SAUSAGE BALLS RECIPE | BREAKFAST

As soon as I get time to upload all of our pictures from Friendsgiving I will share. We had the best time with everyone and I am happy to report that there were no fires like last year and our table was finished and ready in time...yay!

Today I'm going to share one of my favorite recipes. This also happens to be one of my husband's favorites, too! I usually only make these around the holidays and then maybe once or twice throughout the rest of the year for special occasions. There are a few different ways to make sausage balls, but this is by far our favorite...and it's really simple!

What you'll need:

1lb of sausage (we like Tennessee Pride sausage the best!)

2 cups Bisquick

4 cups sharp cheddar cheese

Directions:

**Set the cheese and sausage out about 15-20 minutes before you start so that it is at room temperature when it's time to start mixing everything. This will help when mixing it together and keep your hands from freezing!**

- Preheat oven to 350

- Mix all the ingredients together by hand, this usually takes a good 5 minutes or so. You will want to make sure everything is in one big ball. If you still have cheese or bisquick at the bottom of your bowl then you need to keep mixing! It should look like the picture below once you are done mixing everything together.

- Once it is mixed together well, then spray your pan with some cooking spray, and start rolling them into balls and place on the pan. 

- Depending on your oven, they should bake anywhere from 25-30 minutes. Just watch them, once they start turning brown you'll know they are done!

And that's it! Very simple and they are even great reheated. Growing up we always made a big batch the day we decorated for Christmas and I have carried that over to my own little family. It's such a fun tradition! 

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SAUSAGE BALLS RECIPE | BREAKFAST

LOADED BAKED POTATO DIP - APPETIZER

For our Summer Soiree I made a couple of appetizers for all of our guests to snack on a couple of hours before we had dinner, and this is one of them. This was a hit and I will most definitely be making this appetizer again in the future!

It was very easy to throw together and had so much flavor. I actually made this the night before and just popped it back in the oven, covered, to warm up right before everyone got there. 

Loaded Baked Potato Dip Adapted from Carolina Charm

Ingredients: 1 cup  instant potato flakes 1 cup  milk 1 cup Light Sour Cream 1 tub (8 oz) Chive & Onion Cream Cheese Spread 2  green onions, sliced, divided 2 cups Shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese, divided 2 Tbsp. Real Bacon Bits  Ritz Toasted Chips Original or Wheat Thins   Directions: Heat oven to 350ºF. Mix potato flakes and milk in large bowl; until milk is absorbed. Add sour cream, cream cheese spread, 1 cup of shredded cheese,1 Tbsp of bacon bits, and half the onions; mix well. Spoon into baking dish; sprinkle with remaining shredded cheese and bacon bits. Bake 15 to 20 min. or until shredded cheese is melted and dip is heated through. Sprinkle with remaining onions. Serve with chips.

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LOADED BAKED POTATO DIP - APPETIZER

OUR SUMMER SOIREE | 2016

Our first annual summer was a success. If you are following me on Snapchat or Instagram then you already saw a few peeks into our weekend, if not I'm going to share today! Fair warning: This will be a picture heavy post. The weather wasn't in our favor for our soiree, but thankfully it did let up a bit that afternoon and we were able to get out and play a few games of cornhole.

I'll start with our drinking station. I wanted to keep our soiree as simple as possible, as well as budget friendly! So we cut out the soft drinks and stuck with the classics. Sweet tea, lemonade and water. I had lemons and limes cut for people to add to their drinks, if desired.

 I picked up some cute yellow washi tape and put on all the cups so people could label their drinks to keep up with. Worked like a charm.

 Yellow bowls can be found at Target.

Next up is our appetizers! I made a loaded baked potato dip and lil smokies. Looking back now I wish I would have just made the loaded baked potato dip. It was gone within minutes of getting it out of the oven.

"Hello Summer" pineapple printable + Pineapple cookie jar

I will be sharing the recipe for this delicious appetizer this week!

Our sides table is next. We had baked beans, cole slaw, and potato chips! I found the cole slaw recipe a few weeks ago, and it turned out pretty good. I'll share that recipe soon, as well.

I posted a picture similar to the one below on Snapchat Friday night as I was getting everything together and immediately I had people asking where I found these wooden platter/utensil holder. Well, I got the from my FIL...for free. For his meetings and networking lunches at work he has a caterer that does all the meals for him, and she uses these wooden platters to serve the food in. At the end of those meetings he is left with all of them so he started bringing them home. We used them at Thanksgiving and Christmas and they are absolutely perfect. He has so many of them that he gave me some to have at our house for parties and I love them! I found scrap pieces of fabric at WalMart for $1 a piece and cut them to fit in some of the wooden platters.

 I found red paper sacks at WalMart and cut them with decorative scissors. Since we were using hot dog baskets I knew it would be hard to have a hot dog and chips in there without them falling through the holes, so I went with this option. It worked great and made for an easy cleanup!

And now for the hot dog bar! I searched everywhere to find what toppings I should have out, and eventually came up with a good amount.

For fun I put these hot dog menus out. I got that idea from Kristen's blog! The mini easels they are on are from Target's dollar section, and I actually borrowed those from a friend at work. They worked out perfectly and now I want some of my own.

