Here we are back at the start of another week! I hope you all had a nice weekend! Joe and I had a great one… first up on Saturday morning we did our usual morning gym session then did our grocery shopping for the week and after that we had a guest visit us, it was Joe’s brother-in-law from Australia who was here for work in London and caught the train down to visit us for the day! It was great to see him and I was so happy that Joe got to see someone from his family after almost 3 years! It’s a shame he couldn’t stay longer but we had a chance to show him around our town and sit down for a coffee break at one of the local cafes :). On Sunday, we once again hit the gym in the morning then home to have something to eat, I prepared dinner by making the ‘Beef Casserole’ from Rubies and Radishes cookbook ‘The Paleo Slow Cooker’ which turned out to be very delicious! After that I worked on a dessert that I’m going to be sharing as a guest post on Craving4More blog soon, which I will link to over here when it goes up! The dessert was AMAZING… if I do say so myself! You’ll just have to wait and see! After doing some other household tasks that needed to be tackled we decided to go explore the castle grounds (in case you didn’t know we live right opposite a castle!), we ended up getting to see the birds they keep there for one of their shows… an American Eagle, Vultures, Owls, a baby Condor and some other bird I forget the name of! At first I thought they were fake but then they started moving and making noise and I thought WOOOOWWW this is crazy! After we explored the castle for a bit we ended up going for our usual walk which is about 8km/5miles and usually it’s fine but yesterday because of the gym session in the morning my legs were on fire and I really struggled on that walk! I was so sore after that, I was just ready to plop on the couch and watch Downton Abbey! 

Ahhh anyway overall it was a great weekend! Did you get up to anything special or was it a quiet one for you?

Ok now enough chatter about my weekend… on to today’s guest post! Today the wonderful Ashley behind the blog Craving4More is sharing one of her amazing recipes with us. Ashley and I have gotten to know each other via our blogs and through email contact, I love the way she works with ingredients and different flavour profiles to create wonderful recipes. If you haven’t already you must check out her blog!

I’ll pass you onto Ashley now… Enjoy!

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I absolutely love creativity in the kitchen. I consider my culinary space both a canvas and a laboratory. I use my time at the stovetop to create meditative works of art, but also for experimentation. I derive great pleasure from mixing and combining and concocting new and unusual flavors, but also through creating a beautiful and descriptive presentation.

I am passionate about food, but I’m also passionate about people. I find myself getting the most pleasure in life when I am able to combine these two elements. My joy in life comes from sharing truly nourishing food and flavors with the people I love and simply making others smile.

Over the last few months, Naz and I have become ‘blogging buddies’ and I am so thrilled that she invited me to guest post for her blog. I so respect all that she does and enjoy the hard work she devotes to all things. The two of us I have found, have a great deal in common and share many of the same interests and taste preferences. This makes it simply spectacular to be able to contribute to a recipe on Cinnamon Eats. Thanks Naz, you’re the best!

Both Naz and I are big fans of lamb. I was most recently reintroduced to lamb and discovered my heart for the cut in the form of lamb sausage. I have not yet developed such a fondness for pork, but I’m working on that. But, because I have access to a fantastic local market with a plethora of locally raised pastured pork, I constantly feel the need to experiment with flavors so to find the best possible combination to pleasure my palette. It’s also fig season and you can never go wrong with apricots… so here we go!

Deconstructed Fig & Apricot Sausage with Greens

Ingredients for the Fig & Apricot Sausage:

• 1/2lb ground pastured pork.
• 1/2lb ground lamb.
• 1/4 cup fresh figs, diced.
• 1/4 cup dried apricots, diced.
• 1/4 cup pure maple syrup.
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg.
• 1/2 tsp allspice.
• 1/4 tsp sea salt.
• 1/4 tsp black pepper.

Ingredients for the greens:

• 1 small red onion, thinly sliced.
• 4 cups arugula.

Ingredients for the Maple Balsamic Dressing:

• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil.
• 1 Tbsp dijon mustard.
• 1 Tbsp pure maple syrup.
• 1 Tbsp apricot nectar.
• 1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar.
• Sea salt and pepper to taste.

Method:

Combine all sausage ingredients in a large bowl and mix well.

In a large skillet over medium heat, brown sausage mixture and continue to stir until cooked all the way through. Transfer cooked meat to a separate bowl, reserving rendered fat.

In the same skillet used for browning the sausage, reheat the fat and sauté the red onion until translucent. Add to the cooked sausage mixture. Once slightly cooled, add the arugula.

Add all the ingredients for the ‘Maple Balsamic Dressing’ to a small bowl and whisk together until thoroughly combined and well emulsified.

Toss with the ‘Fig & Apricot Sausage’ and ‘Greens’ and serve immediately while still warm for a fantastic meal!

To learn more about me and discover more of my recipes, you can find me at my own blog Craving4More. I’ve also been known to contribute some rather interesting things to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest on occasion. I’d love for you to come find me and follow me anywhere and everywhere! Emails are pretty darn awesome too: thecraving4more at gmail dot com.