a simple real food recipe :: quick morning meals with bulk breakfast sausage prep

How do I get fast breakfast on the table without the box of cereal?

I get that question – a lot. Breakfast is the biggest meal of our family’s day most days of the week. I like re-fueling my family every morning and doing it in a nutrient dense way. Not just for the nutrition – but when you are headed for a busy morning, it is so nice to get a good breakfast in that doesn’t leave you hungry for a snack a couple hours later.

But we are just as busy as the next family. And bulk prep is my answer to the fast but nutrient dense morning meal. A meal of breakfast sausage and egg scrambles with veggies can literally take 15 minutes to put together when everything is just pull out of the fridge and freezer. Here’s how I do it!

SAUSAGE SEASON BLEND:
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp dry basil
1 tsp thyme
½ tsp cumin
½ tsp marjoram
½ tsp cayenne pepper
3-4 tsp sea salt
½ – 1 tsp pepper

TO MAKE SAUSAGE PATTIES:

• 2 lbs ground pastured pork
• 1 recipe of the above sausage season blend
• 2 eggs
• ¼ cup bread crumbs (I keep dried out gluten free bread in my fridge to blend up for bread crumbs. If you can tolerate gluten go for a sprouted or sourdough wheat bread)

1. Combine all ingredients well in a medium mixing bowl using your hands, and form into patties.
2. At this point you may either cook them off in some butter or coconut oil, OR you can lay them out flat on parchment paper lined baking sheets to freeze. Once frozen you can pull them off into freezer bags to store flat in the freezer.
3. To use the frozen patties just pull out the night before to thaw and then cook in butter or coconut oil. I have put them straight into the pan from the frozen state and this works – just go lower with the heat to unthaw them gently and ensure they don’t brown too much on the outside before the inside is cooked all the way.

TO MAKE GROUND SAUSAGE:

• 2 lbs ground pastured pork
• 1 recipe of the above sausage season blend

1. Combine all ingredients in a medium mixing bowl.
2. At this point you may either cook it off in some butter or coconut oil and freeze in portions, OR you may freeze the mixture in portions appropriate for your use. I like to freeze in ½ lb portions in quart freezer bags and lay them flat.

Kitchen Tips:

• This amount will last us 2-3 weeks depending on the breakfast menus. I have doubled this before and plan to do so just before baby #3’s arrival 🙂
• Please, please play around with the sausage seasonings to YOUR families tastes! This combo took me a good while to finally get the way we like it! My husband would always prefer it a bit spicier and he will add more cayenne to his, but with the littles eating it this combo is what works for us.
• Don’t forget about the little ones! Especially when you can find great quality pastured pork this is a fantastic start to their day! I currently have my youngest off eggs since I think she digests better off of eggs and this makes for a great substitute for that! I started cutting up little pieces of ground sausage to throw on their high chair trays around the time they could start picking it up themselves!
• Technically you most likely could purchase bulk breakfast sausage blends from your pasturing pig farmer – DO THIS if you don’t have the time to make it up although it really doesn’t take long to make it yourself. We are on a pretty tight budget so buying just the plain ground pork and seasoning it myself really saves us money!
• Read THIS to educate yourself on the amazing health benefits of pastured pork.

YOUR TURN!
What are your busy morning meal tricks?

This post was shared at Holistic Squid’s Party Wave Wednesday, and Real Food Forager’s Fat Tuesday!