smoked sausage Archives - The Midnight Baker

Kielbasa & Beans with Cheddar Biscuits

Judith Hannemann — Tue, 19 Apr 2016 23:00:26 +0000

Kielbasa and jazzed-up beans make up the base of this casserole and it’s all topped off with delicious and cheddary cornmeal biscuits.

I always tell everyone that one of the best things to have on hand in your fridge or freezer is kielbasa because you can do so much with it.

There’s another benefit to it to–it’s great for days you’re not really into cooking and want a fast meal. And that meal can be anything from simply heating the sausage up and having a side to making quick skillet meals like this tasty Smoked Sausage with Cheesy Rice.

Lately, I’ve been craving kielbasa served the simple way–with baked beans. However, I wanted to get a bit more adventurous with the beans. Sure, they sell them in a whole variety of flavors, but I wanted to create my own.

An old friend who was a short-order cook once told me that the secret to her BBQ beef strips was nothing more than the addition of pancake syrup. Hard to believe, but it’s true. When she put it on the menu, it was standing room only at the diner. I wondered whether this would work for the beans as well (with the addition of other ingredients). It did.

I got the idea for the biscuits from an old–and I mean OLD–recipe from a Pillsbury Bake-Off from the 1950s. The casserole in question was topped with a cornbread-like biscuit. That recipe was much like a batter where the topping was something like a pancake. I wanted biscuits and I wanted cheese in them.

Since I don’t fuss with biscuits from scratch and I hate to roll them out even more, I used baking mix and did drop biscuits.

The result was a simple-to-make casserole that was delicious and done in 30 minutes. This one is a real family pleaser and totally kid-friendly–even the grown-up kids!

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Kielbasa & Beans with Cheddar Biscuits

Kielbasa and jazzed-up beans make up the base of this casserole and it’s all topped off with delicious and cheddary cornmeal biscuits.

Prep Time10

Cook Time30

Total Time40

Course: Comfort Foods, Everyday Meals, Pork

Cuisine: American

Keyword: beans, cheddar biscuits, kielbasa

Servings: 4

Calories: 556kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

1 pkg 14-16 oz kielbasa or smoked sausage, cut in 1/4-inch pieces
28 oz can baked beans (see NOTES)
1/4 cup BBQ sauce see NOTES
2 tbsp pancake syrup -OR- maple syrup
2 tsp dijon mustard
2 tbsp water

BISCUITS

3/4 cup baking mix i.e. Jiffy or Bisquick
1/4 cup cornmeal
2/3 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/4 cup milk
2 tbsp oil
1 tsp sugar

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly spray a 11 x 7-inch baking pan
Mix the beans, BBQ sauce, pancake syrup, mustard and water in a large bowl. Add the kielbasa and stir until combine.
Place bean mixture in prepared pan.
In another bowl, mix the baking mix, cornmeal, cheese and sugar. Stir in the oil and milk--DO NOT OVERMIX.
Drop biscuit mixture by heaping tablespoon-full on top of bean mixture.
Bake for 30 minutes or until the beans are heated through and the tops of the biscuits are browned.

Notes

Use the beans in brown sugar sauce, not the ones with the tomato sauce (Bush's, B&M, etc)

I always use Sweet Baby Ray's Original (or the store equivalent) BBQ sauce

Nutrition

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Smoked Sausage & Cheesy Rice

Judith Hannemann — Tue, 26 May 2015 23:00:00 +0000

Smoked Sausage & Cheesy Rice

This tasty smoked sausage skillet dinner is a complete meal cooked in one pan. Quick, easy and totally delish.

It was love at first sight when I saw this posted on one of the recipe groups I run on Facebook!

A member shared this off a recipe page called “Janet’s Appalachian Kitchen.” This lady doesn’t have a website, just a Facebook page where she shares her wonderful recipes, otherwise I’d give a link, but she’s easy to find if you want to follow her page.

Tasty, tasty, tasty!

I love all the ingredients in this. I had kielbasa and used that in place of the smoked sausage. I can’t really tell the difference between the two to be honest. I also used fresh broccoli and had some frozen diced red bell peppers in the freezer. I did buy the extra-sharp shredded cheddar as Janet specified just that in the recipe–and with good reason. It makes it taste so much better than just regular sharp.

This was just so good, I couldn’t stop eating it!! You can’t ask for more than something abundantly tasty and so easy to make.

This is a wonderful way to use leftover rice too!

Watch The Video

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Smoked Sausage & Cheesy Rice

This tasty smoked sausage skillet dinner is a complete meal cooked in one pan. Quick, easy and totally delish.

