The Simple Sausage

Sausages are possibly one of the easiest, quickest, most fun and affordable meal options to serve your kids! They are quick to prepare, a good source of protein and given they are perfect as finger foods, they are super easy for kids to eat!

Now, everyone knows about sausages being used for hot dogs, but there is really so much more one can do with the simple sausage.

Here are 6 simple (and different) SAUSAGE IDEAS your kids will love:

1. Cut sausages in half or into thirds and push uncooked spaghetti noodles through each sausage. Place in boiling water until pasta is cooked through, drain and serve. This will give your kids a good laugh and makes eating pasta a WHOLE lot easier (no forks required). You could add a cheese dip or tomato sauce for flavouring.
2. Cut your sausages in half and wrap a piece of uncooked bacon around each. Place a toothpick through the centre to keep the bacon in place. Place in the oven and bake at 175 degrees and leave for up to 20 minutes or until bacon is crispy.
3. Get creative and make some sausage animals from cut up sausages. For example, cut your sausages into 3 pieces or into quarters. To make sausage spiders, cut 4 lines on each side of the sausages (cut can go up to half way max). For a sausage octopus, only do the 4 cuts on one side. Place sausages in hot water / oil and cook until the cuts you made have separated slightly to form a leg shape. When done, place on a plate with Carlton roll to allow excess oil/water to be removed. When ready, place sausage spiders so their body section is on the plate (legs are on the sides). Octopus sausages are placed with legs directly on the plate. Using mustard, tomato sauce or other even some vegetables, create a face with eyes, hair and mouth.
4. Take a sausage and slice into 1cm pieces and place pieces in front of each other on a plate to create the shape of a worm. Next to each piece, on either side, using a toothpick and tomato sauce, draw the legs. On the front piece (for the face), cut a small roundish piece out of it to make a mouth shape. Use tomato sauce, mustard or even 2 seeds to make the eyes.
5. Make your favourite pancake mixture or savoury pancake mixture. Pour the mixture into each of the muffin slots of a greased muffin pan. Place a small piece of sausage in the centre of each and cook until mixture has set. And, voila! A pancake hot dog!
6. Create sausage men! This is very similar to the sausage spider and octopus idea above, but this time, you one cut down the middle of one end of the sausage (these will be the man’s legs). On the opposite side of where you just cut, make two small cuts on each side of the top of the hot dog (these will separate when cooked to make the arms). Place the sausages into boiling water and cook until the cuts open up. When done, remove from water, pat dry or place on Carlton paper to remove excess water and when ready, make faces and / or even clothes with your condiments such as mayo, tomato sauce and mustard.

Original  images and their credits available on Pinterest