Beer Brats

These sausages are delicious. And so easy to make. They were so good that as I was preparing dinner the next night, all I could think about was how I wanted more of these sausages! The onions in the dish taste sweet. Make sure you have some with each bite of sausage!

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We ate them as is but they would also be good in a roll with mustard.

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2 teaspoons olive oil

6 bratwurst sausages (I used Johnsonville)

1 large sweet onion, sliced into 1/4 inch rings

1/2 bottle beer, preferably dark but I used a lager

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Heat 1 teaspoon oil in a dutch oven over medium heat. Brown sausages until deep golden brown (do not puncture sausage). Remove to a platter.

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To the drippings, add the remaining teaspoon of oil and the onion rings. Toss onions to coat with oil. Cook, stirring often, until onions are limp and golden but not brown.

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Return the sausages to the onions and add the beer. Cook over medium heat, turning midway through, until beer has cooked down to a syrupy sauce, about 15 minutes.

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Recipe from about.com that I found while searching for a way to use these sausages.

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Labor Day Weekend Fête - Part 3

And the menu goes on...


We grilled up some sliced sausages, green peppers (from our garden!) and onions on skewers. We used some spicy kielbasa and chicken sausages. My mom spotted the recipe in a Paula Deen magazine. Once the kabobs came off the grill and were placed in the chafing dish, we poured a sauce over it:
Whisk together 3 tablespoons steak sauce, 3 tablespoons Worchestershire sauce and 2 tablespoons whole grain mustard.
As recommended by Paula, you can de-skewer the cooked sausage, onions and peppers, put them in a long roll and top with the sauce.

You can see the kielbasa on the left and the chicken on the right.

See the whole grain mustard in the kabob sauce.

I whipped up a big batch of sangria - a staple for summer parties at our house. A good friend Esther, who was a Spanish teaching assistant at Hollins, gave me this authentic recipe:

This is for a very large crowd. You can always divide it down to make less.

2 1.5 liter bottles red wine
64 oz. orange juice
98 oz. lemonade
2 cups white rum
3 cinnamon sticks
3 oranges cut into bite sized pieces
3 apples cut into bite sized pieces
½ cup sugar (more if desired)

Mix together and let sit for 2 hours. Do not let sit overnight because the taste changes drastically. Drink all in the same day (not difficult!).

We added shrimp to the menu at the last minute. Since we had a large supply of skewers and lemons, we sliced up the lemons and added a wedge with the shrimp on each kabob. Due to short notice, we simply added Lawry's Herb and Garlic marinade, olive oil and dried cilantro to the kabobs and let them marinade for a few hours before they were grilled for 2-3 minutes on each side. Easy and wonderful!

Tomorrow I will finish up with a potato dish and the desserts!

Photos by Bec.