I try to cook with seasonal produce whenever I can. This time of year it’s not hard to do. There are plenty of squash, peppers, onions, and cabbage in the stores. I was lucky enough to be included in a project to highlight cooking with the New Hillshire Farm Gourmet Creation Sausage. The sausage comes in four great flavors; Beef and Bacon with Monterey Jack cheese, Chicken Apple with Gouda cheese, Sweet Italian with Peppers and Mozzarella cheese and Beef and Jalapeno with Monterey Jack cheese. For my recipe I chose the Beef and Jalapeno Sausage. I came up with a stir-fry recipe using cabbage, peppers, and mushrooms. I got a little more creative on the sauce— mixing Dijon mustard, dark beer, balsamic vinegar and horseradish sauce!! This might sound like a little much, but it worked out well.

Since Saturday was Sweetest Day I chose to make this special meal for the occasion. The day, I went to WalMart to pick up the sausage. It’s a new product so I was happy to find it. I really like that it has not artificial flavors or colors or by-products. A four pack cost $3.68 – not bad. Then I stopped by Vince and Joe’s to pick some fresh veggies. For more details and photo’s of my shopping trip please click here.

Ingredients:

One package of Hillshire Farm Gourmet Creation Sausage – Beef and Jalapeno
2 cups shredded green cabbage
2 cups shredded purple cabbage
4-5 large button mushrooms – sliced
One large red pepper – sliced
3 cups prepared white or brown rice

For the sauce:

Whisk together and set aside
¼ cup balsamic vinegar
¼ cup dark beer
1 tablespoon horseradish sauce
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

Instructions:

1. Add 1 tablespoon olive or canola oil to your pan and let it get quite hot.
2. Add the sliced sausage and heat through – I like to brown mine.
3. Remove and set aside in a separate dish
4. Add all the vegetables to the pan and cook for approximately 4-5 minutes depending on how crunchy you like them. About half-way through add the sauce.
5. Serve hot over the white or brown rice.

Both my husband and I thought the stir-fry turned out great. I think the sausage would be great in pasta dishes, on a crusty roll or on a pizza.

Disclosure: This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias. All opinions, views and photos are my own.