Not to sound dumb, but why do you cook it in butter? Do I have to? I’m just curious.
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Laura Reply:
March 1st, 2010 at 5:18 pm
Not a dumb question at all. I should have explained it in my post. Ground turkey is so lean it just sticks to the pan. I cook it in a little butter to keep it from sticking, plus I really like the flavor it adds.
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Jen B Reply:
March 1st, 2010 at 7:26 pm
Aha!! Thanks for letting me know.
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Jennifer Reply:
August 23rd, 2010 at 10:22 am
To keep it healthier, you could use a cooking spray or a little vegetable oil (less saturated fat).
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Laura-
Do you or any others have another idea to use as a binding agent instead of an egg. We just found out my son is very allergic to eggs.
Thanks!
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Laura Reply:
March 5th, 2010 at 8:04 am
Ooh, I’m sorry I don’t know. Maybe one of my readers will see this comment and reply? :)
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MommySetFree Reply:
April 17th, 2010 at 7:22 pm
Mrs.Team S- Try a product called “egg replacer”, it is a powder (potatoe starch- if I remember correctly). Vegetarians use it to “bind things” in place of egg.
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Mrs Team S Reply:
April 21st, 2010 at 2:38 pm
Thank you MommySetFree. I will check into it. I appreciate the info. Have a blessed day!
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We have had one pastor who chose not to eat pork, but did not preach that we should all avoid it – it was a personal choice because of the health questions about pork. Our current pastor recently explained that he believes the reason for God’s old testament prohibition was that we now know ALL pork has trichinosis, and while we can now safely cook the meat thoroughly to get rid of that parasite, primitive cooking was very unsafe in this regard. And rather than God trying to make this problem understandable to his children, he chose to protect them by telling them not to eat it :)
I think we can choose to follow the “old” law without being bound by it, because forgiveness through Christ has freed us from the law.
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Geoff Reply:
April 30th, 2010 at 5:20 pm
I did forget (sorry for getting caught up), thank you for the recipe! My family and I keep the dietary laws as well and for those that think pork doesn’t have any consequences, just take a look at the health of the US, which doesn’t abide by those dietary laws, meant to keep human being made in a certain image healthy. :)
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Laura, thank you so much for this recipe! I made it for breakfast burritos for dinner tonight — so tasty! I haven’t eaten sausage in a VERY long time because of all the junk in the stuff from the store. This is just perfect!
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Hi, just found your blog and LOVE all the great recipes ect.. I also am a Nourishing Traditions fan. I know one reason pork is often not recommended is parasites. I think if you can find good organic pork and know what they’re eating then it’s probably fine. We don’t eat tons of it but we do love the bacon from our local farmer’s market, such a treat! The dietary laws (or any of the other laws) of the OT are not applicable to new covenant believers as laws to follow, however there may be some nutritional wisdom to learn from.
Just wanted to say also I loved your little disclaimer on the about us page and that you are flexible in some ways with your diet. I started out being completely legalistic about the whole thing and am now much more laid back knowing I can’t prevent my family from ever coming in contact with less than the best food. We just eat as well as we can at home and enjoy real foods as much as possible, looking forward to the day we are in the land flowing with (raw) milk and (raw) honey! hehe
God bless!
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This might seem like a silly question…but do you freeze these before or after you cook them? Love your blog, thanks for all the inspiration!
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Laura Reply:
April 19th, 2010 at 6:11 pm
Both! :) I like to mix up a quadrupal batch, flash freeze them in patties, then put them into freezer bags. I then can pull them out and cook as needed. Easy! But, they freeze well after they’ve been cooked too!
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Sorry if this is a really silly question, but is the butter meant to go in with everything else or used to cook the patties in?
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Laura Reply:
June 13th, 2010 at 1:33 pm
You use the butter to cook the sausage in…I have GOT to go edit the wording on that. SO sorry for the confusion! You aren’t the only one with that question!
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Hi! I have been looking for a recipe for homemade turkey sausage, I am wondering, Can you like roll em around and make them into links? I need to make links so I can make my own Pancake sausage sticks for my daughter, She just loves those and Jimmy Dean just isnt cutting it for me. Would love to hear your response. Thanks, God bless.
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Laura Reply:
June 13th, 2010 at 1:34 pm
You can try making links with it. I find it easiest just to make patties or to brown in into crumbles…I haven’t had success with links.
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This is a keeper! I just made it for dinner tonight and loved the combination of flavors. Oh, and I didn’t have marjoram, but it still tasted good, so it probably could only get better.;)
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Pork IS very bad for you. Pigs only have sweat glands in their snouts and in the bottom of their feet. They have no way to excrete these toxins that build up in their systems. This is why pigs can be bitten by a snake and still survive. They have so many toxins in their body, it doens’t affect them. If you take a pig and squeeze the bottom of their hoof, green junk will come out of them. They will eat anything..and I do mean anything. They will eat the cancer off of dead animals!
As far as the health laws in the old and new testaments, it is an abomination unto ourselves, not unto the Lord. In other words, it is not a sin to eat unclean foods regarding your salvation, but it is an abomination unto you. Nothing has changed in God’s health laws between the old and the new testaments. What was bad for you then, is bad for you now.
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A friend of mine is a “Natural” Dr. She told me, while still studying and going through school, that Pork tends to harbor parasites more than the other animal meats. And parasites do not cook out even at the highest temperatures. I don’t have any “resources” to show you about it. She said she read of an experiment someone held. What they found out was that the parasites “ball” up together in the middle of the pork and “cocoon” themselves to stay alive. I can’t say if this info is accurate or not. But it’s interesting, none the less. I try to avoid pork when I can, but I also eat whatever is set before me, thankfully, because I think that is what the humble, Christ-like heart would do. :) And as far as the unclean vs. the clean in the Bible, I think Jesus is more concerned about the heart than our stomachs. :)
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Thank you for this wonderful recipe. I’m going to make jars of the spice mix with instructions to give to friends at Christmas :) This weekend I used this sausage in a Calzone and it was fantastic!
http://muminbloom.blogspot.com/2010/08/recipe-calzone-with-home-made-turkey.html
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This recipe is awesome! Tastes like heaven! I did not add egg in my
Batch with my sons alllergy and it cooked fine. I only reccomend egg replacer in baked goods.
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Mrs Team S Reply:
August 21st, 2010 at 3:48 pm
That is helpful info. Thank you!
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