Sausage - Cheddar Balls

I just subscribed to Martha Stewart's Everyday Food and they have some great, easy recipes. The first recipe I made was Sausage-Cheddar Balls. I've made these twice now and I tried them 2 different ways. I think they are delish! Below I've included the original recipe, but the 2nd time I tried the recipe I used Hot Italian Sausage and Three Cheese Cheddar. They were pretty spicy, so if you like "hot" this option would work for you. I love Buffalo Chicken so I think I am going to experiment next time with chicken sausage, blue cheese and Buffalo Sauce. I will definitely blog it when I do!

Sausage-Cheddar Balls

Everyday Food

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon coarse salt

1/4 teaspoon ground pepper

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

2 cups grated cheddar

1 lb bulk breakfast sausage

1/2 large yellow onion, grated on large holes of a box grater

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, salt, ground pepper, cayenne pepper and baking powder. Add grated cheddar and toss to coat. Add sausage, grated onion and melted butter.

3. With your hands, mix until well blended and roll mixture into 1-inch balls. Place balls, 1/2 inch apart, on baking sheet. Bake until balls are golden and cooked through about 25 minutes. Serve warm.

Garlic and Brown Butter Mashed Potatoes

Honestly what is Thanksgiving without some homemade mashed potatoes? I changed the original recipe a little bit but it was still rich and creamy and delish. Denis really likes mashed potatoes with the skin on so I left half of them with the skins on. I also like how it looks, its kind of rustic. I will definitely be using this recipe again for next year! I didn't take a picture of them unfortunately but here is the recipe.

Garlic and Brown Butter Mashed Potatoes

Adapted from Gourmet

Serves 8-10

Ingredients

5 lbs Yukon Gold potatoes, half peeled, all cut into 1-inch pieces

1 tablespoon salt

1 cup whole milk

1/2 cup sour cream

1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter

4 gloves of garlic, grated on a microplane or minced

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Directions

Cover with cold water by 2 inches in a 5 to 6 quart heavy pot and add 1 1/2 teaspoons salt. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, until potatoes are tender, 10 to 15 minutes.

Drain potatoes in a colander, then return to pot and cook over moderate heat, shaking pot occasionally, until dry, 1 to 2 minutes. Mash hot potatoes with masher then cover to keep warm.

Bring milk with remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons salt just to a boil in a 1-quart saucepan, then remove from heat and stir into potatoes until combined. Stir in sour cream, then cover and keep warm.

Cook butter in a 12-inch heavy skillet over moderately high heat, stirring frequently and scraping up brown bits, until foam subsides and butter is golden brown, about 8 minutes. Add garlic and pepper and cook, stirring, until slightly softened, about 2 minutes. Fold butter mixture into mashed potatoes and season with salt.

Cat Cora's Southern Cornbread

I love cornbread, so I really wanted to try it for Thanksgiving. I've never made it before so I thought this recipe was a good one to try. I heard Cat Cora talk about it in a Thanksgiving episode then the recipe was in my Food Network Magazine. It smelled so yummy and tasted pretty good too with some butter.

Cat Cora's Southern Cornbread

Cat Cora's Classics

Serves 4 to 6 people

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for the pan

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 cup cornmeal

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 cup buttermilk (shake before measuring)

2 large eggs

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees and position a rack in the middle. Butter an 8-inch-square baking pan.

2. Melt the butter in the microwave in a microwave-safe dish in three 15-second intervals on high or in a small pan on the stove. Set it aside to cool.

3. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, baking soda and salt.

4. In a large bowl, whisk together the buttermilk and the eggs. Add the melted butter. Add the flour-cornmeal mixture and stir just until combined. Pour the batter into the pan. Bake until the cornbread just begins to brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 18 to 23 minutes. Cool for about 10 minutes before serving.

Streuseled Sweet Potato Casserole

This is probably the only semi-low calorie recipe I made on Thanksgiving. I found the recipe on Cooking Light, my go to website. Sometimes you can tell when I make something that is low calorie but this recipe was killer! It was so good and I will definitely be making it next year. It was like having desert for dinner. I liked it so much I had it for breakfast the next morning, only on Thanksgiving. I highly recommend it, but I wouldn't really eat it if you were trying to watch the calories!

Streuseled Sweet Potato Casserole

Cooking Light

Yield: 18 servings

Ingredients

14 cups (1-inch) cubed peeled sweet potato (about 5 pounds)

1/2 cup half-and-half

1/2 cup maple syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 large egg, lightly beaten

Cooking spray

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup chilled butter, cut into small pieces

1/2 cup chopped pecans

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Place potatoes in a Dutch oven, and cover with water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer 12 minutes or until tender. Drain.

Combine the half-and-half and next 4 ingredients ( half-and-half through egg) in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk. Add potato to egg mixture; beat with a mixer at medium speed until smooth. Spoon potato mixture into a 13 x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray.

Combine flour and sugar in a food processor; pulse to combine. Add chilled butter; pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal. Stir in pecans; sprinkle over potato mixture.

Cover and bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 25 minutes or until the topping is browned and the potatoes are thoroughly heated.

Thanksgiving Menu

Thanksgiving is one of our favorite holidays. Definitely Denis's! So we had a ton of food planned. Some food definitely came out better than others though, note to self for next year. Our Turkey was delish after being in a brine for over 12 hours, it was very juicy and moist. My pumpkin pie on the other hand needs some work; crust was good, pie not so much, next year I am going to stick with a traditional pie recipe instead of being fancy. I also tried dinner rolls they weren't very successful either, but I plan on trying them again shortly. Everything else came out pretty tasty. Since we only have one oven I was able to prep a lot the day before and everyone brought something from home as well. It was all very yummy. We made the Turkey, Sweet Potato Casserole, Mashed Potatoes, Cornbread, and Butternut Squash soup. Below is the menu, recipes will follow later:

The Menu

Appetizer

Butternut Squash Soup with Crispy Bacon

Crab Dip

Caramelized Onion and Brie Puff Pastry

Pepperoni Bread

Dinner

Turkey Brined and then Cooked with Garlic and Herb Butter

Sweet Potato Casserole

Garlic and Brown Butter Mashed Potatoes

String Bean Casserole

Broccoli Casserole

Corn Bread

Parsnips

Creamed Spinach

Stuffing

Desert

Pumpkin Pie

Brownies al a mode

Cherry Cake Bars

Thanksgiving

As I mentioned before we hosted Thanksgiving again this year, for the 2nd year in a row. We had 12 people in our tiny apartment (next year we will definitely be in a house)! It was my parents, my sister and her boyfriend, my brother, my In-Laws and my sister-in-law, and my sister's boyfriend's Mom and Sister. It was very cozy. I decorated the tables with twig-like pumpkins for the centerpieces with tiny orange tea lights surrounding them. I went with fall colors for the napkins and tablecloths. We set up each of the cookies on the bread plates, for each person. I used our close to brand new china and crystal too. Below are some pics from the tablescape. The Menu and recipes will follow shortly.

Adult table...

Kids' Table...

Cookie Placecards..

Thanksgiving Cookies

We hosted Thanksgiving again this year, more to follow on that later, so I made cookies but used them as place cards. We had 12 people so I did 6 turkeys and 6 pumpkins. I thought they came out pretty cute!

Pre-baggies and ribbons..

Turkeys...

Pumpkins...

with Brown Bows!