Sausage Stars

Sausage Stars... YUM!!

I wish I could take credit for this delicious recipe, but I can't... there are so many renditions of this recipe floating around online. Today, I'm sharing my version of it. These little snacks are so stinkin' good! If you need a good snack to whip up during football season, for your next holiday party, or even for your next pot luck... give these a try! Here's how I make mine:

Ingredients
16 oz. sour cream
1 packet Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing mix
1 lb. ground sausage
1 tsp. garlic salt
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper
1 cup shredded mild cheddar cheese
1 12 oz. package wonton wrappers*

This recipe makes about 36 Sausage Stars.

To start, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Next, cook up your sausage in a skillet. While your sausage is cooking, mix in your garlic salt and crushed red pepper. You can add more crushed red pepper, or even use a hot version of the sausage if you want your Sausage Stars to have a little kick. It your sausage is greasy, drain the grease once it's cooked through. My sausage wasn't too greasy, so I didn't have to drain it.

Place your wontons in a cupcake pan, and bake empty for about 5 minutes.** While your wonton shells are baking, mix your ranch mix and sour cream together in a medium size mixing bowl. Then dump in your shredded cheddar and your cooked sausage.

Take your wontons out of the oven and fill them with 1 large tablespoon of your sausage/ranch/cheese mixture. Place your snacks back in the oven for about 7 minutes, or until filling is warm and wonton corners are browned.

These snacks are SO GOOD! We love to  have snacks and appetizers for my family get togethers, and this recipe is always a big hit. I've even been known to have them for dinner with a side salad when I get a craving! Some of the other recipes I've found call for peppers, olives, etc. in the sausage stars. I like them without the veggies, but you could add any chopped veggie to the mix and give the recipe your own twist.

*I had about 12 wontons left once I made my sausage stars. I just put mine in the fridge to use for another recipe later, but if you want to use all of your wontons, you could fill your stars less full and use all of your shells that way.

**I have made the recipe before without cooking the wonton shells first, but the bottom will be soft. If you do that, cook them about 10+ minutes total in the oven. I like to cook the wonton wrappers by themselves first to allow the bottom to get a little crispy.

Italian Meatballs

Italian Meatballs... yum! 

On Monday this week, I made pasta and Italian meatballs. Pasta is Lee's favorite food, and I scored some huge brownie points with this recipe! I had never tried meatballs before, because I assumed they were a hassle to make, but guess what? They are so easy! Here's how I made them:


Ingredients
1 lb ground pork sausage (or if you prefer, use ground beef, turkey, or chicken)
1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 heaping tablespoon of pesto
1 tablespoon of minced garlic
1 teaspoon of Italian seasoning (Or if you just use Italian sausage instead of plain sausage, you can omit the Italian seasoning)
1/4 cup shredded Italian Cheese for each 2 plates you serve

Start by pre-heating your oven to 400 degrees. Mix your sausage, bread crumbs, Parmesan, pesto, garlic, and Italian seasoning together in a bowl. Line your cookie sheet with aluminum foil for easy clean up (optional). Spray your foil with cooking spray. Form your sausage mixture into golf ball size meatballs, and place on your cookie sheet. Bake them for 15-20 minutes, or until cooked through. This recipe makes 12 or so meatballs, depending how big or small you make them.

While my meatballs were baking, I boiled some pasta, drained it, and added pasta sauce to the noodles and cut some veggies for a salad. When Lee and I made our plates, we sprinkled some Italian cheese on top.  These meatballs take about 10 minutes to assemble, 20 minutes to bake. So in 30 minutes or less you can have dinner on the table. That sounds like a win to me!

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Sausage, Egg, & Cheese Breakfast Casserole

This breakfast casserole is super easy to make, and is always a big hit on food days at my office! The best thing about it is you can make it up the night before, and just pop it in the oven in the morning. It would also be great for breakfast when you have a houseful on the weekend!

Bread, egg, cheese, sausage, & bacon... what more could you want in a breakfast?!

Here's how I made it:

Ingredients
1 can crescent roll dough
garlic salt
12 eggs
3 tablespoons of milk
1/4 cup green onions
1/2 pound sausage (or any meat you like- you could use bacon, ham, ground turkey, or leave the meat out and make it a vegetarian dish)
2 cups shredded cheese (I use Colby-Jack)
salt and pepper to taste
cooking spray

I also had some bacon left over from my Bacon Wrapped Stuffed Peppers, so I also included 2 slices of bacon, cooked and chopped into bite size pieces, but this is optional. 

