It’s not very often that I get an idea that I impress myself with, so I had to share. I took one sheet of phyllo, brushed on a little olive oil, and topped it with another sheet of phyllo. I repeated this process until I had 3 phyllo sheets all piled up and ready to go. I used a cup as a stencil on the phyllo and traced around it with a paring knife. Each stack of phyllo sheets made 6 circles, which I then stuffed into a mini-muffin tin. Bake in a 350 degree oven just until the phyllo is starting to turn golden brown. Remove them from the oven and let them cool. I don’t want to spend the morning of the party making these shells so, as an experiment, I put a few back in the freezer after they had cooled. A few days later, I removed them from the freezer, put them back in the mini-muffin tin and back into a 350 degree oven until they were golden.

I was afraid that baking and refreezing them would make them soggy, but they turned out perfectly crisp! I will probably be making these all weekend in preparation for the party next weekend, but at least we won’t be dumping a whole lotta money on the pre-made ones.

Needless to say, I was both excited and scared to try out this sausage recipe. I was excited because (a) everyone seems to love them and (b) the combination of spices sounded like it would make a really tasty sausage. I followed the recipe exactly and, after they were done steaming, I put them in the fridge until dinner. When it was time to eat, I fried them up in a little bit of olive oil, just to give it a little extra crispiness on the outside. Since I was incredibly afraid that the texture was going to be super funky, I made some oven roasted potatoes to go with them and some steamed carrots. Carrots were about the only other veggie we had in the house, so that’s what I had to go with. I also decided that I needed to make a tasty, filling, and nutritious dessert just in case.

I make oven roasted potatoes all the time because they are so yummy. I’ve always made them the same way: scrub up your potatoes and cut them into bite sized pieces. Put them on a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle on some salt, pepper, garlic powder and Mrs. Dash table seasoning blend. Bake in a 425 degree oven for about 20-30 minutes, flipping them a few times to brown evenly.

Isn’t this the worst photo you’ve ever seen of a plate of food? I think so. OK, so now for my review of the sausages… they weren’t bad. The flavor was great and I love the spiciness of them. The texture is still something that I need to get used to, but it wasn’t so bad dipped in a little ketchup. I served the sausages with some caramelized onions on top, for a little sweetness to balance the spiciness. To my complete shock and amazement, Emma even ate a few bites. She seemed to really like them, but got a bite with too many peppers and that was it for her.

Since I was so unsure of how my sausage would turn out, I wanted to make a hearty dessert just in case our main course consisted solely of potatoes and carrots. I thought immediately to make some sort of sweetened quinoa topped with apples and came up with this recipe:

Quinoa “Cake” with Spicy Apples

1 cup quinoa, rinsed and drained

2 cups unsweetened vanilla soy milk

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/3 cup raisins

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/4 cup maple syrup

pinch of salt

Bring the soy milk to a bubble and add all of the ingredients. You will have to whisk the cinnamon in to avoid clumping. Cover, reduce heat to low, and cook for about 15 minutes or until the quinoa has absorbed the liquid. Spoon about 1/2 cup the cooked quinoa into lightly greased ramekins and chill in the fridge. When cool, slide a knife around the edge to loosen and invert the “cake” onto a plate.

For the apples, which I make all the time as toppings for oatmeal, pancakes, etc., peel and core 2 to 3 apples. I used golden delicious for this recipe, but you could use any kind that you have on hand. Slice them and put into a dry non-stick skillet over medium heat. Cook the apples for about 5 minutes, allowing them to brown a little on both sides. When the apples are getting tender, add about 1/2 tsp of cinnamon, 1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg, a pinch of ground cloves and a pinch of allspice. Pour in about 1/2 cup of juice and let the apples simmer until the juice has reduced to a syrup. Top the quinoa cakes with the apples and top with a few walnuts. I also made a caramel drizzling sauce to pour over the apples, for a little bit of added sweetness.

The dessert turned out pretty good. The quinoa cakes were a little on the bland side, which was my intention since the apples have a lot goin’ on. I ate the leftover quinoa the next morning mixed with some oatmeal and it was pretty tasty!

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