sausage balls

I have been pretty bad about updating the blog. We've been so busy working on the Christmas tree farm that other stuff gets put to the wayside. But tonight I created a new recipe that I wanted to share.

I've been craving breakfast for dinner for about two weeks now. I finally got around to doing it. I made potato pancakes and sausage balls. I just heard about sausage balls yesterday on The Nest and was sooooo excited. This is a great appetizer or breakfast and it is super easy.

Sausage Balls

1 pound of sausage (I used turkey because it is very low in fat)
1 cup of shredded cheese (I used low fat for Weight Watchers points)
3/4 cup of Bisquick mix (I used reduced fat for Weight Watchers points)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Mix all ingredients together (I used a food processor and it worked real well)
3. Place on baking sheet in walnut sized balls
4. Bake for 20-25 minutes (until it is cooked through)

NOTE: Instead of a baking sheet I used a drip pan so that the grease could go away from the sausage balls as they cooked.

The recipe makes 40 sausage balls. 2 sausage balls equals 1 point.

pork chops and risotto

its been a long time since i've posted. it's not because i haven't been cooking. it's because i keep forgetting to take photos! i'm usually at the end of my meal when i think "oh crap!"

so while this isn't the most amazing meal in the world - i at least remembered to take a photo! :)

tonight i made pork chops topped with spinach dip with mushroom risotto and salad.

let's start with the risotto - this stuff is amazing! i've said before that i'm a 30 minute meals kinda girl and this risotto is so easy and i can just leave it be. it is made by alessi and can be found in the grocery store around the other rice products. so worth the money on this one!



as for the pork chops - i just cooked with with my trusty electric skillet with a little bit of olive oil and some steak seasoning. i didn't think to get anything to make to have with the pork chops - and i was about to be sad when i remembered i had some leftover spinach dip! so i heated that up in the microwave and it was a yummy addition to the pork chops. here is a picture of the final product:




hopefully i'll be better about posting in the future...

KK's birthday dip

Tonight is my friend KK's birthday party. Always willing to jump on a chance to try a new recipe, I told her I'd bring something to eat.

I needed something easy and quick - so after searching around I relied on good ol Rachael Ray. Here is a Feta Walnut dip - perfect for veggies and crackers. I chose pita chips to go along with the veggies.

Feta Walnut Dip

1 cup walnut halves, toasted

1 1/2 cups feta cheese, crumbles

1/2 cup milk

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1/4 cup flat-leaf parsley, a handful of leaves

Freshly ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1 large clove garlic, cracked away from skin

Olive oil for drizzling (optional)

Assorted veggies and crackers

Combine walnuts, feta, milk, oregano, parsley, black pepper, red pepper and garlic clove in food processor and pulse process until spread is smooth. Scrape spread into serving dish with spatula. Drizzle dip with extra-virgin olive oil and serve.

Wedding Cake

Tonight I was sick and so I heated up a Super Supper dinner that my mom gave me. Since I didn't really cook tonight, I thought I'd share our wedding cake!

Chris and I recently celebrated our first anniversary. We spent the weekend in San Antonio visiting my parents and enjoying a small get away on the Riverwalk. I was interested to see how our wedding cake was going to taste. My mom had been storing it for the whole year in their freezer. In May, the freezer accidentially got left open for several days and the cake defrosted. My mom was mortified because she thought she'd ruined our cake. I told her it was fine and to just refreeze it. So I wasn't expecting much when we opened up the container on our anniversary. I got a HUGE surprise though...

Here is a photo of what our cake looked like on our wedding day:

And here is what it looked like when we unwrapped it:

My mom (bless her heart!) - in her drunken stooper at the end of the wedding - left the orchids on the top of the cake when she wrapped it up!!!!

Lesson learned: wait until the next morning when you're sober to wrap up the cake!!!

The cake would have probably tasted fine had the flowers not been on there, but with the flowers...it was downright disgusting. We had a small bite each and threw out the rest. :( I think if we could have done it again, I would have eaten the cake at our one month anniversary or even the day after the wedding. But at least now we have a funny story to go along with our cake...

New Blog!

After becoming addicted to several foodie blogs, I've decided to start my own. I hope it will be a great place for me to store my favorite recipes or cool stuff that I've discovered.

I'm also going to use this blog as a diary of my weight loss. Right now I'm in the beginning stages of a Weight Watchers diet (using the online tools). I started 5 weeks ago and have already lost over 6 pounds. Hopefully, that will keep on going!

I'll get it all out here - I'm REALLY nervous about sucking at this. I know that I'm not a bad cook, but I'm scared that I'm not good enough to share my experiences with everyone else. Chris (my husband) isn't really the best critic since he loves any food I put on his plate. So let me know if there is anything you'd like to see me change or something I'm not doing right.

Off to plan my menu for the week...