Try our new favorite breakfast recipe – Scrapple. It’s traditionally  known as a Pennsylvania Dutch recipe but it’s actually something that I grew up eating even though that’s not at all my heritage. My grandmother made it for us. So maybe it was one of Maggie’s recipes. I don’t know.

Scrapple is basically a mixture of sausage and cornmeal. It may sound strange but it’s actually quite tasty. I had never made it for my kids, but in our search for more breakfast variety (since we eliminate eggs, oats, peanut butter, and some fruits for at least part of our family) I turned to my childhood and tried it. My kids like it and I like that it’s a good source of protein in the morning.

I had to call my mom to find out how to make it. She typically uses breakfast sausage (like Jimmy Dean) but our local store doesn’t carry a brand of breakfast sausage that I like. So I used sweet Italian sausage with some added seasonings and turned out quite well.

sausage simmering

Start with….

1 lb. Italian sausage (sweet or spicy)
8 1/2 cups of water
1 medium sauce pan

Fill the sauce pan with the water and crumble the sausage (remove the casings first if necessary) by hand into the water. Bring to a boil and simmer for 30 minutes. Now add….

1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
2 tbl. sage (note you may want to use less if you are nursing as sage reduces milk supply)

Stir. Then gradually add…

3 cups cornmeal
1/2 cup flour (all purpose, white spelt, whole wheat)

Combine the cornmeal and flour in a bowl. MIx. Gradually add the cornmeal/flour mixture to the boiling water while stirring quickly. There will be some clumps of cornmeal but just keep stirring until all the cornmeal has been incorporated. You should now have a very dense, thick mixture. There should be no remaining liquid. It should be so thick that a wooden spoon will stand up on end in the mixture. If the mixture doesn’t seem that thick then add more cornmeal. Turn the heat off and immediately pour into a loaf pan (not cast iron as the moisture will cause it to rust). Let it cool completely and then refrigerate overnight so that the mixture will set.

In the morning, cut into slices about 1/2 inch thick and dip into flour to coat on both sides. Fry in a little bit of oil until crisp. Eat and enjoy.

Note: Once chilled, the scrapple should slice easily and hold together. If it falls apart and is still mushy when you take it out of the loaf pan then you need to add more cornmeal.