To start, spray a 13x9 inch pan with cooking spray. Next, roll out your crescent roll dough into the pan. Press the edges together so there are no cracks. The bottom of your pan should be covered in a rectangle layer of dough.  Sprinkle garlic salt over the dough (or whatever seasoning you prefer).

Fry up your ground sausage in a skillet on the stove and drain your grease. While the sausage is cooking, beat 12 eggs in a medium size mixing bowl and mix in 3 table spoons of milk. Dump your ground sausage into the egg mixture. Pour your egg mixture over the top of your crescent roll layer, and make sure the sausage is evenly distributed.

Chop about 1/4 cup of green onions, and sprinkle them onto your egg mixture. (At this point, I also sprinkled my chopped bacon on top, and I put the lid on my container and stuck it in the fridge for the night. Then the next morning I woke up and baked this before work. You can do that, or you can just pop it right in the oven to eat that same day.)

Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes, or until the eggs are cooked thoroughly. Remove dish from oven and cover with 2 cups shredded cheese. Place back into oven for about 5 minutes, or until cheese is melted. Salt and pepper to taste. Enjoy!!

Here is a picture of my final product! 

Breakfast Braid

For this post, I have to start by giving credit where the credit is due, and that is to my S-Mom, Sheryl! She taught me how to make this one, and boy do I love it! This is one of her fav breakfast dishes to make, especially when her and my dad have the whole family over for the weekend.  Its so yummy, and a pretty quick to whip up. At our house, we love breakfast for dinner, and this was a great way to used up some of our our left-over ham.

The last time Sheryl made this for our family, she doubled the recipe, she used ground breakfast sausage. I am using ham simply because I need to get rid of our leftovers, but its great with sausage, and I'm sure it would be good with bacon (turkey bacon even if you're being healthy), or even meat-less. This is a simple, quick recipe and is great for breakfast, brunch, or dinner!

Here's how I made it:

Shopping List 

Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)

Cooked, chopped meat (I used about two thick slices of ham, but you could use sausage, ground turkey, bacon, tofu or omit the meat and use a few more eggs instead )

3/4 chopped vegetables of your choice. I used onions, bell peppers, and mushrooms, but I'm sure spinach, or any other veggies would be good too! I didn't actually measure my veggies, this is just an estimate. You could increase or decrease the amount depending on what you like.

5 eggs, whisked

1/2 block cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup shredded cheese

1 can crescent roll dough

Cooking Spray

cook your meat and veggies in the skillet before adding them to the egg. 

To start: pour enough olive oil to lightly coat your skillet. Let it heat up, and once it's warm, toss in your vegetables and meat. Cook until vegetables are soft. Once your veggies are soft, add in your scrambled eggs. When I scrambled mine, I added about a tablespoon of milk to help make them fluffy, but this is optional! Stir to combine the eggs and veggies.

Be sure to scramble those eggs!

While your eggs are cooking, spray a cookie sheet (I love to use my air-bake sheet), and preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Lay your crescent rolls out with the long sides touching and the pointy sides facing out. Press together the long sides together. 

By this time, your eggs should be cooked. Stir in your 1/2 block of cream cheese and mix in with the eggs and veggies. 

Dump the eggs and cream cheese into the same skillet as the meat and veggies. 

This is what my egg, veggie, ham, and cream cheese mixture looked like. 

Once the cream cheese is mixed in, scoop the egg mixture onto to middle of your crescent roll line. Fold the pointy edges of crescent roll over the top. 

Here's what my braid looked like when I first put in my egg and meat mixture. 

Once you fold over your crescent roll corners, your braid should look something like this. 

Place in the oven and bake the crescent roll for about 10 minutes, or until the top of the roll is lightly golden brown.

Here is my golden brown baked crescent braid.

Once the crescent roll is golden brown, take it out of oven and cover the top with your shredded cheese. Place the braid back in the oven for 2-3 minutes, or until your cheese is melted. Remove from the oven and serve!

And of course no recipe is complete until you smother it in cheese!

If you read my post, leave a comment. I love reading feedback from my blog posts!