Cheesy Breakfast Sausage Bundt #BundtBakers

Step outside the sweet box and bake a Bundt with cheddar, cream cheese, sausage and green onions. Great for breakfast buffets and luncheons, slices of this cheesy sausage Bundt are just as fabulous toasted the next day.  

When fellow Bundt Baker, Anne from My Sweet Heart,  first proposed a breakfast Bundt theme for this month, I knew I wanted to make something savory, something with breakfast sausage. I can’t actually buy ready-to-cook breakfast sausage here in Dubai, so I replicate it with Penzey’s Breakfast Sausage Seasonings mixed into ground pork. Breakfast sausage is one of my guilty pleasures. Especially the spicy ones that say “hot” on the label. Whenever I arrive back in the States, one of the first items on the “to-do” list is a trip to the grocery store to stock up on essentials like bread, milk, eggs and fresh vegetables but at least two packages of hot breakfast sausage always make it into the cart. I know it’s not the healthiest of food items, but it’s a rare treat. So is this wonderful savory Bundt.

Many thanks to our Bundt Baker host, Kelly at Passion Kneaded for generously filling in for Anne and hosting this month’s creative theme.

My cheesy breakfast Bundt is adapted from a recipe called Wylma's Breakfast Bread. I don’t know Wylma but I think I’d like her a lot.

Ingredients
For the Bundt:
1 lb or 455g spicy breakfast sausage meat or ground pork with 1 tablespoon breakfast sausage seasonings
4 cups or 500g flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup or 120g butter unsalted butter, chilled
12 oz or 340g cream cheese, chilled
8 oz or 225g shredded extra sharp cheddar cheese
Bunch green onion tops (Mine weighed about 1 3/4oz or 50g.)
8 eggs
3 cups or 710ml milk

For the glaze:
3 oz or 85g cream cheese, at room temperature
1 tablespoon milk plus 3-4 teaspoons more till desired consistency is reached
1 teaspoon hot sauce (I used Louisiana Habanero Hot Sauce. If you like spicy, this one’s wonderful. And, no, I didn’t get any free from the company. My sister is my supplier.)

Optional garnish: Green onion tops or chives

Method
Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and grease and flour a 10-15 cup Bundt pan.

Brown your sausage meat in a skillet over a medium heat, cutting it up and crumbling it with the spatula as you go. Once it’s golden brown, scoop it out with a slotted spoon and put it on some paper towels to absorb the grease.

Chop your green onion tops finely and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar and salt.

Cut your cold butter into cubes and toss them in the dry ingredients.

Use a pastry blender to cut the butter into the dry ingredients until you have a coarse mixture that looks a little like damp sand.

Cut your cream cheese into cubes as well and toss them into the dry ingredients.

Use a pastry blender to cut the cream cheese into the dry ingredients. It won’t completely disappear like the butter did but that’s fine. You want some small pieces of cream cheese still visible.

Now add in your drained sausage, the grated cheddar cheese and the green onions and stir well.

In another bowl, beat together the eggs and the milk.

Fold the egg mixture into the dry mixture until just combined.

Pour into your prepared pan.

Bake in your preheated oven for 65-75 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the loaf comes out clean.

Cool for about 10 minutes before inverting onto a wire rack to cool further.

Meanwhile, you can be making the cream cheese glaze. Mix together the cream cheese with the hot sauce and one tablespoon of the milk.

Stir vigorously until completely combined. Add more milk, teaspoon by teaspoon and whisk to get all the tiny lumps out, until you have a glaze of pouring consistency.

I kept testing mine by lifting the spatula or whisk out and seeing if the glaze would drip off slowly. I ended up adding four teaspoons myself but our cream cheese is very rich and stiff to start with. You will have to use your judgment here.

For the green onion garnish, I sliced a couple of green onion tops lengthwise with a Japanese tool called a negi cutter. (Negi being green onion.) It’s a handy multi-blade knife that makes cutting even strips very easy.

Then I cut the stripes into shorter lengths and popped them into a bowl with iced water so they’d curl up.

This takes about 15 or 20 minutes, then I drained the green onion curls on paper towels. Just chop your green onions into little circles if you don’t have a negi cutter.

Pour on the cream cheese glaze when you are ready to serve and sprinkle on your green onions.

Enjoy!

Are you looking for breakfast Bundt inspiration for your next brunch, wedding or baby shower? Bundt Bakers has got you covered!

