Sausage Balls

Makes 50-60

1 lb ground sausage
2 3/4 cups baking mix
4 cups shredded sharp cheddar
Dash pepper
Dip:
1 cup mayonnaise
1 1/2 tablespoons mustard

Directions:

Preheat oven 375

In large bowl, combine baking mix, raw sausage, shredded sharp cheddar (freshly shredded works best!) and pepper until well blended and dough is formed. Shape into 1" balls and place on parchment lined baking sheet about an inch apart. Bake for 18-20 minutes until golden brown. Mix mayo and mustard together in a small bowl and serve as dip with the sausage balls. 



This is one of my favorite appetizers for any occasion! We absolutely always have them on New Year's Eve, as long as I can remember, even as a little girl, my mom would make these for that holiday. I also make them for parties, football games, or even afternoon snacks for the kids and I since they love them as much as I do. So easy to make and amazing with the dip as well, don't leave it out, even if you don't like mustard, you can definitely add less mustard if you like it less "mustardy" but this is the perfect balance for us and it's just delish.

French Silk Chocolate Pie

Makes 8 Servings

1 baked pie shell
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
2 1 oz squares unsweetened baking chocolate, melted and cooled
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
Whipped cream
Chocolate, chopped, shaved or curled

Directions:

Cream butter, gradually adding sugar, until light and fluffy. Blend in melted chocolate and vanilla. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating 5 minutes after each. Turn into a baked pie crust and chill until firm, 2-3 hours. Garnish with whipped cream and chocolate curls or shavings. Cut into 8 wedges and serve.



Absolutely, positively one of my all-time favorite desserts! We have this at Christmas and at Easter and any other time we are craving it! My mom has been making it for years and the combination of salty, flaky pie crust with semisweet, creamy chocolate is TO DIE FOR. I love, love, love this pie!

Bacon & Veggie Quiche

Makes 8 Servings

1 pound bacon, cooked and crumbled
2 tablespoons butter
1 whole large red onion, chopped
1 package frozen broccoli, cooked and chopped
3 green onions, chopped
1 pie crust dough round
7 eggs
1 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1 1/2 cups grated Swiss cheese
1 cup grated parmesan
Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400

Melt butter in a small-medium skillet. Add onions and cook for 2 minutes, until slightly softened. Toss in broccoli and heat for a minute, tossing to coat. Salt and pepper mixture lightly to taste, keeping in mind you'll also season the egg mixture. Remove from heat and allow to cool for 15-20 minutes. Meanwhile, spread pie crust in a deep dish tart pan with removable bottom (a deep dish pie pan will work fine if you don't have a tart pan). In a large bowl, beat eggs with cream. Add cheeses, salt and pepper; set aside. Add veggie mixture and chopped bacon to eggs and stir until combined. Pour into pie crust and press with the back of a spoon to submerge ingredients. Cover loosely with foil and place on a baking sheet. Bake for 1 hour, removing foil for last 15 minutes to brown. Check middle of quiche, and if it looks too jiggly, bake for up to 10 minutes longer. Remove from oven and let sit for 10-15 minutes before serving. Remove bottom from pan and slice into wedges to serve.



Mmmm, quiche. One of my favorite things! The hubs and I like to make this for brunch a lot on weekdays where all four of the kiddos are at school and we want something yummy and substantial, but homemade. The kids like quiche also, so sometimes we make it on a weekend for a special treat, but then we have to make it without onions, so we like it better when we have it all to ourselves. YUM!

Fresh Fruit Pavlova

Makes 24 Servings

Ingredients:

2 teaspoons cornstarch
2 teaspoons white vinegar
6 egg whites
1 3/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons vegetable shortening
4 tablespoons sugar
2 cups heavy whipping cream
2 teaspoons vanilla
2-3 kiwis, sliced
1 pint strawberries, washed, dried and sliced
1 pint blueberries, washed and dried


Directions:

Preheat oven to 275

Mix together cornstarch and vinegar in a small bowl until combined. In mixer, beat egg whites with wire whisk attachment on high until stiff peaks are formed. Stir in cornstarch and vinegar combination on low. Beat in sugar until thoroughly combined. Cover a cookie sheet or jelly roll pan with wax paper. Spread shortening on wax paper, coating evenly and thoroughly. Pour mixture evenly over wax paper and spread with an offset spatula until even, or you can form peaks if you like. Bake at 275 for 1 hour. Turn off the oven and let sit until cool. Meanwhile, whip the whipping cream in the mixer with a wire whisk until stiff peaks form. Beat in sugar until combined; gently stir in vanilla. Spread evenly over cooled pavlova and sprinkle fruit over the top, covering evenly. Cut into wedges and serve.



Pavlova is one of our favorite summertime desserts. It is light and fresh and so delicious and the sweetness is balanced with the fresh fruit and cream. Named after a famous ballerina, Anna Pavlova, you could eat this for any occasion, or even as a midday snack. My husband has requested this as a birthday cake before, and we've had it at many family get-togethers. It's a popular one for Fourth of July also, as we'll cut out the kiwi and do an American flag design on the top with the strawberries and blueberries instead.

