Italian Seasoning
My family are bound and determined meat eaters. Don’t let this deter you from my recipes. I’ve made sure to try and include vegan ideas in all of them. We eat meat only because of our allergies. There are so few things we can have that we’d be lacking in our food variety as well as correct nutrition if we didn’t partake.
One of the bitterest of days was when I went into our butcher and asked him how sausage was seasoned. He was blunt about it, swearing a little bit when I told him the no-no’s, telling me it was time for me to learn to make my own seasoning and add it to the ground meat I purchased.
So here we are! But don’t stop at seasoning ground meat! This is an excellent seasoning to make your very own marinara.
This seasoning is very flexible depending on your tastes. My family likes a more traditional Italian flavor, others might need it more American. Take that where you want to, but this is the mix that made my family happy.
Instructions for a good amount of seasoning:
Mix the following ingredients together and put in a spice jar, making sure to label. We are wimps and don’t like the texture of the rosemary, so I put it in a stone and pestle first, grinding it until its all powder.
Italian Seasoning
Ingredients:
1 tbs Rosemary
1 tbs Ground Sage
1 tbs Thyme
1 1/2 tsp Red Pepper Flakes
1 tbs Basil
1 1/2 tsp Summer Savory
1 tbs Parsley
This will make six, one tablespoon servings. When it’s time to make your meal, add 1 Tablespoon of this mixture, plus 1/2 to 1 teaspoon salt to whatever your base is.
Single Use Recipe Ingredients:
1/2 tsp Rosemary
1/2 tsp Ground Sage
1/2 tsp Thyme
1/4 tsp Red Pepper Flakes
1/2 tsp Basil
1/4 tsp Summer Savory
1/2 tsp Parsley
Marinara Sauce
Ingredients:
1 Tablespoon seasoning
28 to 32 oz smashed tomatoes, or diced tomatoes or tomato sauce
1/2 cup red wine.
Mix above ingredients in a 2 quart pot. Bring the sauce to a gentle simmer, and cook with lid on for a half hour.
Sausage
Ingredients:
1 lb. ground meat of choice (pork is a natural, but I've used turkey.)
1/2 cup of water (when mixing after cooked)
1 Tablespoon Italian seasoning
Two schools of thought here. You can either brown your meat first, and sprinkle in the seasoning adding the water, with to make it easier to mix it in. From here you’d continue to cook the meat on low until the water has been absorbed. Or you can add it to the raw meat like they do at the butcher. Doesn’t really matter unless you are making sausage patties.
For Meatballs
Ingredients:
2 pounds of ground meat of choice
1 cup gluten free bread crumbs
2 Tablespoon Italian Seasoning
1/2 - 1 cup of water
1 tsp salt
Mix above ingredients, taking care with the water. There's a just right consistency, and you'll likely know it when you get there. It will feel like fresh play dough when its right. Roll into one inch meat balls, or do what I do and use a cookie dough scoop to make them all the same size.
I pop them on a cookie sheet and cook at 425 for 20 minutes, but The Husband just made this for me and threw it in a large skillet with water poured into the pan and par boiled them until cooked through. Boil down the water, then pan fry for maybe 5 minutes. For this scenario, done means he stuck a thermometer in them and they read the right temp. He cannot tell me how long it took, but I know it worked because they were amazing.
See below for notes on making your sauce or sausage more flavorful.
Notes:
Salt is necessary, in our book. We haven’t mastered a dish that doesn’t benefit from it. I add one teaspoon to each recipe, but please adjust for your pallet.
Normally I’d say add the pepper to the ingredients, but fresh cracked black pepper is so much better. Grind some on your prepared meal and voila!
Nutritional Yeast is worth the money. I’ll just say it right now. We’ve been living dairy free for much of the past ten plus years. Yes, we do cheat. There, I said it. That said, we’ve denied that products existence for most of that time. Guess what? We were horribly wrong. That stuff is the bomb. Try it! You might surprise yourself.