Prep Time10

Cook Time20

Total Time30

Course: Comfort Foods, Everyday Meals, Pork, skillet dinners

Cuisine: American

Keyword: RICE, smoked sausage

Servings: 4

Calories: 627kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
1 lb smoked sausage or kielbasa sliced 1/4-inch thick
1 small onion chopped
1 small red bell pepper seeded and chopped
2 cups broccoli florets
1 1/2 cups cooked rice
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 cup shredded extra-sharp cheddar cheese

Instructions

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add butter and olive oil till butter sizzles.
Add the slice smoked sausage and onions. Cook for about 5 minutes until onion is tender and sausage begins to brown.
Add the red bell pepper and broccoli. Cover, reduce heat and cook about 5 minutes.
Add the cooked rice, garlic powder and onion salt. Combine well, cover and heat until rice is hot.
Add the shredded cheese and remove from heat. Stir in cheese until it’s melted.

Nutrition

Smoked Sausage & Cheesy Rice

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Kielbasa Potato Bake

Judith Hannemann — Wed, 18 Feb 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Kielbasa Potato Bake

This simple smoked sausage and potato bake packs tons of flavor despite the simple 3 main ingredients.

I knew I’d love this simple meal when I ran across the recipe on Pinterest. The original recipe comes from Recipes from the Big Blue Binder.

Reason I knew I’d like this is my mom used to do something very similar with Italian sausage. In fact, Mom’s Sausage & Potato Bake was one of the first recipes I posted on this blog!

For extra flavor, use the cheddar variety of kielbasa

I love kielbasa–and I got a ton of it on sale a couple of weeks ago–and cheese and of course potatoes so I knew I couldn’t go wrong with this.

The only real adjustments I made to the original recipe were the seasonings. Where I like the herbs she used, I wasn’t sure if I’d like them in this so I went with something a little more subtle.

This is quick and easy. It’s very long on flavor too, thanks to the smoked sausage.

Served with assorted greens

I used the cheddar flavor sausage, but the regular variety is just as good if you can’t find the one with the cheese.

This is one recipe I didn’t get heavy-handed with the cheese. I found the flavors blended very well so that one ingredient didn’t overpower the other–but use more if you want!

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Kielbasa Potato Bake

This simple smoked sausage and potato bake packs tons of flavor despite the simple 3 main ingredients.

Prep Time10

Cook Time45

Total Time55

Course: Comfort Foods, Everyday Meals

Cuisine: German

Keyword: baked potato recipes, kielbasa

Servings: 4

Calories: 715kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

1 lb kielbasa
4 large potatoes cut in 1/2-inch cubes
2 tbsp chopped onion
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp paprika
3 tbsp olive oil
1 cup extra sharp cheddar cheese
1 tsp olive oil for greasing foil

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a medium baking sheet (one with sides, like a jelly roll pan) with heavy-duty foil. Grease foil with the 1 tsp of olive oil.
Slice kielbasa into 1/4-inch slices. In a large bowl, combine the kielbasa, cubed potatoes, salt, onions, garlic powder and olive oil. Toss to coat contents of bowl with the olive oil.
Spread out on prepared baking sheet in a single layer if possible. Sprinkle with paprika.
Bake for 30-45 minutes, stirring around every 15 minutes to insure potatoes cook & sausage browns and crisps evenly.
When potatoes are soft, turn off oven; remove pan and distribute cheese across the top. Return to oven for about 5 minutes, or until cheese melts.

Nutrition

Kielbasa Potato Bake

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Creamy Mexican Pasta with Smoked Sausage Skillet Dinner

Judith Hannemann — Wed, 21 Jan 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Creamy Mexican Pasta with Smoked Sausage

Creamy cheesy and delicious Mexican-style meal that’s on the table in 30 minutes.

Another dinner-in-a-dash recipe.

I’ve seen similar recipes all over the net and they all looked very tasty. I had some smoked sausage I wanted to use up so I decided to make a meal similar to what I’d seen.

Quick and tasty dinner

All of them used canned tomatoes–I have them; I’ll use them; but I’m not a huge fan. I prefer fresh and I did have a nice tub of grape tomatoes I’d just bought. Perfect!

I had a hankering for something sort of Mexican but I didn’t want canned tomatoes nor the Rotel variety since I didn’t want the green chilis. I much prefer jalapenos. Yep, it makes this a bit zippy so if you’re a bit wimpy about heat, leave them out or substitute green chilis! It’ll taste good. All it will lack is the heat.

