Bean Sausage

At Christmas time, we had a ham. When we were done with the ham, I used the bones and scraps to make 2 pots of black beans. I portioned the beans out and froze them, making about 6 meals worth of beans for future uses. We like black beans but the preparation has made them not so convienent. Freezing them gave us more access and boy have we had beans. It's almost time to do it again except I don't have a ham but that's not a problem.
Anyway, I was reading through the Hillbilly Housewife when I came across a recipe for Pea Sausage. Her recipe called for Black Eyed Peas but I was sure this would work with black beans. I passed the recipe on to my husband who thought this was the coolest thing he had ever seen.
Last night we had black bean sausage with fried eggs on biscuits. I got to tell you, aside from them being a bit drier you couldn't tell we weren't eating sausage. The flavor and texture was so nice that this will easily become a family favorite.
They are drier due to the lack of grease so take care when you fry them. They might bake well but we haven't tried them.
These are a great addition to anyone's diet but especially those who are avoiding/reducing their meat consumption or for those who can't have all the extra fat. I'm thinking we might try these for other recipes - imagine black bean sausage in italian dishes -mmm. I have polenta on the list for meals this coming month, maybe we'll serve it with black bean sausage and a hearty vegetable tomato sauce.
How did he make them?
He pureed about 2 cups of cooked (frozen then thawed) black beans in a blender. Added an egg, some flour and sage. You just need a few spoonfuls of flour to bind it all together and the sage is what gives it that sausage flavor. Mash it into patties and fry in the skillet. He used the cast iron with just enough oil to keep them from sticking.

Let's Move

letsmove.gov is First lady Michelle Obama's response to the obesity epidemic that is sweeping our nation. While the information here is still valuable information, I find her approach to be the same as everyone else's and not a real solution to the problem. I am currently writing a letter in response to her approach and will post that here soon.
With that aside, I appreciate the effort and will only focus on the positive aspects of the site.
There are 5 main sections of the site - about let's move, food and nutrition, physical activity, steps to success and join let's move.
The about section includes information on what obesity means and how it is affecting our children. I believe this is a real issue. We are getting fatter and our children are getting fatter. We eat poorer quality food and move less. The rest of this section is how Let's Move came to be and all the hoopla around the movement.
The food and nutrition is further broken down into 4 sections - Healthy Moms, Healthy Families, Healthy Schools, and Healthy Communities. I'm a little disappointed with the title Healthy Moms but it's about eating well during pregnancy so Dad's can't really be included. I like this approach - it's not just a family problem, it's a cultural problem and Let's Move takes that into account.
Under her Healthy Schools, Michelle Obama has started a program to help schools develop better menus with higher quality nutrition. Again, a step in the right direction.
The Physical Activity again breaks down - family, school, community.
The Take Action offers worksheets and charts to help individuals and groups to become more healthy - focusing on more than one aspect of health.
Join us allows the viewer to connect with groups in their area or to start one.
This is a good basic site to visit and offers parents a chance to see what changes are coming. I believe in supporting this cause because it is the individual that makes the change. If we show that we want this, then the world will fall in step. We can't get the USDA to change the foods they offer school districts if we don't speak louder than the companies that serve them now. We make the change, we can't wait for someone else to make the change for us.

Roasting Vegetables

I mentioned yesterday that we like roasting vegetables. The technique is rather simple and doesn't add fat to the vegetables. Personally, I believe this makes for some of the best tasting vegetables since the heat carmelizes the natural sugars in the vegetables.
I haven't roasted all vegetables so I don't know what wouldn't work with this but so far it's been nothing but success.
Over the weekend, I roasted sweet potatoes with a little salt and dill. The result was a vegetable that almost was eaten before it made it to the table. My son would sneak a "chip" as he found more and more excuses to come into the kitchen.
With sweet potatoes, I peel the outer layer and then slice into "chips". Layer them single layer on a baking sheet and sprinkle with seasonings. I sprinkle lightly because the seasonings are there to accent the vegetable not cover the flavor - maybe as much as a full tablespoon of dill and salt for 3 sliced sweet potatoes. Put in a 350 degree oven until tender. The time frame will depend on the thickness of your slices. I believe it took less than 20 minutes to cook my sweet potatoes and I had expected it to take longer.
Other vegetables to roast:
potatoes (wash well and slice)
Brussel sprouts (roast whole or quarter if larger)
asparagus
squash

Sadly, that's all I can think of that we have roasted. It will just encourage me to try more. I think we'll try cauliflower and eggplant. I bet those will be just great.

I have roasted corn on the cob but with a slightly different technique. I leave the husk on the corn and set it on the rack in the oven at 350 (can roast them over a fire as well this way). You may want to remove the hair to prevent them from catching fire. I haven't had a problem in my oven but they burn every time over a fire.
This makes for a tasty vegetable but my family hates trying to peel the hot husk from the corn.
We've roasted different vegetables over a fire than in the oven: mushrooms, zucchini, onions, peppers. They make wonderful toppings to roasted meat.
Tomorrow, I'll talk about steaming vegetables. One thing to remember with either technique - they work best with fresh vegetables but that shouldn't limit you from trying to roast frozen. We have roasted frozen brussel sprouts without a problem. Canned vegetables have too much water for roasting.