• Breakfast Banana Bundt Cake from Varada at Varada's Kitchen
• Blackberry Chocolate Coffee Cake from Lauren at From Gate to Plate
• Breakfast Bundt from Jane at Jane's Adventures in Dinner
• Callaloo & Saltfish Mini Bundt from Kelly at Passion Kneaded
• Cheesy Bacon Sausage Brioche Bundt from Tara at Noshing With The Nolands
• Cheesy Breakfast Sausage Bundt from Stacy at Food Lust People Love
• Feta Cheese and Sundried Tomato Breakfast Bundt from Maria at Box of Stolen Socks
• French Toast Bundt Cake with Maple-Bacon Glaze from Felice at All That's Left Are The Crumbs
• Granola Cake from Renee at Magnolia Days
• Individual Breakfast Banana & Ginger Nutella Glazed Oatmeal Bundt Cakes from Laura at Baking in Pyjamas
• Maple Bacon Bundt Cake with Bacon Pecan Streusel Swirl from Tux at Brooklyn Homemaker
• Mimosa Bundt Cake from Lauren at Sew You Think You Can Cook
• Orange Blueberry Bundt Cake from Kathya at Basic N Delicious
• Sausage and Potato Bundt from Margaret at Tea and Scones
• Whole Grain Breakfast Blueberry Mini Bundts from Laura at The Spiced Life

#BundtBakers is a group of Bundt loving bakers who get together once a month to bake Bundts with a common ingredient or theme.  Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on the BundtBakers home page.

We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

If you are a food blogger and would like to join us, just send me an email with your blog URL to foodlustpeoplelove@gmail.com.

Chickpea Tabouli

Tabouli is a picnic-friendly, make-ahead salad of fresh herbs and tomatoes, which is usually made with bulgur or cracked wheat. This simple gluten- and wheat-free version substitutes chickpeas for the bulgur, upping the protein and adding extra flavor, making this chickpea tabouli salad a great choice for everyone at your party, barbecue or picnic.

A few weeks ago I was researching recipes that would be appropriate for the Jewish Passover celebration for a post with my Sunday Supper group. I came across a rendition of tabouli made with chopped almonds instead of the bulgur wheat, because all grains, including wheat, are prohibited during Passover.

Now, I’m a fan of almonds and I even like them in salad, but one of the reasons I love tabouli is the way the wheat soaks up the flavors of the dressing and the herbs and even the tomato juice, becoming more delicious with time. I just didn’t see almonds doing that. So I pondered. What would absorb the dressing? What else would GO with tabouli?

You already know what I decided from the title here but you are probably asking yourself why this didn’t become my Passover post. Well, after I had made the salad, more research revealed that are certain Jewish sects that don’t allow any legumes, including chickpeas, during Passover! So I found another recipe for chocolate chip bar cookies with ground almonds, which was absolutely delicious and didn’t violate any Passover rules for that post.

But you know what this salad IS perfect for? Kick Off to Summer Week! It looks remarkably similar to regular tabouli so make sure to put a gluten-free label on it so everyone knows they can eat it!

Ingredients
For the salad:
2 cans (8 1/2 oz or 240g each, drained weight) chickpeas
Large bunch green onion tops (2 1/2 oz or 70g)
2 bunches cilantro or coriander (4 1/4 oz or 120g together)
Medium bunch of fresh mint (3 oz or 85g)
5-6 medium tomatoes (1 1/4 lbs or 570g)

Note: I’m giving weights for the herbs and tomatoes but know that these are just what I used and if yours weigh a bit more or a bit less, it’s all going to be good.

For the dressing:
3 tablespoons or 45ml fresh lime or lemon juice
1-2 cloves garlic (I used two – because we like it garlicky!)
1/2 teaspoon sea salt or to taste
Freshly ground black pepper
6 tablespoons or 90ml olive oil

Method
First thing in the morning, or even the night before you are planning to make this salad, strain and rinse your chickpeas and leave them to dry for an hour or two spread out on a kitchen towel. I don’t know that this is absolutely essential but remember, we want the chickpeas to absorb dressing, so drying them out a bit increases that ability.

In a food processor, pulse your chickpeas in batches until they are small crumbles and resemble bulgur wheat if you hold your head just right and squint a little. Do not overfill the processor or overpulse or you’ll end up on your way to making hummus.  (Which is a good thing, but just not today.)

As you finishing pulsing each batch of chickpeas, put them in a big salad bowl with plenty of room to stir.

Chop your green onions finely and add them to the chickpeas and stir.

Pick the mint leaves off the stalks and cut the hard part of the stalks off of the cilantro.  (The little narrow stalks near the leaves are fine to leave in.) Wash both thoroughly several times and dry in a salad spinner or a dry dishcloth.

Cut the tomatoes in half and cut out and discard the core. Chop the tomatoes into little pieces.

Chop the herbs thoroughly, rocking your big knife back and forth on a cutting board.

Next add the herbs and then the tomatoes to the chickpea bowl.  Stir well.

Now to make the dressing: Mince your garlic cloves and combine them in a small bowl with the fresh lime juice.

Sprinkle in about a 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt and a few generous grinds of fresh black pepper. Add in the olive oil and whisk until the dressing is thoroughly mixed.

Pour this over your salad and stir well and you are ready to eat!

Like traditional  tabouli, this chickpea version gets better and better as it sits so you can make it ahead without any problems. It was great the first day, then it went out sailing with us the day after I made it AND it was just as good three days later when I finished the last serving. That’s why I always make a big batch.

Enjoy!

