Sausage Hash Brown Quiche

Oh my goodness, they make preservative free sausage.  I don't know why it took me a year to find this and try it out.. but its probably for the better.  I know pork in itself can be a bladder irritant, but I figure if I want some sausage this would be the lesser of two evils.  I was so excited about this that I might have cooked the sausage and then ate some plain... As difficult as it was to stop eating plain sausage, I did restrain myself and made something.  (Goodness, I am glad some of you have IC and will feel the same way, because I am sure I sound crazy right now!) I found Jimmy Dean brand sausage at Kroger in the preservative free meat section- this little section is a new addition to my Kroger, and it is next to all the other meat sections.

I decided to make a hash brown/quiche casserole thing.  Sausage, peppers, eggs, and hash browns. There is not much more I could ask for.  Clearly I am in a food coma and blissed out on sausage, so I am just going to move on to the recipe.

Sausage Hash Brown Quiche

Ingredients:
3 C Shredded hash browns (thawed)
1/3 C Butter (melted)
8 Oz Sausage
1 Tbl Butter
1 C Chopped bell peppers (whatever combination of colors you want)
1 C + 1/4 C Shredded Cheddar cheese
4 eggs
1/2 C Milk
Salt & Pepper
Garlic Powder

Steps:
-Preheat oven to 425 degrees
-Spread hash browns in the bottom of a 9-inch pie dish, season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder as desired (remember, a little bit of garlic powder goes a long way!)
-Pour 1/3 C melted butter over potatoes
-Bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until hash browns start to turn golden
-As hash browns are cooking, brown and crumble sausage.
-Melt 1 Tbl butter in small skillet.  Saute peppers until soft.
-Mix sausage, peppers, and 1 C cheddar cheese in a medium size bowl
-In a small bowl, beat eggs and milk until well mixed (add salt and pepper here too if you desire)
-When hash browns are golden, remove from the oven.  Top with sausage mixture and then with egg mixture. Sprinkle with 1/4 C cheddar cheese on top if desired.
-Cook for another 20 minutes in oven at 425.  Remove from the oven when top is golden and delicious looking.  Let cool for about 5 minutes and serve!

Green Smoothie

One of my most missed treats are smoothies. Because many fruits are high in acid, smoothies tend to be a caution on the IC diet. I stumbled upon a green smoothie on Pinterest one day, and I was intrigued. Unfortunately the recipe was disappointing, because it included fruits not on the IC-Diet.

Well, the interest was planted, and I decided to give smoothies a try. It took a few times, but this is one of my favorite combinations of ingredients. The banana is definitely the strongest flavor, and I don't even taste the spinach or avocado. The liquid component of the smoothie is water given that pretty much all juices are a no-go. My favorite thing about this particular smoothie is the creamy-ness that it has because of the avocado. This is a very generously sized smoothie; it keeps me full for hours! You could definitely serve it as a snack for 2-3 people if wanted. 

Do be aware that bananas are a caution on the IC-Diet list because of the high potassium content. However, I tolerate them just fine assuming that my diet is good, and I don't go overboard. If you haven't tried them, try a small bit first and see how things go for you!

Ingredients:

1 banana

1 pear

1 avocado

1 cup spinach, packed

1 cup water

1/2 cup ice

Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth!

Buttermilk Biscuits

Breakfast is a great meal to enjoy with IC.  So many of the ingredients are IC-friendly to start.  With the addition of newer all-natural foods like this bacon, which is preservative free, naturally wood smoked, uncured, no added MSG, gluten free, and delicious, breakfast gets even better. This is a completely "friendly" food, so enjoy it! 

There is, of course, the option of going to a butcher for bacon like this, or Trader Joes might sell some for cheaper.  However, I find great joy in being able to walk into a normal grocery store and find all the fixings for one meal. 

So after finding this bacon, I thought that breakfast for dinner sounded just about perfect.  I served the bacon, scrambled eggs, and some delicious buttermilk biscuits.  I also had some homemade crockpot apple butter... didn't even miss the jam!  Don't worry, I'll be sharing the recipe for that apple butter soon!

I do want to caution this recipe... buttermilk is listed as a "food worth trying cautiously" ingredient.  When buttermilk is made, there is a build up of lactic acid which is what gives it the sour taste.  I was able to enjoy it without a problem, but you might want to try a small amount first before going hog wild. (Get it? with all the bacon talk earlier, I couldn't resist.)

Anyways, onto the recipe!  

Buttermilk Biscuits

4 cups self-rising flour

1 Tbls white sugar

1 Tbls baking powder

2/3 cups shortening

2 cups buttermilk

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, and baking powder; stir until well mixed.  Cut in shortening until shortening is broken up... the mixture should look well mixed and pea-sized lumps only remain. Add 2 cups buttermilk and mix just to moisten.

3. Roll out dough to 1-inch thickness and cut into biscuits. Place biscuits on baking sheets.

4. Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes, or until golden.

The original recipe said it yields 18 biscuits.  I got closer to 14... Perhaps I could have rolled the dough out a bit more, but in my opinion, the biscuits were perfect.