I made all of the labels through Picmonkey. Easy + free.

I borrowed the hot dog baskets from my mom. She had a ton left over from my nanny's 50's theme birthday party a few years ago. Again, made for an easy cleanup!

The Hot Dog bar:

- Diced onions

- Green onions (left over from loaded potato dip, just set it out in case anyone wanted it)

- Diced tomatoes

- Shredded lettuce

- Pickle spears 

- Shredded cheese

- Nacho cheese (canned from Walmart, just threw it in the crock pot and left on low)

- Chili (canned from Walmart, just warmed it up on the stove and then set it out right before we ate)

- Ketchup, mustard, mayo, barbecue sauce, and relish 

We ended up just boiling the hot dogs since the rain kept us from grilling them, but they turned out just fine! I did a lot of the prep work (cutting & washing) the night before so all I had to do was pull the toppings out of the refrigerator a few minutes before we ate. The chili and baked beans I threw on the stove about 45 minutes before it was time to eat, just to warm up. I made the cole slaw the night before so the ingredients could be mixed together and it really soak up all the flavor, and I made the desserts the morning of our soiree. If you're looking for an easy an inexpensive way to have a cookout then a hot dog bar is definitely the way to go! I enjoyed being able to visit with everyone a little more instead of having to cook everything up until it was time to eat this time. 

The dessert bar is the last little bit. I made white chocolate and caramel blondies and chocolate chip cookies and my best friend, Kathleen, brought over cheesecake. Yum!

Despite the weather working against us, we still had a great time and enjoyed having everyone over. We are beyond thankful for our group of friends, and love throwing dinner parties with them!

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OUR SUMMER SOIREE | 2016

EASY SALISBURY STEAK - DINNER

Last week I tried a new recipe and we really enjoyed it. Plus I already had most of the ingredients in my pantry, I love those kind of meals!!

Ingredients:
Patties:

1 lb Lean Ground Beef

1/3 cup Bread Crumbs

2 tsp Ketchup

1 tsp Mustard

1 tsp Worcestershire

1/2 tsp Garlic Powder

1/2 tsp Onion Powder

Gravy:

2 packets Brown Gravy Mix

2 cup hot Water

1 tsp Ketchup

1/2 tsp Worcestershire

Directions:

1. Combine all patty ingredients in a large bowl until all ingredients are mixed well.

2. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.

3. Cook patties on both sides until no longer pink.

Lower the temperature to low, so they don't burn on the outside.

4. Whisk together gravy mix and water until well blended.

Whisk in ketchup and Worcestershire. 

5. Pour over patties in skillet.

Allow to simmer until gravy warms and thickens.

This was a screenshot from my snapchat video that I made while pouring the gravy in, and you can hear Matthew sneezing in the background lol.

I used my whisk to stir the sauce every few minutes as it thickened. I also kept flipping the patties so they wouldn't burn.

After it was finished I placed the salisbury steak over a bed of garlic mashed potatoes and then served it with green beans and corn. Such an easy and delicious meal!

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EASY SALISBURY STEAK - DINNER

3 CHEESE MEATBALL CASSEROLE - DINNER

I am always looking for new recipes and when I found this recipe I knew I wanted to try it. I changed mine up just a little bit though, but I think it still turned out pretty good! Matthew was confused as to why there weren't any noodles in it lol, but then I explained it was a meatball casserole. Of course if you wanted to, you could add noodles.

Ingredients:

- 1 bag of frozen meatballs

- 1 1/2 cans of pasta sauce

- 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

- 1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese

- 1/2 cup sharp cheddar cheese

- Italian seasoning (to taste)

- Garlic powder (to taste)

Step 1: Cook your meatballs according to the package. I bought these at Walmart and it only took them about 25 minutes!

Step 2: Spread a thin layer of pasta sauce in a 3 quart casserole dish. I put a thin layer of cheddar cheese down and then add the meatballs. 

Step 3: Add a thick layer of mozzarella and Parmesan cheese.

Step 4: Add a layer of pasta sauce over cheese, and then add the rest of the meatballs. 

Step 5: Add final layer of cheese. 

Step 6: I added a little Italian seasoning and garlic powder with each layer and then added more on the very top.

Step 7: Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes. Just long enough for it to warm the inside and melt the cheese.

Directions:

Step 1: Cook your meatballs according to the package. I bought these at Walmart and it only took them about 25 minutes!

Step 2: Spread a thin layer of pasta sauce in a 3 quart casserole dish. I put a thin layer of cheddar cheese down and then add the meatballs. 

Step 3: Add a thick layer of mozzarella and Parmesan cheese.

Step 4: Add a layer of pasta sauce over cheese, and then add the rest of the meatballs. 

Step 5: Add final layer of cheese. 

Step 6: I added a little Italian seasoning and garlic powder with each layer and then added more on the very top.

Step 7: Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes. Just long enough for it to warm the inside and melt the cheese.

This was really good and there are definitely plenty of leftovers since it's just the two of us. We plan on using the leftovers to make meatball subs, and use the other half of that pasta sauce (since this only calls for 1 1/2 jars) to add on top of the subs. You could cook noodles to add to your leftovers, too!

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3 CHEESE MEATBALL CASSEROLE - DINNER