Trey is coming to visit, I should cook

Trey will be in later tonight. He is preparing for a marathon and is being very careful about his diet. So we went to the store and kept a lookout for "the right stuff".

The Grocery Outlet on 410 in Bonney Lake had organic black beans for $.99 can, I felt a chili coming on. I do not know Trey's spice preference so I kept this toned down. I also found a smoked turkey drumstick. We are in business. They also had a bag of mixed, (red, yellow, orange), bell pepper and they aren't from Mexico. Picked up a bag of onions, nothing special, but needed for chili.

Black Chili
Started by chopping one half of the largest onion in the bag finely.
Added a can of chopped tomatoes, skins removed.
Added a cup of tomato pasta sauce
Added two tablespoons of red cooking wine
Cut up an orange bell pepper, (Kathy picked the color)
Added the can of organic black peppers
Added one half cup black wild rice,
Two dried Pasilla-Ancho chilli pods
Tossed in the drumstick and added enough water to cover the drumstick by a half inch.
Started on high, when it boiled went to my smallest burner lowest heat.

Five hours later

Turned off the heat. Waited till it cooled enough to handle the drumstick. Removed all of the bullet proof, crocodile outer covering consistency skin and chucked it. Began to separate the meat from the tendons and added the meat to the chili. Before I was done it looked like there was too much meat so I saved 1/4 cup pressed down to make sausage. Also removed what remained of the Passila-Ancho, (the seeds are long gone, this is the skin). It looked a little too thick so I added some hot water until it looked like the consistency of black bean chili and set it aside for later.

Caraway Smoked Turkey Sausage (this is almost a vegetarian sausage as it is, just omit the turkey to go the rest of the way)
Cut the other half of the onion coarsely
Add the turkey and remaining pepper from the chili
Two cups of water, start to boil
2 heaping tablespoons flax meal
2 heaping tablespoons nutritional yeast
3 tablespoons quinoa, (if I try heaping, they roll out)
1/8th cup unsalted cashews
Caraway seeds to taste, for your first time try a teaspoon, they are powerful little guys.

Cook until the water just covers the mixture. Turn off the heat and let cool till it meets your blending safety comfort level. Blend into a paste. Pour into a mixing bowl. Add 1/8 cup cheese, 1/8 cup egg white.
NOTE: I have high cholesterol so I only used no cholesterol mozzarella, but if I didn't I would do half Parmesan and half part skim Mozzarella.

Spices
Here you are on your own. As a general guide sausage has salt, something I do not normally add to food, but I did to this. Sausage also generally has sugar. I have hated sugar all of my adult life, but that does not mean you should. Suggestion would be wait till you get to the tasting part and decide what to do. Garlic and Pepper are also almost universally present. Consider some liquid smoke, the smoke flavor of the turkey is greatly diminished after its five hour bath. Thyme is a nice bright flavor. I also added tumeric and paprika. Keep in mind that we have put nothing in the mix that will make you sick if you taste it raw, (I use pasteurized egg whites from those cartons near the eggs at supermarkets). I try not to overdo it, but some mustard seed really adds and they almost feel like caviar when you bite into one. So taste and see, (that the Lord is good), and let your on-board flavor calculator be your guide. Be willing to overspice a bit since the final step is adding the filler.
NOTE: you can do an Italian sausage theme by adding ground fennel seed as a ruling spice, I would have, but this kitchen is currently out.

Filler
I know, I know, you are looking at this liquid mess and thinking, this will never turn into a patty. And unless you drop it, by spoonfuls, into a fryer, you are probably right. Filler is your friend, whole grains, stiffen the mixture, what is not to like? I started with an 1/8th cup of oatmeal. As the patty cooks the oats will absorb water, but they will release it far more slowly than cornmeal.

Cornmeal is the final thing I add unless the ready for baking mixture needs a spice recalculation. You want to achieve the consistency of cookie dough. (without the fat of course. Cornmeal helps your mixture dry out in a big way and if you are serving that day or tomorrow, it is great. By day three or four a significant amount of cornmeal makes your sausage taste like a rock.

Drop spoonfuls onto a non-stick baking sheet, (I have had zero problems with sticking when I do this with this mixture). Set oven to 350 degrees. No need to pre-heat, remember, nothing in this mixture has to be cooked to be food safe. When your oven beeps "at temperature" wait five minutes, turn the off and let it coast for thirty minutes.

So there we have it. A forbidden food, sausage, (sort of). No fat, no cholesterol, no gluten, + protein, + omegas, energy efficient because it coasts in the oven, and it tastes good. I think I will have one right now.