Pop it under the broiler for a bit of crunch

Any kind of cheese will do here. I used jack cheese because I had about a 4 oz. block that I’d opened. Jack cheese is creamy in texture so it’ll add to the already creamy texture of the sauce. But if you don’t have that, cheddar will do just fine!

If you are really in a hurry, for the final step, just place the shredded cheese on the top and cover the skillet–it’ll melt just fine. I preferred to put it under the broiler, as was suggested in one of the many recipes I’d looked at. I’d recommend doing that since it added a slight crunch and it just looked better.

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Creamy Mexican Pasta with Smoked Sausage Skillet Dinner

Creamy cheesy and delicious Mexican-style meal that’s on the table in 30 minutes.

Prep Time15

Cook Time15

Total Time30

Course: Everyday Meals, pasta, Pork, skillet dinners

Cuisine: Mexican

Keyword: mexican pasta, skillet dinner, smoked sausage

Servings: 4

Calories: 867kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

1 lb smoked sausage -or- kielbasa
8 oz uncooked tubular pasta
1 onion chopped
2 tbsp diced jalapenos fresh or canned
1 cup salsa
2 cups chicken stock
1 cup grape tomatoes
1/2 cup light or heavy cream
1 1/2 cups shredded Monterrey jack cheese
1 tbsp oil
1 green onion sliced thinly (for garnish)

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Slice sausage in 1/4-inch slices.
Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the oil; heat till oil is hot.
Brown the sliced sausage on both sides. Add onion and saute for about 5 minutes.
Add the pasta, jalapenos, salsa, chicken stock, tomatoes and cream. Stir well to combine. Bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to simmer. Cook until most liquid is absorbed by the pasta.
Stir in 1/2 cup of the jack cheese, combining well so cheese melts.
Remove from heat and top with the remaining cheese. Cover for 5 minutes or until cheese melts.
-OR-
If you used a completely oven-safe skillet, you may eliminate this last step and pop the entire skillet under the broiler for 5-8 minutes, or until cheese is bubbly and just begins to brown.
Garnish with sliced green onions.

Nutrition

Creamy Mexican Pasta with Smoked Sausage

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Cajun Smoked Sausage Alfredo

Judith Hannemann — Wed, 07 Jan 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Cajun Smoked Sausage Alfredo

This Cajun-flavored sausage alfredo is dinner in a dash! This skillet dinner is roughly 15 minutes from start to finish.

Here’s a quick and tasty dinner for those days you just have no time but want to eat something homemade and real!

This is ready in roughly 15 minutes, but if you happen to have any leftover pasta–this is a 5-minute dish!

The Cajun spice gives a new dimension to this quick alfredo sauce. Blends nicely with the flavor of the smoked sausage. Kielbasa can be substituted here too, and andouille sausage would be out of this world–however, it’d take longer to make since you have to cook that sausage; it’s not ready to eat.

Tasty and on the table quickly

I gave directions to use heavy cream, but I did cheat a bit and used about 1/4 cup of light cream just to use up the container in the fridge. I would not suggest using a majority of light cream nor half and half; the sauce will be too thin. This isn’t a diet dish, so I wouldn’t attempt to make it into one–there may be some disappointment with the final product, mainly consistency of the sauce. So use cream and go back on your diet tomorrow LOL!!!

Not only is this meal absolutely delicious for such a quick meal, the vibrant colors of everything that goes into it makes for great visual appeal.

This one’s a keeper!

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Cajun Smoked Sausage Alfredo

This Cajun-flavored sausage alfredo is dinner in a dash! This skillet dinner is roughly 15 minutes from start to finish.

Prep Time10

Cook Time15

Total Time25

Course: Comfort Foods, Everyday Meals, Pork, skillet dinners

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Alfredo sauce, Cajun, smoked sausage

Servings: 4

Calories: 1157kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

1 lb smoked sausage or kielbasa
1 1/2 cups tubular pasta like penne or elbows
1 1/2 cups water
2 cups heavy cream
2 tsp cajun/creole seasoning
1/2 cup frozen peas defrosted
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 green onion sliced
1/2 cup grape tomatoes

Instructions

Slice sausage in 1/4-inch slices.
Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Brown sausage well. Remove from pan; set aside.
Return pan to heat and deglaze pan with the 1 1/2 cups water. Add the pasta. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce heat. Cook until water is absorbed by pasta (about 8 minutes).
Add the cream, peas, parmesan and cajun seasoning to the pan; stir well. Add the browned sausage back to the pan; heat through.
Top with sliced green onion and grape tomatoes. Serve immediately.
Serves 2-4, depending on appetite and accompanying dishes.

