Jones Golden Brown All Natural Fully Cooked Chicken Sausage

 

Breakfast sausages are one of my favorite breakfast proteins (aside from bacon that is). Unfortunately breakfast sausages typically don't have the best nutrition facts ... that is until I stumbled upon Jones Golden Brown All Natural Fully Cooked Chicken Sausage. What struck me was that these sausages are precooked, frozen and chicken!

I've naturally transitioned from pork sausage, to turkey sausage and finally to chicken sausage. Out of all the options, chicken sausages are undoubtedly my favorite. These Jones chicken sausages are quite tasty. They cook up perfectly either in a skillet, while they're also not bad in the microwave. I will stress, if you're going to be microwaving, keep an eye on them because depending on how your microwave cooks, it can pull some of the moisture out of them and make them a little chewier.

Taste wise they remind me of a milder tasting brown and serve pork sausage. They're satisfying and go perfectly alongside scrambled eggs, hash browns and even pancakes. I enjoyed them quite a bit and will undoubtedly make them a staple in my breakfast (or breakfast for dinner) game.

A serving, 4 links, is 80 calories or 2 points plus values / 2 smart points.

Trader Joe's Smoked, Apple Chardonnay Chicken Sausage

I'm a big fan of Trader Joe's chicken sausages, but after a while having the same thing tends to get ... well, boring. So, one afternoon I decided to pick up a package of the Trader Joe's Smoked, Apple Chardonnay Chicken Sausage. I'm not a fan of chardonnay and I can give-or-take apple sausage ... but new is different and different is welcomed.

 

The flavor of these sausages isn't overwhelming, but there is a distinctly "different" flavor of them when compared to some of the other prepackaged sausages sold at the store. It's not a bad different. The flavors are there and I can't say any of them is overwhelming.  There's definitely a smokiness to them which reminds me of keilbasa in a lot of ways. Flavor wise, the sausage does have a lingering taste of chardonnay in the background. Whereas the apple flavor isn't really there, or at least, not to my taste buds. You can see bits of the apple in the sausage when you cut into it, but it doesn't stand out at all.

 

I've prepared the sausages in a number of ways and since the flavors are so muted in ways, it kind of goes along with any dish you prepare. I've had them grilled, sauteed with peppers and onions, served alongside some scrambled eggs for breakfast. Overall, they're not bad and a good meal to have every once in a while to switch things up a bit.

A serving, 1 link, is 140 calories or 3 points plus values.

Al Fresco Breakfast Chicken Sausage - Country Style

Since joining Weight Watchers Al Fresco has become one of my brands of choice. Admittedly, anytime I see new Al Fresco products at the grocery store I have to give them a try. That's just when the Al Fresco Breakfast Chicken Sausage - Country Style jumped into my grocery cart.

I cooked the sausages per box directions to include with my prepped breakfast meals. As with any frozen sausage link they took truly no time to brown them and get up to temperature. Steaming them with a little bit of water helped cook the sausages through and then allowed them to get nice coloring on the outside of the links.

Flavor wise, they taste just like a pork breakfast sausage would. Al Fresco certainly flavors the links well enough that they don't lack in flavor and they do not scream "I'm chicken!" They've got a wonderful flavor, they've got a moistness to them and they're wonderful on their own or alongside some scrambled eggs.

A serving, 2 sausage links, is 80 calories or 2 points plus values.

Chipotle Chorizo Sauce

I purchased a package of Al Fresco Chipotle Chorizo chicken sausage (see here) at the grocery store. I’ve honestly never tried chipotle chorizo sausage in the past, but I’ve heard it’s a great flavorful meat selection. Al Fresco makes a line of one of my favorite chicken sausages, so I decided to give it a whirl.  The chipotle chorizo sausage actually is mixed with mango and adobo. Taking it out of the freezer I wasn’t quite sure what I was going to do with it or how I was going to serve it.  After some thinking I decided on making a simple little sauce to serve with spaghetti squash and pasta.

The sauce was perfect. The sausage brought a level of heat to the dish which was unique and delicious.  Those with a blander palette may not enjoy this dish, but if you’re a fan of a bit of heat this may be right up your alley.

I served mine over spaghetti squash, which I topped with some fat free mozzarella. It was perfect, spicy and filling!

Serves 4. 5 Points Plus Values.

Ingredients:

• 1 package (4 links) Al Fresco All Natural Chipotle Chorizo Chicken Sausage, sliced
• 26 oz canned crushed tomatoes
• 2 medium bell peppers, sliced
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 tbsp minced garlic
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp salt
• ½ tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp Cajun seasoning

In a large non-stick pan sprayed with non-stick cooking spray, over medium high heat add in sliced sausages and cook on both sides until crisped.

