Don't be chicken, try out some alternative breakfast patties

We've heard it numerous times: Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Starting off the day with a nutritionally balanced breakfast not only revs our metabolic engines but keeps us humming throughout the day and keeps between-meal hunger at bay. That's why I drink a protein shake blended with fruit (usually blueberries) and high-fiber breakfast cereal every morning.

Weekends are different, especially Sunday. My weekday morning shakes easily keep me on my weight-maintenance track, but it also gets a little boring. Weekend mornings give me the time for preparing a "real" breakfast.

For several years I used to bake Morningstar Farms Veggie Sausage Patties while scrambling a blend of eggs and egg whites. Each 1.3-ounce patty delivered just 80 calories (25 percent from fat) and 2.8 fat grams. Later on, I found them made with organic soy. Morningstar's patties delivered a good sausage flavor, even though their texture didn't match meat-based patties.

While shopping last fall I came across Al Fresco All-Natural Country-Style Breakfast Sausage. The short ingredient list (chicken, water, salt, natural spices, turbinado sugar, sage, thyme and natural lamb casing) impressed me, so I gave them a try.

Each fully cooked, 1.2-ounce, 60-calorie link delivered less than 1 gram of carbohydrates and 3.5 fat grams. The links were ready to eat and golden brown in less than 8 minutes. The texture and flavor matched every pork breakfast sausage link I'd ever eaten and completely satisfied my palate.

I wasn't the only one who liked them. A quick look at the Web site (alfrescoallnatural.com) showed the chicken sausages had been approved by Eating Well, Men's Health and Health magazines.

Flush with my success with those breakfast sausages I tried my luck with Jimmy Dean's Turkey Sausage Patties. The nutritional numbers looked good - each 1.2-ounce patty supplied 60 calories (58.5 percent from fat) and 3.9 fat grams - so I bought them despite the long ingredient list.

Jimmy Dean's patties are made more for microwave heating, although I followed the stovetop directions and, as promised, the patties were ready in 6 minutes. They had a decent, meaty texture, but their sodium content (about one-third more than Al Fresco's links) made them taste salty.

Other brands of non-pork, poultry or vegetarian breakfast sausage patties and links exist and it's worth trying them to see if they could meet your weekend breakfast needs, healthy expectations and taste. Yet don't assume all poultry-based breakfast sausages are low in fat (one Jennie-O 2.2-ounce turkey breakfast sausage patty has 12 fat grams); read the labels carefully.

I decided to take what I learned from those recent tastings and try making my own chicken sausages. I started with a recipe I created years ago for lean pork breakfast patties and subbed in lean ground dark meat chicken and added some cold spring water to maintain moisture. Give them a try this weekend.

• Don Mauer welcomes questions, comments and recipe makeover requests. Write him at don@theleanwizard.com.