Sausage Scramble and Jelly Roll Stars

Sausage Scramble and Jelly Roll Stars:

This seems like an appropriate title for something that sounds delicious!  The sausage scramble is something I’ve been making for breakfast or lunch for quite a while… it’s low in carbs and satisfying.  I put a lot of vegetables in mine, which add to the flavor, and occasionally I will make it with hot sausage, or if regular pork sausage is on sale, I add some hot pepper flakes to it.  Here’s my recipe.

Sausage Scramble:

Brown 1# pork sausage in a large pan.  As the sausage cooks, add: 

½ to 1 cup chopped onion

1 green pepper, chopped (use less, if desired)

1 red or yellow pepper, chopped (use less, if desired)

1 to 2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms (optional)

1 – 2# bag of southern style frozen hash brown potatoes (squares, not the shredded potatoes)

Season to taste with salt and pepper.  (Red Pepper flakes, optional)

Cover pan and cook for about 10 to 15 minutes longer, until everything is heated through and potatoes are cooked.  Cool slightly and store in a covered container in the refrigerator.  To serve, put one cup of the sausage mixture into a small frying pan (no additional grease needed), cover and heat through on medium heat, about 5 minutes.  I put an egg in the center when it has heated, turn the heat to medium/low, cover again, and let the moisture steam the egg.  This scramble makes enough for meals for at least a week for me, and doesn’t raise my glucose much. 

The Jelly Roll Stars are not part of my breakfast, although I wish they could be!  I am partial to pre-cut fabrics, and in quilting jargon, a jelly roll is a package of 2-1/2” strips, usually with 40 to 42 strips in a roll.  They often have at least 2 of each color in a complete fabric line of the designer, so they are an easy way to get a variety of fabric for quilt blocks without having to buy a lot of yardage.  I’ve been “playing” with

various ways to use the strips, mostly in more traditional blocks.  Two jelly roll strips can be joined the long way on both sides, and then cut into triangles using a right-angle ruler, like the E-Z cut ruler. The few stitches at the tip of the triangle pull out easily, and when the triangle is opened, it is a 3-1/2” half square triangle!  One strip set will yield about 15 half square triangles.  For this star pattern, also known as the LeMoyne Star, or in some areas it is shortened to “Lemon Star”, you need three different sets of 4 HST’s: the two main colors together and each of the main colors with a background color.  So each of the jelly roll strips will yield enough HST’s for 3 blocks, plus 3 of each color left over for another project.  If you want the blocks to be scrappy, it takes 14” of fabric to make the 4 HST’s, so you would need 28” of each of 2 colors and 28” of background fabric to make a block, plus 14” of a 3-1/2” strip to make four 3-1/2” background squares for the corners.  I cut the corner strips from yardage with the June Tailor Shape Cut ruler, into 3-1/2” strips and then cut

those into 3-1/2” squares.  Most patterns for the LeMoyne Star use y-seams, or inset seams, but by using the HST’s, it can be made in rows and the rows joined to make the stars.  I like to lay the block out on the ironing board next to my sewing machine, and sew the pieces in each row together, then join the horizontal rows to complete the block.  The only pinning I do is joining the horizontal rows… with one pin where the pieces of the star connect, three pins in each row.  By checking to make sure the “points” match as I pin, the stars come together easily, without cut-off points. 

TIP:  Remember to remove the selvedge before you measure the 14”.

There are many different ways the blocks can be set… they can be joined as they are, or with added sashing to separate the blocks.  The 4 corners could be “snowballed” to give it a different look when the blocks are sashed and joined. 

I googled “History of the LeMoyne Star quilt block” and found this information:

“Lemoyne Star” is the name of a traditional quilt design whose earliest known published date is 1911 (according to Barbara Brackman’s Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns). It falls into the category of “eight-point/45° diamond stars.” The pattern itself has earlier origins than its published date. Ruth Finley in her book Old Patchwork Quilts and the Women Who Made Them, 1929, states that this particular quilt block was called “Star of Lemoyne”, “Lemoyne Star”, or “Lemon Star” (in New England), and she reveals that the design takes its name from the two LeMoyne brothers who settled Louisiana in 1699.

-Patricia L. Cummings, Quilter’s Muse Virtual Museum, www.quiltersmuse.com/Lemoyne_Star_miniature_quilt.htm

I was cutting several 2-1/2” strips from my yardage when I purchased new fabric long before they were popular to use, long before they were coined “jelly rolls”.  I sorted them into bins according to color: light, medium, and dark.  I also cut 1-1/2” strips and sorted those into bins of light and dark.  I now cut 5” strips, as well, and cut those into 5” pieces, to make my own charm squares.  Since I learned to make 8 half square triangles from 2 squares of fabric, I also have small bins with 10”, 8” and 6” strips to facilitate cutting those. It’s easy for me to pull strips from the bins when I want to start a new quilt or test a pattern by making a block or two. 

We quilters are fortunate to have so much information at our fingertips on the internet… and so many talented authors of quilt books demonstrating new, modern methods of cutting and sewing the pieces.  Pre-cuts give us instant variety and the luxury of having the strips or pieces already cut and ready for our own creativity to transform them into works of art when the inspiration hits. Quilters truly are artists who use fabric as their medium.  Modern quilters paint portraits and landscapes with fabric and thread, moving far out of the familiar realm of the beginning quilters who initiated us into their society.  Most quilters have generous spirits… many of the quilters I know donate dozens and even hundreds of charity quilts annually to various organizations, and those quilts provide blankets of love for the recipients.  Quilting provides me a marvelous opportunity to exercise my creativity, and the list of quilts I want to make “someday” far exceeds the years I have yet to live, I fear.  Quilts are like dear friends… we cherish the old but always appreciate the color and warmth new ones add to the fabric of our lives.

Sausage Scramble