I forgot to buy coffee the day before yesterday, but then remembered that my brother had given me pumpkin spice coffee – yum! Thanks for all my Christmas loot Charlie and Laura! š (BTW, click on Charlie’s name – he’s leaving the blog world for a while š )
No matter what time of year it is, I almost always have an iced coffee when I blog in the morning using up the leftover coffee from the day before – its just as good as an iced coffee. š
Last year for Christmas my Aunt gave me a cookbook called Taste of Home Comfort Diet Food Cookbook. One of the reasons I like it is because its normal ingredients most of us already have on hand. I was flipping through it over the weekend and flagged a chicken breakfast sausage recipe – I tweaked it a bit to suit my taste, but it was inspired from that cookbook.
Chicken and Apple Breakfast Sausage
- 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast
- 1 large apple, cored but leave the skin on
- 2 teaspoons Penzey’s Italian sausage seasoning (or any seasoning you like)
- 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper (leave out if you don’t want the spice)
- splash of Tabasco
- salt and pepper
Throw everything in your food processor and mix well until combined. I wanted 8 sausage patties, so I measured the whole mixture and divided by 8 – each patty was 2.75 ounces before cooking – and the best part? ONLY TWO WW POINTS per patty – even 4 points for two!
These breakfast sausages were so good – slightly sweet from the apple, but a nice counter balance kick with the crushed red pepper. These are a keeper, and Helen, I think these would qualify as Paleo, no? And this breakfast was filling – I ate this at 11:00 and other than a slice of bread when I got home from the grocery store, didn’t eat anything until 7 when I made dinner!
Around 2 I went to the gym intending to get my last work out at the fancy gym and then cancel my membership and sign up at the cheaper gym. I got my workout in – 45 minutes on the treadmill doing hills and sprints – my last two minute sprint was 6.5 mph. š
But there was no way I could get into the office to quit because so many people were joining the gym. Our membership runs through January 13, so I asked the front desk and they said as long as I cancel by January 10 I won’t be charged anymore, so that’s the plan.
I only had a few things to pick up at the grocery store – I scored on the $1 rack with kiwi!
25 kiwi for $1 – I only had to throw two out because they were too ripe.
I separated them into two groups – ripe and REALLY ripe. The really ripe ones are in the bowl on the right.
The super ripe ones I cut into chunks then put them on a wax paper lined cookie sheet and froze them into kiwi cubes for Hannah’s smoothies – she loves kiwi. š
Tony still doesn’t have much of an appetite, so it was dinner for one for me. I defrosted some pork chops – one for dinner last night and I plan on making some pulled pork with the other two for lunches later this week. My dinner turned out so good!
- 3 ounce pork chop
- 1/2 fuji apple
- 1 teaspoon butter
- 1 teaspoon brown sugar
- 1/2 ounce pecans
- 3 ounces cooked potatoes, diced
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1/4 cup white wine
I melted the butter in a non-stick skillet and added the apple, pecan and brown sugar. I sauteed for about 5 minutes, or just until the apples start to brown, then set them aside. I then added the diced potatoes and cooked them until they started to crisp up and brown, about 5 more minutes, then set them aside. I then cooked the pork chop that I seasoned with Greek seasoning and salt and pepper.
Once the pork chop was almost done, I added the potatoes and apple/pecan mixture back in, then added the wine and dijon mustard, put a lid on top and let it cook for 2 minutes.
This whole plate is 12 WW points and worth every single one!
Can I just say that I was bummed I had to set my alarm this morning to go to work?
I finished everything I wanted this weekend except I didn’t finish organizing my clothes/closet – I think every night this week I will spend about 15 minutes on it, it should be done by the weekend at that rate – no big.
Hope everyone had a great long weekend – come back tomorrow for blueberry waffles that come in at 7 WW points for two!
Make it a great day!
Made these for dinner with fried eggs–turned out good but know it would have been better with Penzey’s-they’re the best! Instead, I used 1 t ground sage, 1/2 t salt (would use more next time, 1/2 t pepper (also more), 1/4 t marjoram and 1/4 t thyme in addition to the pepper flakes. Thanks for the great recipe!
Glad the coffee helped out. š
25 kiwi for $1 is awesome! I usually see them at 3…maybe 4 for $1. I’ve never thought of putting them in smoothies before, but I bet that would be great with frozen pineapple and berries.
We picked up some vegan “sausages” at Whole Foods a while back to try, and they fill my chicken/apple sausage craving, so yummy!
I love Taste of Home cookbooks, and Penzeys! Looks delicious.
Okay I am totally impressed that you made your own chicken sausage…and it looks amazing!
And I never thought to freeze kiwi for smoothies…love it!!!
I thought of you today, I ate a burger for lunch that was loaded with jalapenos…so good! I know how you like spicy stuff!
This chicken sausage looks incredible! I love the tabasco! YUM!
Penzey’s spices make everything taste better. I love to experiment with them!
My son loves pork chops and apples! He would totally scarf this up!
That is a SWEET DEAL on those kiwi!!!!! JEALOUS me!!!!! Hope Tony continues on the road to recovery and that you are having a great start to 2012.
What a great deal on kiwi!!!
Hope Tony feels better!! I love pumpkin spice coffee….it’s so yummy!
I have to check out Taste of Home – comfort foods is what I’m looking for this time of year & 4pp for 2 of those sausage patties is PERFECT!
ahhhh…pork chops…I could eat them every day!
that chicken and apple sausage sounds great! The YMCA was super busy last night with ‘newbies’ too….hoping I can do better with getting the exercise in than I did over the holidays!
You always inspire me to put more effort into breakfast! I always seem to get lazy on it. I’m totally going to start using the sale fruit rack to get fruit and veggies for Kays baby food! LoVE!
Homemade sausage sounds DELICIOUS! Yum!
Mmmmmm, those sausages sound delicious!! I would totally add some fresh sage! š
Those pork chops look great! I don’t know why I don’t ever make them.
But the sausage is what really caught my eye. Homemade sausage is the bomb! And that did look paleo to me!
Nice breakfast! If you like iced coffee, you should try (when your weather is warm) an iced non-fat latte (at Starbucks) – it’s made with espresso shots and skim milk. Talk about a super-caffeinated way to start up your day!!!
Can I just say I’m super jealous that you got that much kiwi for $1!! I spend a dollar on 3-4 of them :/ I wish the commissary had a dollar rack. Maybe I’ll have to start checking out some off base grocery stores for that kind of thing.
Can’t wait to see the blueberry waffle recipe, tomorrow I’m trying out protein pancakes, pretty excited about those too.
Those sausages are totally Paleo – and good Paleo at that since you used such a low fat meat! YUM. These will need to be made at my house!
Count me in on the bummed to have to set the alarm clock group. Hoping in a few days it will feel normal again.
I won that cookbook last month and it really does have some great recipes in it.
Kiwi was on sale at our store too, .25 each so picked up 8 yesterday. A kiwi smooth sounds awesome.
I visited Charlie and you twin this past weekend, it’s just been awhile since I did that. It was nice to read each of you saying something nice to each other on your blogs. Love it.
I hope Tony gets to feeling better soon. Take care Biz and have a blessed day!!
Now that is one Penzeys spice I have not tried. Taste of Home does have nice recipes. Always something good and comforting from them! Now that is a lot of kiwi! We like freezing up our fruit for smoothies too. And I do the same thing with lefotver coffee, love it iced, even in the winter! Congrats on the fantastic stats Biz, you have helped and encouraged so many people through your blog, that is something to be very proud of. Happy New Year to you!!