Buffalo & Beef Andouille Sausage

My wife, Jesse, has decided that we are starting the Whole 30 diet as of tomorrow evening. Since we managed to do Paleo during the summer last year, we are going to try Whole 30 for at least a month, if not longer. Whole 30 from my understanding (what Jesse told me) Whole 30 is a stricter version of Paleo. Good thing I'm a meat and potatoes kind of guy, oh wait - no potatoes :-/ When we were on Paleo I recreated a few recipes since there are limited ingredients/spices which can be used. So I found a great recipe to alter to help with my lunches and dinners: Andouille Sausage.... the Stephen way ;-)

Most store-bought sausage has sugar in them, which as everyone knows, is not allowed on the Paleo diet, much less the stricter Whole 30 diet. This also is a great way for me to get Jesse to eat sausage. She claims that if she can see what goes into the sausage she is more likely to eat it, knowing there isn't a lot of extra fats or leftover random meats thrown in to make it. So I made my own twist, instead of using pork for this sausage, I used Buffalo and lean ground beef from Whole Foods. I will say that the sausage is delicious and has great flavor, but some might think its a little dry since the fats aren't there to make them juicy. I'd suggest leaving a little fat (not a ton) so that it isn't dry, but not overly fatty/juicy and keeps the delicious flavors. By the way, one major need for this, a meat grinder. So my twist is listed below:

Stephen's Homemade Buffalo & Beef Andouille Sausage

Makes 16 links

Nutritional Facts (per 1 serving):

185g Calories, 4g Fat, 35mg Cholesterol, 911mg Sodium, 5g Potassium, 1g Carbs, 0g Fiber, 

0g Sugars, 32g Protein, 2% Vitamin A, 0.1% Vitamin C, 0.1% Calcium, 8% Iron

                                                                      Ingredients:

                                                                      2.5 lbs Buffalo Stew Meat

2 lbs 95/5 Lean Ground Beef

3 Tbsp Minced Garlic

2 Tbsp Sea Salt

1 tsp Ground Black Pepper

1 tsp Cayenne Pepper

1 tsp Chili Pepper

1/8 tsp Mace

1/8 tsp Allspice

1/2 tsp Dried Thyme

1 Tbsp Paprika

1/4 tsp Ground Bay Leaf (roughly 1.5)

1/4 tsp Sage

3 Tbsp Liquid Smoke

1 Sutter Home Merlot Individual Serve (roughly 6 oz)

2 hog casings

Wooden Beer Crate Towel & Soap Storage

I decided to take my wife over to Ponchatoula, LA for a Saturday afternoon to walk around the antique village and grab dinner with some college friends. While we were walking around, I stumbled across an old beer crate that caught my interest. I noticed that not only did the crate have a nice rustic look, it had a great logo across each side panel. Not that my wife was a huge fan of the crate, I started to try and talk her into the idea when I explained we could use it as a shelf/storage in the guest bathroom. Needless to say, it was still not an easy sell to her, since it was not "in the vision" for the interior design of the house. Of course, I'm a rockstar and won't budge on some things I want, so as seen below, I bought it for $20. 

I cut a two (2) 10 inch pieces of 1x2 board to create a mount to the wall, so that the crate wasn't flush against the wall. At the same time, I cut a 1x4 board into a 9 inch shelf for the interior of the crate. Once I stained the "shelf" and "wall mount" with Varathane Dark Walnut, I nailed them in place.

I mounted the crate to the wall mounts and let my wife add the towels, washcloths, soaps, and shampoo for when guests stay at the house. To the left is a picture directly facing the crate as it is mounted and finished.

On a side note, the crate shelf has grown on my wife over the past few weeks. She also realized the crate was from a beer company which brews its beer near Montreal, Quebec, Canada where we honeymooned back in December.