Crockpot Chicken & Dumplings

Ingredients:

4-6 boneless skinless chicken breasts & thighs

2 tablespoons butter

2 cans cream of chicken soup

1 can chicken broth

1 medium onion diced

1 tablespoon dried parsley

1 10oz can refrigerated biscuits, cut into quarters

2 cups frozen peas, thawed

Directions:

Spray crockpot with nonstick cooking spray. Place chicken in bottom of crockpot. Place butter over chicken. Pour cream of chicken soup and broth in. Sprinkle onion and parsley. Cook on high 4-6 hours until chicken is cooked through and sauce is boiling. Place biscuit dough on top and cook for 1 hour more until biscuits are cooked through. Serve.

My family loves this easy crockpot meal and we have it at least once or twice a month. I usually put frozen chicken in and a couple chicken bouillon cubes instead of the broth since the frozen chicken creates its own water. I also use my homemade cream of chicken soup mix instead of the canned stuff.

Cherry Almond Cake

Cake:
1 box white cake mix
1 cup flour
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 tablespoon almond extract
1 cup sour cream
3/4 cup maraschino cherries, chopped
4 tablespoons cherry syrup, from jar of cherries

Frosting:
10 tablespoons flour
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup half & half
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 sticks of butter, softened
2 cups sugar

Filling:
2 cups frosting (above)
1/2 cup maraschino cherries, chopped
1-2 tablespoons cherry syrup

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325.

Cake:
Cut circles of parchment paper to fit in three 8" round cake pans. Spray pans before placing paper and again after paper. In a mixer, combine cake mix, flour, sugar and salt. Using the whisk attachment, stir on low until combined. Add eggs, sour cream, water, almond extract and cherry syrup. (What I do is get a cup of warm water in a pyrex measuring pitcher and add the eggs to the water and let them sit while adding the rest of the ingredients, this way the eggs reach room temperature quickly.) Beat on low speed for 30 seconds to combine, then increase speed to medium and mix for 2 minutes, scraping down the bowl as needed. Add in chopped cherries and stir to combine. Pour the batter evenly into all three pans and bake for 30 minutes, checking with a toothpick. Can bake an additional 3-5 minutes if needed. Cool in pans 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack until completely cool.
Frosting & Filling:
In small-medium saucepan over medium-high heat, combine milk, half and half and flour, whisking constantly until thickened, this takes about 5-8 minutes. Make sure you whisk constantly to avoid scorching. Remove from heat and allow to cool completely--I usually put my saucepan in the fridge on a heating pad about 10 minutes or so and this cools it quickly. Meanwhile, beat the butter and sugar in your mixer until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Once the flour mixture has cooled, whisk in the vanilla until combined and pour into the butter and sugar mixture. Turn the mixture to medium and beat until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Take 2 cups of the frosting and put in another bowl and mix the chopped cherries & cherry juice into it; this will be your filling.
Assembly:
Place your first cake layer on your cake stand or plate or whatever you will use to serve and spread half of the filling on that layer, using an offset spatula to spread evenly to the edges. Repeat for second layer. Place third layer on top and put about 2/3 of the frosting from the mixer bowl on top and spread evenly with your offset spatula to cover as well as possible, creating a crumb layer of frosting. Refrigerate the entire cake for 20-30 minutes. Remove from fridge and frost with remaining frosting, spreading evenly to cover any thin or bare spots. Dip offset spatula in warm water to smooth out the frosting, repeating until you reach the desired look. You can now accent with decorating tips or additional cherries as desired.



This cake is absolutely just as delicious as it is pretty. My husband requested it for his birthday and immediately proclaimed it the best cake he's ever had. I recommend having 2-3 large jars of maraschino cherries on hand as you will go through them a lot quicker than you think! I was hoping to have some to top the cake with, but I ran out of cherries and only had the syrup left so instead I flavored the filling with a bit of extra syrup since I was short on cherries. It seems like a lot of directions, but it's actually really easy to make compared to a lot of others I've done, and quicker also. One of my cake pans was MIA so I used a foil one, which led to a smaller top layer, but I just filled it in with frosting to make it even--you can see this in the photo, the top layer has a thicker outer coat of frosting than the other two. Also the middle layer got more brown on the bottom than I would've liked, so next time I will rotate the cake pans a little more than halfway as opposed to right at halfway through the baking time. This cake will definitely be a regular in our house, it was a hit in our family and everyone got up this morning wanting it for breakfast!

*Adapted from www.lemon-sugar.com*

Cheesy Beef Vegetable Casserole

Makes 6 Servings

4 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons flour
2 cups milk
6 cups uncooked egg noodles
4 cups mixed vegetables, thawed
1-2 lbs ground beef
3-4 cups shredded cheese
salt
pepper

Directions:

Boil the noodles as directed. Brown the ground beef & season as desired (I use salt, pepper, onion powder and garlic powder). Spray a 13x9 glass baking dish. Drain the noodles. Melt the butter and slowly whisk in the flour to make a roux. Slowly stir in the milk to make a white cream sauce. Stir in the cheese, leaving a half cup or so our for the topping. Stir until cheese is melted and well combined and season with salt and pepper to taste. (I also like to add 1/4 cup or so of grated parmesan) Mix beef, vegetables, noodles and cheese sauce together in the baking dish then top with remaining shredded cheese. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes until bubbly and cheese is melted.



After reading a forum post about cheese sauce, I couldn't contain my craving for it and came up with this recipe in my head while driving to the mall...yes, I'm crazy like that! I whipped it up in about 20-30 minutes, and it was a huge hit. Everyone loved it and my husband's eyes lit up like it was Christmas! (He is a huge casserole fan.) For weeknights when you are so busy and want a quick, easy and best of all, ONE dish meal, this is your winner!