Applewood Chicken Sausage with Spicy Goat Cheese Grits

Last night I had some applewood chicken sausage in the refrigerator that needed to be used up. After giving it some thought on what side dish to make, I decided I would serve the sausages with grits and asparagus.

I did some research on Allrecipes.com for recipes with grits, and found this basic recipe for garlic grits. This was more for a baked grits dish, but I figured I could work from it. I remembered that I had some goat cheese I wanted to use up at home so I decided I would use this type of cheese. Also, I left out the milk and egg (since I wasn’t baking it) and added some cayenne pepper for an extra kick.

When I went to the Publix on Shine, they had no asparagus, so I went without because I was in a hurry to meet an old friend. But I did snatch up some diced peppers (green, yellow and red) to toss in with the sausage.

Here’s how I ultimately made dinner:

Ingredients for Grits:

• 1 quart water
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup quick-cooking grits
• 1/4 cup butter (I used Brummel & Brown vegetable oil spread)
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or to taste)
• 1/4 cup goat cheese (or to taste)
• 2 slices of crispy bacon

Directions for Grits:

1. Bring water to a boil in a large saucepan with garlic and salt. Stir in grits, reduce heat to low, and cook until thick, about 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
2. Remove from heat and stir in cheese and butter until melted.
3. Crumble bacon on grits and serve.

As for the applewood chicken sausage, I heated them up on a skillet with the diced peppers. I added garlic powder as seasoning.

This took me less than 20 minutes to prepare and was absolutely delish! Next time I will definitely add some baked asparagus to round out the dish.

I started the grits first then heated up the sausage with the peppers while the grits thickened

Quick, yummy and easy. Just like I like my dinners!

Donnie ate his without the goat cheese because he’s cutting down on the dairy intake. He loved his grits and tried mine and liked them with the goat cheese as well! I’ll definitely be making this dish again soon!

Tags: applewood chicken sausage, cheesy grits, grits with goat cheese