Nutrition

Cajun Smoked Sausage Alfredo

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Slow Cooker Smoked Sausage Lentil Soup

Judith Hannemann — Thu, 25 Sep 2014 23:00:00 +0000

Slow Cooker Smoked Sausage Lentil Soup

A hearty lentil soup delicately flavored with smoked sausage that simmers to perfection in your slow cooker.

I’ve been meaning to make lentil soup for close to one year!

Picked up a package of lentils quite a while ago, stuck them in a Lock & Lock container and just plain forgot about them.

Just dump in the ingredients and go

I also had a package of bourbon-flavored smoked sausage (Hillshire’s American Craft) that I’d never opened and wanted to use those too. Why not get “crocked” too from your crock pot meal!

It was a good soup day here too–not cold, but very windy. So I just dumped everything in my crock pot, set it to cook and had a delicious dinner! And one that was probably healthy too.

Gorgeous flavors

Originally, I added 5 cups of water to start, but the soup got way too thick and I added another cup. What you see in the pic is the consistency with 6 cups of water–so judge your consistency on that. Start with 6 cups–if you need more, add it.

The amount of sausage is just a guide–as are the carrots and mushrooms (which you can leave out with no great loss). Use more or less, whatever you prefer. If you’re feeding a he-man meat eater, double the amount of smoked sausage!

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Slow Cooker Smoked Sausage Lentil Soup

A hearty lentil soup delicately flavored with smoked sausage that simmers to perfection in your slow cooker.

Prep Time15

Cook Time8

Total Time8 15

Course: Comfort Foods, Pork, Slow Cooker, soups

Cuisine: American

Keyword: lentil soup recipe, pork,, slow cooker soup

Servings: 4

Calories: 400kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

1 16 oz lentils
1 cup sliced carrots
1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
5 sprigs fresh thyme -OR- 1/2 tsp dehydrated
1 small onion sliced
1 clove garlic crushed
1 tub Knorr beef concentrated stock*
4 whole peppercorns
1 tsp salt
1 lb kielbasa or smoked sausage sliced in 1/4-inch slices
6 cups water

Instructions

*2-3 beef stock cubes may be substituted
Combine all ingredients in the crock of a 5 QT (or more) slow cooker. Cover.
Set to HI and cook for about 5 hrs (8-10 on LOW)
If soup seems to thick for your taste, add a bit more water.

Nutrition

Slow Cooker Smoked Sausage Lentil Soup

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Cheesy Kielbasa Potato Casserole

Judith Hannemann — Tue, 27 May 2014 23:00:00 +0000

Cheesy Kielbasa Potato Casserole

Nothing is more rib-sticking good than kielbasa and potatoes together. Add cheese and you have this delicious and easy casserole. Can also be cooked on the BBQ grill!

I bought a whole lot of kielbasa to use for buffet dishes for my party a few weeks ago, and I had one package left over. I also had some potatoes that probably wouldn’t have survived for too much longer as well.

Add to that, I just purchased this stunning baker set from Temp-Tations in the newest holiday colors, and I was dying to use one of the bakers.

On the table in no time flat if you use cooked potatoes

I always have at least a case of cream soups and other soups that I use quite a bit as a quickie sauce base in many of my recipes–I had quite a bit of cheddar cheese soup so I added a quick, easy and tasty doctored cheese soup sauce to the old stand-by kielbasa and potatoes casserole. The result was very tasty.

Since I cut my potatoes in chunks around 1/4 to 1/2-inch thick, I guessed (incorrectly I might add) that all the potatoes would be cooked in about 45 minutes. I was wrong so I am advising you to either partially or fully cook the potatoes before baking or using even canned white potatoes. The benefit here is the cooking time will be reduced to about 30 minutes and if you want to make this in the summer, all the better IMO. If you want to start with raw potatoes as I did, then maybe stirring the casserole after about 30 minutes would be a good idea–one that I didn’t have at the time, but I digress.

Cheesy, creamy and very tasty

Anyway, this is quick to prepare and remarkably tasty. A godsend for those nights you just don’t want to bother or are stumped for a dinner idea.

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Cheesy Kielbasa Potato Casserole

Nothing is more rib-sticking good than kielbasa and potatoes together. Add cheese and you have this delicious and easy casserole. Can also be cooked on the BBQ grill!

