Sausage Rolls

I don't know why, but I was a bit nervous to make this dish. They turned out absolutely fantastic! I remember eating them and just saying, "this is one of the best things I've made in awhile!" The best part is, it could really be made with your favorite ingredients-olives, ground beef instead of Italian sausage, cheese, whatever you want! The puff pastry makes it just decadent. I dipped my rolls in ranch, but you could use your favorite condiment.

Sausage Rolls-adapted from Every Day with Rachael Ray
Total Time: 45 Minutes
Serves 4

• 3 Italian sausage links, casings removed
• 1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
• 1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thrawed but chilled
• 1 egg, beaten

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Crumbe the sausage into a large bowl and mix in bread crumbs and bell pepper.

Line a work surface with parchment paper. Set the puff pastry on top and roll into an 11-inch square. Cut the pastry in half. Roll sausage mixture into 11-inch logs and place one log on each half of the pastry. Brush the long side of the pastry with the egg. Wrap the sausage in the pastry, press the seam to seal, but do not seal the short ends.Transfer to the baking sheet, seam side down. 

Brush the tops with the remaining egg. Bake until puffed and golden, 25-30 minutes. Quarter each roll. Serve with ranch or your favorite condiment.

Cheesy Sausage Egg Bake

We celebrate the holidays a little differently since Scott and I moved to Milwaukee. His family is here, but my family is about 5 hours away, in  Minneapolis. Because of this, there's no way we'd be able to see both families for all holidays. Therefore, we decided to just do Thanksgiving with one family, Christmas with the other. The next year, we swap. For us, this works pretty well.

This year, we spent Christmas in Minneapolis, so the weekend before, we went to Scott's mom's house and had brunch. I said we'd bring the egg dish, much like we did the day before. Here's a picture of the lovely snowstorm we had the morning of our Christmas celebration. Scott's mom's is only a mile or two down the road, but it took us almost 15 minutes to get there!

And because I feel like sharing, this is probably one of my favorite gifts from Christmas from my soon-to-be sister in law! A wine cork holder! Our wedding is likely going to be wine-themed, and I was thinking of making a cork H for "Harris," but for now it works for Heather too! You can also see we have some wine drinking to do.

When I asked Scott what he wanted to make, he just said, "Something with Bisquick in it." I was a bit skeptical, but everything we've made into a Bisquick bake lately has turned out really good.

This recipe turned out absolutely fantastic! You could really add whatever veggies or meat you want to it and make it your own. It's very easy to make and you can prepare it up to 12 hours ahead of time so you don't have to worry about getting up super early to get breakfast ready!

Cheesy Sausage Egg Bake-adapted from Betty Crocker

Total Time: 60 Minutes

Serves 12

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 4 ounces mushrooms, sliced
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1 pound Italian sausage, cooked and drained
• 2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded
• 1 1/4 cups Bisquick mix
• 1 cup 1% milk
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons oregano
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 12 eggs

If cooking right away, preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium skillet, melt butter over medium heat and saute mushrooms and onions until tender.

Meanwhile, grease a 9x13 inch baking dish and place mushrooms, onions, sausage and cheese in the dish. In a large bowl, whisk together Bisquick, milk, salt, oregano, pepper and eggs until well blended. Pour over sausage mixture.

Bake uncovered 30-35 minutes or until golden brown on top. 

If making ahead of time, cover uncooked dish and refrigerate up to twelve hours ahead of time. Bake time may need to be slightly longer.

Little Smokies

I made these for watching football and the fights last week. It's pretty much your standard recipe, but still tasty!

Little Smokies-adapted from More Make it Fast, Cook it Slow by Stephanie O'Dea
Total Time: 4 hours
Serves 8

• 28 ounces little smokies sausages
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1 1/2 cups barbecue sauce
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 cup brown sugar

Grease the inside of a 4-quart slow cooker. Combine all ingredients and mix well. Cook on low for 4 hours, or high for 2 hours, until sausages are warm throughout.