Mozzarella Sausage Balls

I pulled this recipe from a Sorrento cheese package. The question you have to ask your self is do you want this for breakfast or appetizer? They could either way…

When I first looked at this recipe, I thought breakfast on the go for the kids. The more I thought about it, the idea of Sunday brunch with eggs, fresh fruit, and waffles had my mouth watering.

I just pulled a batch from the oven and appetizer for New Year’s party is popping in my head…

I made the balls about 2.5 inches, since I am going to use them for breakfast. The recipe calls for 1-inch balls, which would be great if serving as appetizers.

I went ahead and tried one ball and it was so good, I snuck a second one. The prep on these is super simple. I would say start to table about half hour.

If you make the larger ball, adjust your time, I cooked mine for 18 minutes. The tops were golden and the bottom was just getting a bit of “crust” on them. The recipe also suggests baking on a greased cookie sheet. I was worried about the grease from the pan and balls becoming too much. I placed mine instead on parchment paper. I was surprised by the lack of grease that came out of these… yippee not overly  greasy.  This means you won’t have to worry too much if they get dropped on the floor during a party!

Since I did not have all the mozzarella needed, I mixed in about ½ cup Italian blend of cheese. I also used shredded cheese instead of dicing a block into pieces  

Ingredients:

1 lb. breakfast sausage, recipe calls for hot but you can any variety you want.

16 oz Mozzarella cheese, shredded

1 egg, beaten

1 cup of biscuit mix, I used Bisquick

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375°F

Place all ingredients in a large bowl and mix until well blended

Form into 1” balls, place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper

Bake for 10-18 minutes or until deep golden brown and cooked through

Tomatoes…

I know you are saying, “It is the end of the summer, why are you writing about tomatoes?”

Last fall we moved new part of the country, and the planting season starts later here. By the time, spring came around my son and I were craving to get our hands into the soil and plant a garden. We were not sure how much shade the trees surrounding the yard were going to give us. We settled on planting in buckets in case we had to rearrange for sunlight.

Every Saturday morning, I get up way to early and visit the local farmers market. One of the venders sells plants and during the spring has tomatoes. My son and I went a little wild and bought eight different varieties.

The tomatoes did ok, but with too much rain this year, a good percentage of the fruit rotted on the vine. We had one powerhouse producer called Jellybean. These little tomatoes look like red jellybeans and have a wonderful taste. Most of them did not make into the house; we would pop them in our mouth between swimming in the pool. 

Daily harvest of Jellybean tomatoes

Here we are now at the end of September, and my tomato plants have decided to go bonkers pumping out fruit. One plant produced three tomatoes the entire summer, now it has close to thirty good size green tomatoes.

So what should I do with them? I could fry them, but my family is not big on fried tomatoes. I cannot process them; I do not have a pressure cooker. I have made salsa; but I do not have a way to process it. I could be freeze them, but the freezer is bursting now with freezer jam and other tasty foodstuffs.

My only option is hope the tomatoes will a get a chance to ripen. Then, I can make the lovely Tomato Pie recipe I found over on Christy Jordan’s Southern Plate this summer. I have made this and it is good as written, but my family would not touch it.

If you would like the recipe here is the link http://www.southernplate.com/2012/06/tomato-pie.html

I personally did not care for the mayonnaise on top. Christy states you could not taste it, I did.  For my family to eat this I would follow the step of salting the tomatoes and letting them sit, delete the mayo, double the fresh basil and balsamic vinegar. Increase the layering while using Italian cheeses, like Mozzarella, Parmigiano-Reggiano, and a Smokey Provolone. This way would be making it more of a sauce less tomato pizza.

This is what makes cooking is so much fun, you get to tinker and adjust recipes to your preferences.

As always, pass this along to your friends!

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