Simple Saturdays

This week's recipe is simple, easy, quick, and a well-known favorite.  Sausage balls!  Growing up, theses were a given at any party or big get together.  And there was never a single one left at the end.  I'm pretty sure just about everyone loves sausage balls so these work well for parties, breakfasts/brunches, appetizers, midnight snacks, anytime snacks... yes, definitely that last one! :)  

Up until recently, I thought that sausage balls could be made ONLY using Bisquick.  Excuse my naivete.  They can be made - quite well! - with flour and the basic ingredients that go along with it.  I don't usually make these because I don't keep Bisquick in the house since I make most things by scratch,but I wanted to make them for the hospitality table at my church in the morning and I discovered that you can indeed use flour!

Begin by mixing flour, salt, baking powder, cayenne pepper, and black pepper together.  (The peppers give it a slightly hotter kick that I actually liked!)

Melt 3 tblsp. of butter...

Shred cheese by hand or in a food processor.  (You can, of course, buy the shredded cheese at the store, but it tastes WAY better freshly shredded.  And your taste buds are sick if you don't notice the difference. ;) )

Add the meat to the rest of the ingredients and mix until it looks like this blob.

Roll into balls and cook.  You could probably use a cookie scoop for this part if you didn't want to use your hands.

The finished product!  Now go enjoy. :)

That's it for today folks!  I'm off to enjoy the rest of my weekend.  I have a load of yummy dinner and dessert recipes coming your way soon, though. :)

Sausage Balls

1 1/4 c. all purpose-flour

1 1/2 tsp. baker powder

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper (or more, depending on how spicy you like it)

1/4 tsp. black pepper

8 oz. shredded cheddar cheese

16 oz. sausage

1/2 large yellow onion, grated (grating it gives the sausage balls some onion flavor without biting into big chunks of onion)

3 tblsp. unsalted butter, melted

(1)  Preheat oven to 400.  Grease baking sheet.

(2)  Whisk flour, baking powder, salt, cayenne pepper, and black pepper.  Add the cheese and toss to coat with flower mixture.  Add sausage, onion, and butter.

(3)  Shaped into balls and cook for 25 minutes.  

(4)  Eat hot or refrigerated - whichever your preference!


*I recommend having fun with this recipe and trying different things in it, I think it would be yummy to add crumbled bacon, green onions instead of yellow, or even blue cheese!  What would you add to make it different?*