my partner's 85 year old mom

@oliveyousomatcha

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Promoted product

Italian sausage substitute

Why it worked

The video provides a practical and empathetic solution to a common problem faced by caregivers, offering a recipe that is both healthy and appealing to the target audience. The creator's personal connection to the need makes the content relatable and trustworthy.

Summary

The creator demonstrates how to make a soft, lower-sodium Italian sausage substitute for an aging parent. The process involves mixing ground meat with Greek yogurt, egg, panko, and seasonings, then baking it into a flat sheet before chopping it into small pieces. The creator also mentions freezing the substitute in batches for future use.

Structure

1Introduce the need for soft, lower-sodium food.
2Explain why traditional sausage is not ideal.
3Demonstrate making the substitute with ground meat, Greek yogurt, egg, and panko.
4Add seasonings and explain sodium control.
5Bake the mixture into a flat sheet.
6Show how to cut and portion the substitute for an aging parent or for freezing.

Product placement

PAG Total 2% (appears, does not act, removing it does not change video) Herb-Ox Sodium Free Chicken (appears, does not act, removing it does not change video)

Original caption

The BEST lower sodium Italian Sausage substitute 🙌🤤❤️ this is one of my new favorite recipes! My partner’s 85-year-old Mom requires soft and lower sodium food. So I’m always on a mission to make sure she has very flavorful food that falls into her dietary restrictions. And this Italian sausage substitute is amazing! She absolutely loves it. ❤️🥰 When you need lower sodium food, sausage is not the best option because it’s typically pretty high in sodium. But it is very flavorful and is needed in certain recipes. So I figured out how to make a really great substitute that is soft enough for an aging parent to chew, and you can control the sodium levels to make it work for them. And it’s perfect for meal prep and is freezer friendly. If you are a caregiver for an aging parent or a grandparent, I highly recommend giving this one a try. We are obsessed. ITALIAN CHICKEN "SAUSAGE" 1 lb ground chicken or turkey 1 cup panko crumbs 1/2 onion, diced small 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped 1 tsp garlic powder 1 tsp onion powder 1 tsp fennel seeds 1 tsp parsley 1 tsp Italian seasoning 1 tsp paprika 2 eggs 1/4 greek yogurt 1/4 tsp sea salt (optional) For salty flavor 1/4 tsp salt 1 packet of Herb OX no salt seasoning 1/4 tsp MSG favorite salt substitute replacement DIRECTION Add everything to a large bowl, mix until evenly combined. (If the dried spices, like fennel seeds, are going to give you a problem, run them through a spice grinder to break them down to a powder) Lay out a large piece of parchment paper. Put 1/2 of the mix onto it and evenly smooth it out into a rectangle. Fold the parchment paper to the meat is covered. Using a rolling pin, smooth out the meat more. I make mine about 1/4 inch thick, but it's important to get it as even as possible. Repeat the process with the other half of the meat Bake at 400ºF for 16-20 minutes (cooking time will vary depending on how thick you rolled the meat). Flip at the 10 minute mark so it cooks evenly. Will be ready when internal temperature is 165ºF Remove from parchment paper and cut into tiny pieces or deli slices #caregiver #agingparents #mealprep #lowsodium

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Transcript

my partner's 85 year old mom needs soft and lower sodium food. So things like Italian sausage do not work for her. Not so much because it's not soft enough, but sausages, Italian sausages are typically very high in sodium. So I have a trick of making a substitute, soft and lower sodium that works for her. So that's what we're doing today. Start with your choice of ground meat. I'm going to use chicken, but you can use beef, pork, whatever you want. She just prefers chicken. In order to make the meat nice and soft and moist, I have a couple of tricks. A little bit of Greek yogurt, egg as a binder, and panko. Then I add in finely chopped onion and garlic, which also makes it a bit more moist and also just flavorful. One of the things that makes sausage so delicious is all of the seasoning that's in it. So I go pretty generous on all of that. You can do whatever spices you want, but here's what I use. And then the nice thing about making your own meat mix is that you can completely control the sodium levels. So add as much or as little as you want. You can also add your favorite salt substitute, like this guy over here, or MSG, whatever makes you happy. And just mix her up. When you're seasoning ground meat, you just take a little bit, put it in the microwave, and then you can taste test it that way. You can adjust the flavor before you cook it all. Good. Of course, you could make things like meatballs, patties, really whatever you want. But this is what I like to do because our aging parent does require very soft food and this just seems to be working really nicely for her. I take the ground meat, put it on parchment paper, spread it out so it's somewhat even. I have a pound of meat, so I'm doing half and half. Then you cover it with parchment paper. You go like this and then you just roll it out. If you have it thicker, it just cooks longer. If you have it thinner, it just cooks for less time. So whatever you want to do. Then just move it onto a baking tray. The other half. Then this just goes into the oven at 400 degrees Fahrenheit, flip at the 10 minute mark, and then check it at the 16 minute mark. It takes more like 18 to 20 minutes. It just depends on how thick you rolled out your meat. Once they're done baking, then you have some options. So one of the things you can do is cut it into slices like deli meat, which is one of my favorite substitutes for actual deli meat. You can control the sodium levels and then there's no preservatives or all the other funky things that are normally in deli meat. What I usually do for Lola is just chop it up so what I do first is I just cut off the edges. They do get a little bit crispy for most people. This is totally fine, but because she has dentures and dementia, she's just a little bit picky if it's tough. So I just cut that off to be safe. And the rest of the family will just eat those edges. They make a good snack. And then I just chop hers up into nice and small pieces. And now I have this soft and lower sodium sausage substitute for an aging parent. You can keep this in the fridge for a couple of days. I actually made this because I'm going to do an Olive Garden copy-cat soup tomorrow. So stay tuned for that video. But because life is busy, what I really like to do is make it in larger batches and then just freeze it that way. You always have these on hand so you could just easily add them to an aging loved one's meal.