Once sausage is browned, place in a bowl and set aside.  Add onions, garlic and peppers to the pan. Season vegetables with black pepper, salt, garlic, oregano and Cajun seasoning. Cook until onions are slightly translucent and peppers are a bold green shade (the onions should be softer, but the peppers slightly crunchy).

Add sausage and any juices into the pan then add in canned tomatoes. Stir to combine.

Allow the sauce to simmer for 5-10 minutes.

Adjust seasonings to your liking.

Roasted Potatoes, Chicken Sausage and Peppers

Two weeks ago I went ahead and tried out a Skinnytaste recipe I had printed out after a recommendation and decided to try it out.  I’ve had sausage with potatoes and peppers a million times before – but most of those times were pre-Weight Watchers.  Typically when I make roasted sausages with peppers and onions in the oven, I eliminate the potato and just cook everything up in the oven until done.  I have to say, adding the potato made it seem like it was a dish that was “bad for you” which made it so much better!

I weighed out and measured all the ingredients needed for the dish and was quite surprised at how MUCH there was in the pan and how little servings there were.  The entire pan was to be separated out into four servings.  Four GIGANTIC servings might I add.  It was so delicious that I will be making this again.  It cooked up so quickly in the oven.  Next time I’m going to switch out the sausage for a different flavoring to change it up a bit (the original was delicious but I know I have a few other sausage flavorings in the freezer).

I followed the recipe (http://www.skinnytaste.com/2011/10/roasted-potatoes-chicken-sausage-and.html) as described except I eliminated the rosemary since I didn’t have any so I substituted for minced garlic (along with the powder garlic) and some oregano.  I love changing things up to my liking ;).  The ¼ of the serving was 8 Points Plus.

Overall two thumbs up.  Totally worth making again!  This would even be good to save half a serving to go along with some eggs in the morning!

QUESTION:

Have you ever made a Skinnytaste recipe?

Trader Joe’s Sweet Apple Chicken Sausage

I have become a lover of Trader Joe’s and with that I allow myself to be adventurous and try new things.  I primarily stick to the things that are Weight Watcher’s Point friendly for me.  There are some things I’d like to try but I’m just not into the nutritional information enough to splurge.  Every time I shop at Trader Joe’s I find myself bringing home 2-3 (or more…) new things that  haven’t tried before to test out.

During my last shopping trip these Sweet Apple Chicken Sausages were on my list.  I ended up putting them in the freezer because I wasn’t sure when I wanted to make them – that was until this week when I decided I wanted breakfast for dinner.

These chicken sausages have a really low point value (3 ppv) for a sausage and they are a pretty decent size.  I’ve had pork apple sausages before and I really enjoyed them – but would never repurchase now that I follow WW because I would seriously cringe at the points.  I find with my weight loss journey there are some things that are worth the splurge, while others just aren’t worth it for me.  So for the things that aren’t worth it – I find substitutes and I am happy to say this is an excellent substitute!

The sausages are definitely a sweet apple flavor – so I’d suggest pairing them up with breakfast items (eggs, pancakes, waffles, etc.) or if you’re adventurous pair them up with a dinner item.  They are precooked so they only have to brown up until the internal temperature is over 150F.  I did find since these are sweet, the natural sugars in them come out while cooking so they want to “burn” in the pan – but it’s really the sugars crystallizing.  I ended up adding some water into the pan to keep my kitchen from potentially getting smoky.

Overall – 2 thumbs up.  Even my picky eater boyfriend really enjoyed these!

QUESTION:

Have you tried any of the sausages at Trader Joe's?

Archer Farms Spinach & Garlic Chicken Sausage

While shopping at Target last week I spotted the Archer Farms Spinach & Garlic Chicken Sausage in the refrigerator section in a display case.  Since joining Weight Watchers I have happily switched out pork sausages for chicken and turkey sausage (depending on the nutritional information – some I completely bypass).  I figured out the points for it and was completely surprised to find they were only 2 pointsplus for one sausage, 4 pointsplus for two.

They don’t have a casing on them so they cook up quickly and there is no worrying about the sausages cracking in the pan in a casing.  They are precooked so I believe the package said you could heat them in the microwave or you could pan fry them – which is the method I chose.

Flavor wise they are definitely delicious.  I love garlic sausages and there is a definite garlic flavor to them while spinach is bland in itself, but that’s expected because spinach doesn’t have a strong flavor normally.  Overall 2 thumbs up!

QUESTION:

Have you ever tried the Archer Farms Spinach & Garlic Chicken Sausage?