Low Sodium Homemade Italian Sausage

Ingredients

• 1 lb lean ground beef, pork or turkey
• 1/2 tsp fennel seed, crushed
• 1/2 tsp Hungarian paprika
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
• 1/8 tsp red pepper flakes (add more if you like spicy)
• 1/2 tsp oregano
• 1/2 tsp ground sage
• 1/2 tsp dried basil
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme

Directions

1. Crush the fennel seed in a food grinder or place the seed in a plastic bag and pound them a few times so they are lightly crushed.

2. Mix the crushed fennel seed in with all the other spices in a small bowl and mix well.

3. Sprinkle the spice mixture all over the ground meat and then mix well until the spices are evenly distributed throughout the meat.

4. Refrigerate for 8-24 hours to let the spice flavors permeate into the meat. If you try to cook the meat immediately, it will have very little flavor as the spices need time to develop.

5. Form the sausage into thin patties, meatballs, sausage logs or cook as crumbles. You can also add an egg and breadcrumbs to make regular sausage patties.

6. Cook over medium heat until the sausage is cooked through and there is no pink remaining. DO NOT OVERCOOK or the meat will be very dry and not tasty at all.

1/4 of recipe would have 238 calories and 74mg sodium