March 2026 – Page 4 – The Charmed Kitchen

Lemon curd is one of my favorite desserts to make. Lemon curd is such a versatile dish. It’s a sort of lemon pudding and can be served plain, or with a dollop of whipped cream. It is also great in trifle or served as a topper for any number of cakes and sweet treats. I especially like to make lemon curd to serve with scones. It is also really nice served with berry shortcakes.

It is easy to make and packed with fresh lemon flavor. Lemon curd is just a few ingredients, cooked over low heat until it thickens up. You can make a batch in under 10 minutes. The longest part of the prep time is just waiting for it to cool down after cooking.

So here is the recipe for the lemon curd. If you never made your own- you might want to give it a try. Certainly worth the effort.

Classic Lemon Curd

1/2 c. lemon juice

zest from one good sized lemon- you should have 2-3 teaspoons

1/2 c. sugar

3 eggs

6 T. unsalted butter- cut into little cubes

In medium saucepan combine all ingredients. Whisk the mixture until the eggs are well blended. Cook over medium low heat, whisking often, until the mixture thickens. This will take 5-7 minutes. Whisk more often as mixtures warms and starts to thicken. Better to heat over lower heat and take longer than over too high a heat. You don’t want the eggs to scramble. Once the mixture is thickened , transfer to a bowl or jar. Cover the surface with a piece of plastic wrap to keep the surface from developing a skin- like any pudding will do. Chill until ready to use. Makes about 2 cups. Will keep in fridge a week or two.

I wanted breakfast sausages, but didn’t have any, so I decided to make my own.

These breakfast sausage are so flavorful. The nice thing about making your own sausage, is knowing all the ingredients that go into them. You can adjust seasonings to suit your taste. Making sausage does not have to be hard. I grew up in a family that had a sausage stuffer. So making sausage seems pretty normal to me. But if you never made sausage, you really should give it a go. I have a home movie, from before I was born, of my parents making Polish sausage. They were grinding the meat, seasoning it, prepping the casings and getting the meat into the casings. They made it look easy.

If you make sausage without the casings, like these little breakfast sausages, the process is pretty simple. You don’t need any special equipment, either. If you don’t have ground meat or a meat grinder, you can grind the meat in a food processor. Just cut the meat into cubes and place in the processor. Pulse on and off until you get the grind size you want. For these sausages, you want a pretty fine grind. Don’t put too much meat in at once. It is better to do a couple of smaller batches.

I made patties, but if you want links, just take the prepared mix, roll it out into tube shapes, wrap in plastic wrap and chill. Then just slice to the length you want. You can use ground pork, turkey, beef, chicken, venison or any combo you like. I even splurged once, and used ground duck.

Homemade Breakfast Sausage

2½ lbs. ground pork, turkey, beef, or chicken (leave on some fat)
1 T. dried sage
2 t. salt
2 t. pepper
1 t. dried marjoram
½ t. dried thyme
¼ t. allspice
¼ t. nutmeg
¼ t. dry mustard
⅛ t. cloves
pinch of cayenne pepper
⅓ c. warm water

Mix herbs and spices with water and let stand 10 minutes. Add the water and spice mixture to the meat and blend thoroughly. Form into patties, and chill, or cook immediately.* You can also form into rolls, roll in plastic wrap and chill. Then just slice your patties from the rolls. Patties can be fried or baked. This sausage can also be frozen for later use. Makes almost 3 pounds.

* I have made my own brown and serve sausages by cooking the sausage, over low heat in a large skillet. I add a little water and cover the pan, so they cook, but don’t brown. Cool and then freeze. When I want to have a few, I grab them out of the freezer and just brown in a skillet over medium-low heat.

Monthly Archives: March 2026

Classic Lemon Curd

Homemade Breakfast Sausage