Valentine's Day recipes: Homemade breakfast sausage; vegan substitutions

You do not have to spend money on Valentine's Day breakfast or brunch. Save money by planning a romantic, homemade breakfast, including this delicious recipe for homemade breakfast sausage.

We have included substitutions for vegan breakfast if the one you love is vegetarian or vegan. If you are a non-vegan cooking for a vegan, please note that one-cup of dry TVP equals two cups reconstituted TVP.

View slideshow: Homemade breakfast sausage; vegan substitutions

Western New York shoppers can find all the ingredients for this recipe at local retailers:

Lexington Co-op (807 Elmwood Ave., Buffalo 886-COOP)
Budwey’s Markets (see website for location nearest you)
Tops Markets (see website for location nearest you)
Wegmans (see website for location nearest you)

You can make Valentine’s day more romantic by making breakfast or brunch together and dining in bed. We recommend making up this recipe for breakfast sausage patties the night before, because it will give the flavors a chance to mingle completely. When you wake up Valentine’s Day morning, break out the frying pan and whip up your breakfast sausage patties.

Breakfast sausage patties recipe with vegan substitutions

Ingredients:

2 pounds coarse ground pork, turkey or chicken
1½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
1 Tablespoon dried parsley flakes or ¼ cup finely chopped fresh parsley
2 teaspoons ground sage
2 teaspoon garlic powder or 2 fresh garlic cloves, finely minced
1 Tablespoon dried minced onion or 3 Tablespoons finely minced red or yellow onion
2 teaspoons brown sugar or maple syrup (optional)

Directions:

To recontitute dry TVP add 1 cup boiling water to 1 cup dry TVP in a large bowl. Let stand for at least 5 minutes. Use fork to fluff up and make sure all dry TVP has been reconstituted.

In a large bowl, mix all ingredients together with a rubber spatula, wooden spoon or your hands, making certain that ingredients are incorporated.

Take a small pinch and cook it to make sure you have the seasoning right. Adjust and add more salt or more sage, etc., if needed.

At this point, if you are going to refrigerate the mixture overnight, cover the bowl with plastic wrap or aluminum foil and put it in the refrigerator.

When you are ready to cook your sausage patties:

Preheat oven to 200*F.

Roll breakfast sausage mixture into 22 to 24 balls, about the size of golf balls. Place each ball on a sheet of parchment or waxed paper on a large cookie sheet.

Flatten each ball with the palm of your hand or a small drinking glass sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. Each ball should now be a patty approximately 1½ to 2-inches round.

Prepare a 12-inch skillet by spraying with nonstick cooking spray. Heat pan over high heat. Add 1 Tablespoon olive oil, if desired. Place approximately six patties in the 12-inch skillet at one time. Reduce heat to medium-high. Brown each patty completely on one side, making certain it is golden brown, approximately 3 to 4 minutes per side. Carefully flip each patty over and brown on the other side. Cook each patty through, until there is no pink in the middle and juices run clear. When cooked through, remove patties to oven-safe plate, cover with aluminum foil and keep warm in a 200*F oven.

If the skillet gets dry, if there is not much fat in the meat, you will need to add 2 to 3 Tablespoons of water to the pan when cooking each batch of breakfast sausage patties.

You can also cook the breakfast sausage patties on a broiler pan in the oven. Preheat oven to 350*F.

Spray the broiler pan with nonstick cooking spray, add ½-inch water to bottom pan of broiler pan. Add breakfast sausage patties to top rack of broiler pan and bake at 350*F for 10 to 15 minutes, flipping once. The patties should be golden brown on both sides, no pink in the middle, and juices should run clear.

Vegan breakfast sausage recipe substitutions

Substitution ingredients:

2 cups reconstituted TVP or soy crumbles
1 Tablespoon water to 1 teaspoon Ener-G egg replacer as an egg
¼ cup vital wheat gluten
1½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
1 Tablespoon dried parsley flakes or ¼ cup finely chopped fresh parsley
2 teaspoons ground sage or ½ teaspoon fresh sage, finely minced
2 teaspoon garlic powder or 2 fresh garlic cloves, finely minced
1 Tablespoon dried minced onion or 3 Tablespoons finely minced red or yellow onion
2 teaspoons turbinado sugar or maple syrup (optional)

Directions:

In a large bowl, mix all ingredients together well, until strings of gluten form. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for one hour. After one hour, remove mixture from the refrigerator; mix again with your hands, until strings of gluten form. Cover and return to the refrigerator for at least one hour, but up to overnight.
TVP has no flavor of its own, and you may want to add extra seasonings and let the mix sit in the fridge for few extra hours to let the TVP absorb the flavors.
It is best to cook vegan breakfast sausage in a skillet on the stove top. vegan breakfast sausage tend to fall apart when cooked in the oven.

Storage notes:

If you are not going to cook the patties right way, cut enough wax paper squares to wrap each patty in one, approximately 8x8-inches each.
Stack the patties in good quality zip locking food storage bag or container. Label and date the bag or container; refrigerate up to 1 week, freeze up to 6 months.

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