Sausage Balls

Good Morning friends! I hope you had a GREAT weekend!  I did! We finally picked out the family Christmas tree, I know, we are slackin' big time!  My family always picks it out together, and this year it took a little longer to all have the same schedule, but we got it!  I can't wait to help decorate it!  Anyone else out there finally get their tree this weekend?? I wish I could see all the lovely decorated trees out there.  It is so interesting how everyone decorates them, with all the fun ornaments.  I love the ornaments with sentimental value. :)  My parent's have many ornaments from when my brothers and I were little kids and made ornaments in school.  They have dates on them too, so fun!  I hope to carry on some sort of tradition with ornaments when I have kids that have grown and have their own tree.
Anyways... speaking of Christmas and getting together with family, my friend and I made these great Sausage Balls that would be perfect for an appetizer while decorating your Christmas tree.  These are SO easy to make, require very little ingredients, and taste awesome.  Whip these babies out for the Holidays and everyone will love them. Plus it's always fun to snack with our fingers right?? Enjoy!



Sausage Balls

Simple and delicious!

Prep Time: about 20 minutes

Bake Time: 12-15 minutes

Servings: Makes about 40 (1½ inch or so) balls

Difficulty: Easy

Sausage Balls

Ingredients:

• 1 pound bulk Sweet Italian Sausage (I think any bulk sausage would work)
• 2 cups (8 ounces) shredded Cheddar Cheese-I used a Cold Jack blend
• 3 cups Bisquick Baking Mix(or any other biscuit mix)
• ½ cup Green Onion, finely chopped
• ¼ cup Green Bell Pepper, finely chopped(or red pepper for festive sausage balls)
• Mustard Mayo Dip(optional-recipe to follow)

Preparation:

Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl.

As a side note, this recipe does not call for any seasonings so that is the main reason I chose a sausage with seasonings.  You can use plain sausage, or add some spices if you would like, or use a sausage like I did.

Now get your hands in there and mash it all together!  You will get big muscles because it takes the sausage a little while to get incorporated good.  I gave up shortly, so I still had quite a bit of crumbs in the bottom, but I mixed the crumbs in with my balls as I went, so it worked out just perfect!

Roll into balls about 1½ inch wide or adjust the size to your liking.  These actually will get a little bigger while baking, but not a huge difference.  Place on a baking sheet with sides or a baking pan.  They can be close together, but not touching.(mine were a little too close because I didn't know they got larger) Bake for 12-15 minutes or until the bottoms are browned-I'm a chicken and actually cut into the center of one to make sure they were done.

Enjoy!!

These sausage balls are great on their own, but this Mustard Mayo Dip(which would be a great dip for many other foods!) accompanies them well too! Try it out!

Mustard Mayo Dip

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Mayonnaise
• 2 to 3 tsp. Prepared Yellow Mustard
• 1 tsp Dijon Mustard
• 1/4 tsp Dill Weed

Stir all ingredients together and serve with the Sausage Balls.  I hope you enjoy!

I found both of these recipes on Southernfood.about.com

Please let me know if you make these! They are so worth it! I definitely plan on making them again!

Question of the Day:

Do you and your family have any Holiday traditions?