Sausage and Cheese Balls

My goodness have I been a bad blogger lately! It's been almost a month since my last post. I don't have any excuses so I won't bore you with any. Now that I'm back, I will redeem myself with some yummy Sausage and Cheese Balls. You've probably seen this recipe before. I believe the original recipe is from Betty Crocker, but I have made a few adjustments to suit our taste. I had mine for breakfast dipped in syrup, of course, but you could also dip them in bbq sauce, ranch, or whatever you prefer any time of day. This recipe makes a ton, so you can definitely freeze the leftovers to enjoy later.

Sausage and Cheese Balls
Adapted from: Betty Crocker via Pennies on a Platter

3 cups baking mix, such as Bisquick
1 lb. reduced-fat pork sausage
2-4 cups shredded cheddar cheese 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon parsley flakes

1. Preheat oven to 350˚F.  Using the paddle attachment, mix all ingredients together in the bowl of a stand mixer.  You can use a wooden spoon or your hands if you don't have a mixer. 
2. Roll into 1″ balls and place on a parchment or silicone lined baking sheet.  Bake for 20 minutes, or until browned.  Serve warm with your favorite dipping sauce (optional), such as syrup, ranch, or bbq sauce.
3. To freeze:  Allow the sausage balls to cool completely, then store in a freezer bag for up to 1 month.  When ready to eat, warm on top of a paper towel in the microwave for 30 seconds per 3 sausage balls.  Or, warm in a preheated 350˚F oven for 10 minutes.

Yield: 6-7 dozen

French Dip Sliders

Wow! Where I have I been all week! To be honest it hasn't been much of a cooking week for me. We have been having leftovers and old recipes, nothing new or fancy. My little guy's birthday is coming up in a couple of weeks so I have been preoccupied trying to plan his party. I'm a big planner, I don't like to wait until the last minute to do things (that is unless you count housework....) so this party has been in the works for awhile. Now it's almost here and my baby boy will be one-year old! So stay tuned for some pics of the big cake smash! But until then, I do have a recipe for you. French Dip Sliders in your crock pot. I adapted the recipe from Our Best Bites that calls for a 2.5 lb roast; I have the tiniest crockpot ever so I scaled down the recipe to fit my pot, but you can always double my recipe if you have a normal sized crock pot. I also made some homemade french bread to use with these, but a store bough baguette cut into slider size would work just as well.

French Dip Sliders
Adapted from: Our Best Bites

1 lb eye of round beef steaks
1 medium onion, sliced
1 package dry onion soup mix
1 can beef broth
1 cup water
salt and pepper, to taste
french bread
sliced provolone or swiss cheese

1. Place beef steaks in the bottom of the crock pot. Add the sliced onions. Sprinkle dry soup mix over beef and onions. Add beef broth, water, and salt and pepper. Mix everything together. Cook in crock pot for 8-10 hours on low. ( You could also cook it 4-5 hours on high and then 3-4 on low.)
2. When meat shreds easily, remove the steaks from the pot and shred all of them. Top french bread with some sliced onions, shredded beef, and a 1/2 slice of provolone or swiss cheese. Ladle soup into bowls for dipping. Serve warm.

Spinach Dip Taquitos

One of my most favorite things to indulge in is the Santa Fe Spinach Dip from Cheddars. If you don't have a Cheddars where you live, you are definitely missing out. It has the perfect ratio of spinach to cheese, and its super spicy. I will admit, most of the food there is nothing special, but man, that spinach dip is the bomb! But enough going on about that. The point is that I had an ingenious idea last night. Well,  I'm probably not the first person in the world to come up with it, but I've never seen a recipe like this, so we'll go with it. I had some extra cream cheese in my fridge I needed to use badly and a package corn tortillas. At first I thought I would make these Chicken Taquitos that are completely delicious, but then I remembered the giant bag of frozen spinach in the freezer that was taking up way too much space. Then I started thinking about spinach dip. So I thought, I wonder how spinach dip would be wrapped up in a corn tortilla? The answer: super yummy! So I roughly based the recipe for my spinach dip filling on this recipe from Food People Want, but I didn't follow it too closely, so you can follow the link if you are looking for a stand alone spinach dip recipe.  These would be great for a Meatless Monday meal, or as an appetizer. You must try these!

Spinach Dip Taquitos

Adapted from: a combination of a few recipes

1 tbs butter

1 medium onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, diced

6 oz reduced fat cream cheese

Worcestershire sauce, to taste

Hot sauce, to tase
Cayenne pepper, to taste

1 cup shredded pepperjack cheese

salt and pepper

10 oz package frozen spinach, thawed and drained well
Package corn tortillas

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray and set aside. 
2. In a small skillet, melt butter over medium heat, and add onion and garlic to pan. Cook until soft, 5-8 minutes.
3. In a microwave safe mixing bowl, heat cream cheese for 30 seconds. Add remaing ingredients (except the corn tortillas) to the bowl of warmed cream cheese. Mix well.
4. Place 3 tortillas at a time on a plate in between 2 paper towels, and heat for 20 seconds. Working quickly place 2 tbs of spinach filling in the center of tortilla and roll tightly. Place seam side down on the sprayed cookie sheet. Repeat this process until all filling is used up. Lightly spray taquitos with cooking spray.
5. Place in oven and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until edges are crispy and starting to brown. Let cool a few minutes before serving. Serve warm with sour cream and salsa.

Makes 12-15  6 inch taquitos.