Prep Time15

Cook Time45

Total Time1

Course: Comfort Foods, Everyday Meals, GRILLING, Pork

Cuisine: Polish

Keyword: kielbasa, potato casserole

Servings: 4

Calories: 663kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

16 oz kielbasa or smoked sausage
1 10.75 oz condensed cheddar cheese soup
1/4 cup caramelized onions optional, but add lots of flavor
4 large potatoes pared and cut in chunks*
1 cup milk
1 1/2 cups shredded cheese divided
1/2 tsp pepper

Instructions

*I strongly suggest partially cooking the potatoes. I used raw and baked for 1 hour and the potatoes in the center of the casserole were still slightly underdone. Stirring the casserole midway through the baking time probably would have helped. If you partially cook the potatoes, reduce casserole cooking time to 30 minutes.
Cook On The Grill:
Use either a flame-proof ceramic or metal (disposable is fine) baking dish. Proceed as directed except cover with aluminum foil and place on the UNLIT side of the grill for approximately 1 1/2-2 hrs. This is good prepared with other grilled foods that require indirect cooking.
Conventional:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly spray a 2 1/2 quart (11×7) baking dish.
Cut kielbasa into pieces about 1/2-inch thick. Set aside.
In a large bowl, mix soup with milk, adding milk slowly while stirring to prevent lumps. Mix in the potatoes, pepper, caramelized onion, 1 cup of the cheese and kielbasa. Stir well.
Turn into prepared pan and bake for 45 minutes, stirring half way through cooking time so potatoes cook evenly (see note above–I did not do this, which could account for the undercooked potatoes at the center of the casserole). However, I still suggest partial cooking of the potatoes or even using canned or leftover baked potatoes–you’ll reduce the baking time too if you do this.
Top with the remaining cheese and bake for an additional 15 minutes.

Nutrition

Cheesy Kielbasa Potato Casserole

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Pierogi and Smoked Sausage Casserole

Judith Hannemann — Thu, 01 May 2014 23:00:00 +0000

Pierogi and Smoked Sausage Casserole

Hearty pierogis and smoked sausage in a simple cream sauce make this one spectacular and very easy dinner!

Here is another big hit from one of my recent parties! No one could guess just how easy this casserole is to make for how delicious it really is!

Seriously. All prepared food, little prep and something that tastes like you fussed is really something special.

So many ways to make this special and different

You can change this up by the cheeses you use to top it and even the flavor of the pierogis. I used a mixed cheese variety–which was all my store had (hello??? selection???)–but I think this would taste even more super with an onion/cheese variety.

Another way I’d like to try this is to use again an onion or mixed cheese pierogi, substitute cheddar cheese soup for the mushroom and Italian sausage for the Polish sausage. Endless combos can make this special each time!

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Pierogi and Smoked Sausage Casserole

Hearty pierogis and smoked sausage in a simple cream sauce make this one spectacular and very easy dinner!

Prep Time15

Cook Time35

Total Time50

Course: Comfort Foods, Dinner, Everyday Meals, pasta, Pork

Cuisine: Polish

Keyword: pierogi, pierogi casserole, smoked sausage

Servings: 4 -6

Calories: 971kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

2-3 16 oz pierogis
2 10.75 oz cream of mushroom soup
2 cups milk
16 oz smoked Polish sausage or kielbasa
2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
2 cups shredded Swiss cheese

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly spray a 9x13-inch baking dish.
Cook pierogis in a large pot of boiling water until pierogis float; about 5 minutes. Drain and place in prepared dish.
Cut the sausage into 1/2-inch pieces and distribute evenly on top of the pierogis.
Mix the soup and milk in a bowl, gradually adding the milk so that the mixture is smooth with either no or very few small lumps. Pour soup mixture over pierogis and sausage.
Top with shredded cheeses.
Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until casserole is bubbly and cheese is melted and beginning to brown.

Nutrition

Pierogi and Smoked Sausage Casserole

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Recipes On Deck

Judith Hannemann — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 17:35:00 +0000

Coming up this week:

It’s been so cold and windy here in upstate New York the past couple of days that all I’ve had on my mind are hearty soups.

Well, we have a delicious ham & bean soup coming up. It’s in the crockpot cooking right now. Might even add some smoked sausage to give this more of a punch.

Annnnnnddddd…..

If you love desserts, WATCH OUT. There’s one on the horizon that will knock your socks off because it’s so easy, you won’t believe it and well, if you love peanut butter and chocolate, all I can say is have a fainting couch ready to catch you.

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