You can find my recipe and instructions for traditional tabouli here. 

Need more recipes and ideas for Memorial Day and making the most of summer? Check out these links from my fellow Kick Off to Summer participants.

• Lemon Honey & Rosemary Grilled Chicken Skewers by From Gate to Plate 
• Sausage & Veggies Tinfoil Dinner by Summer Scraps 
• Baked Rosemary Garlic Fries by Keep it Simple, Sweetie 
• Homemade Natural Bug Spray by The Haas Machine 
• Memorial Day Festivities by Lil Huckleberries 
• Corn Cob Jelly by Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks 
• Marshmallow Fruit Dip by Forty Eighteen 
• Trail Mix Oatmeal Cookies by Lady Behind the Curtain 
• BBQ Invitation Printable by My Daylights 
• Rhubarb Crisp by Love in the Kitchen 
• Mixed Berry Sweet Rolls by Like Mother, Like Daughter 
• Liberty Embroidery Pattern by Bits of Ivory 
• Red White and Blue Trifle by We Like to Learn as We Go 
• Chickpea Tabouli by Food Lust People Love 
• Dark Chocolate Pistachio Cookies by Life on Food 

Sun-dried Tomatoes How-To

When your garden is producing more tomatoes than you can possibly eat, or when gorgeous seasonal tomatoes are cheap at the farmer’s market, preserve the sweetness of summer by sun-drying and enjoy the bounty all year round.

This is a different sort of post for me, my first how-to, and I’ve been saving it to share since last summer when I couldn’t pass up cheap seasonal tomatoes and decided to give sun-drying them a try. Turns out it’s easy and our hot, dry summers in Dubai do have an upside!

Equipment
A framed screen
Cheesecloth
Toothpicks
Some pebbles and other small objects for weights

Ingredients
Tomatoes that are very ripe but still firm and not mushy
Sea salt (Optional)

Method
Wash your tomatoes thoroughly in cool water.

Remove the stems and cut the tomatoes in half, just along one side of the core.

Cut out the core with a sharp knife and discard.

Cut the tomato halves into half again, if they are small, or perhaps thirds if they are larger. You want small wedges that will dry faster.

I debated removing the seeds and pulp but since that is where a lot of the tomato flavor resides, I decided to leave them in. The tomatoes will take longer to dry, if you do the same, but the increased flavor is worth the time invested.  For more information on this, read Why You Should Stop Seeding Tomatoes.

Drain the tomatoes in a colander while you set up the screen outdoors.

In Dubai, it’s so doggone hot that we can’t leave the doors open in the summer anyway so I removed a screen door from the house and balanced it on garden table chairs.  If you have a screen for drying sweaters, this would work also. If your screen has been used outdoors, make sure to give it a good scrubbing to remove any dirt and rinse thoroughly before setting it up in a sunny spot, out of the way of any automatic sprinkler systems.

Lay your tomatoes out on the screen, peel side down and poke toothpicks in around the tomatoes - to hold the cheesecloth off of them - and around the perimeter of the screen - to help secure the cheesecloth in place.

Give them a light sprinkling of sea salt, if desired.

Cover the tomato wedges with a single layer of cheesecloth to stop the birds and bugs from getting to them.  Secure it with the toothpicks around the perimeter and weigh the edges down with little stones and other objects. I started with just the pebbles but ended up adding glass ashtrays and barbecue brushes and whatever else was laying around outside because of a strong breeze.

View from the top

View from underneath.

Balancing the screen door on chairs

Now it’s just a matter of time, patience and good weather. My tomatoes took just two and a half days (54 hours, to be precise) to dry completely because our weather was gloriously hot and the breeze stayed steady. Yours may take a bit longer but, aside from checking that your cheesecloth is still secure, this is all hands-off time.

Sneak peek at 30 hours

I'm calling them done at 54 hours

When your tomatoes are completely dried, store them in a sealed Ziploc in the refrigerator. It’s possible that they could also be stored in a cool, dry cupboard but I wanted to be on the safe side.

To rehydrate the tomatoes before using in a recipe, merely soak them in very hot water until softened. I used mine most recently in a spicy pepperoni sun-dried tomato pesto that was divine!

Need more recipes and ideas for Memorial Day and how to make the most of summer? Check out these links from my fellow Kick Off to Summer participants.

• Soft Butterscotch S'more Cookies by From Gate to Plate 
• Crunchy Peanut Butter Cookies  by Keep it Simple, Sweetie 
• Patriotic Quinoa Salad by It's Yummi 
• Salmon Burgers by The Haas Machine 
• Summer Letter Set by Summer Scraps 
• Creamy Corn Salad by Forty Eighteen 
• Classic Potato Salad by Clarks Condensed 
• Mini Cake Mix Sandwich Cookie Bites by Lady Behind The Curtain 
• Grilled Stuffed Flank Steak by Love in the Kitchen 
• Sun-dried Tomatoes - How to by Food Lust People Love

My helper dog was most intrigued by the finished product.