Brews & Brats

Adding hops

Today's post is a bit off topic but we had so much fun making beer and sausages (both from scratch) that I had to share!  Yesterday was the epitome of Sunday Funday, we had some friends over to break in the new meat grinder attachment for our Kitchen-Aid mixer.  Let's get a hooray for wedding presents ;)

Admittedly, it's a pretty gross process making sausage.  Unless you are someone who truly enjoys playing with raw meat...I've never met such a person but to each his own :)

We were so excited we made THREE different types of sausage!

• Maple Breakfast Sausage
• Cheesesteak Sausage
• Chicken Bacon Jalapeno Cheddar Sausage (say that three times fast)

After careful taste testing we voted that the cheesesteak sausage was the true winner so I've posted the recipe for you below.

Cheesesteak Sausage

• 3 lbs beef chuck (Cut into 1 in. cubes)
• 2 bell peppers
• 1 onion
• 5 garlic cloves
• salt & pepper to taste

Sauté the peppers and onions.  After coarsely grinding the beef combine all ingredients and put in the freezer for about a half an hour then grind again through the fine plate on your grinder and into the casing.  Make sure that you chop or grind your garlic before the fine grind or you'll end up with pockets of garlic love as we did, which was interesting but luckily didn't ruin the overall flavor at all!

Round it all out with a delicious red pale ale and you too could have an awesome Sunday Funday with friends!

Chicken Bacon Jalapeno Cheddar Sausage

Wood Transfer

I saw a blog post from photojojo recently for an image transfer to wood.  It is a look that i really enjoy because I feel like it brings it a great earthy and natural feel to the art work.

Here is the original image that I used for this wood transfer. (You may be wondering what the image is of, it is of a purple bell pepper, a shot I did for a friend as a housewarming gift)

• Start with a light wood - I found this great piece for 1.99 on clearance at Michael's, however they also had great canvas style plywood boxes that will make them easier to hang, I'll be using those down the road for sure
• First you paint the ink jet printed image with medium gel (from the acrylic paint section of your art store)
• Then you apply it to your wood piece using something like an old credit card or gift card to smooth out any air bubbles
• Let it dry for 8 hours (I am not always the most patient person when it comes to exciting d.i.y projects so I started mine at night and it was ready to go in the am!)
• Once it has dried completely you wrap a damp towel around the piece so the paper gets soaking wet and then you rub...
• and you rub and rub and rub, then finish with Mod Podge when you have the look you want
• Until finally...you have a great new addition to your home art collection or a great gift for a friend!