Holiday Sausage Balls

Mom's Holiday Sausage Balls are a family favorite. Great to snack on when you're in a hurry, or baking sweet treats, and the girls just inhale them. Like a cheesy, sausage biscuit, they melt in your mouth.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees

To make:

* 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
* 2 cups bisquick baking mix
* 1 pack of Jimmy Dean uncooked Sausage

Toss ingredients into your KitchenAid Mixer, if you're lucky enough to have one. Mix until it sticks together, and all biscuit mix is combined.

Roll into individual balls, and bake for 15 min. Turn each, so they don't bake to the pan. Return to oven for an additional 15 minutes.

Voila! Keep them within easy reach! eat cold, or reheat for 15-20 seconds in the microwave. Delicious!

Good eating, everyone!

Mom's Amazing Chili

My mother always saved chili for a rainy day - and who am I not to follow in that tradition? She'd pull out the electric wok - a gift of the 1970s, no doubt - and set to bubbling her amazing recipe which I'll share with you now.

* 2 pkgs Lawry's Chili mix
* 1 pkg thinly sliced deli ham
* 1 lb ground sirloin
* 1 1/2 cans stewed tomatoes
* 2 cans pinto beans
* Lawry's garlic salt to taste
* Lemon Pepper to taste
* Costco's Tuscan Spice Blend - a new personal favorite
* 2 bay leaves
* EVOO
* 1 tbs butter
* Marie Calendar's Cornbread Mix - made, per directions. Marie knows what she's doing.

Sautee together: EVOO, Butter, Thinly sliced and diced deli ham, and a dash of Tuscan Spice Blend.

Place in crock pot: Deli Ham (post sauteeing), 2 cans pinto beans, 2 bay leaves. Cook together for 2-4 hours, on low.

Cook ground sirloin with garlic salt, tuscan spice blend & lemon pepper. Drain & place in crock pot after beans are "done". Add in chili mix packets, stewed tomatoes, and stir until powder dissolved.

Simmer for another 2 hrs.

Serve it up with the following Chili Toppers:

* Shredded Cheese
* Diced green onions
* Sour Cream
* Salsa or diced tomatoes
* Crumbled Melrose Parmesan Croutons

Serve with Marie Calendar's Cornbread, for an added crowd pleaser. I keep a pack of this mix in the cupboard for emergencies. It's a kitchen staple! Perry loves the costco dinner rolls, so that's what he eats with it.

I also make a Caesar salad with dressing from Fresh & Easy, crumbled Melrose croutons, fresh parmesan, and diced tomatoes.

What did the girls eat of this? Umm. Cornbread. Rachel likes the sour cream and the cheese. Basically, they ate hot dogs while we slurped up bowls full of chili. Perry is not a cornbread fan, so he ate it up with some yummy costco rolls.

What can you learn from this? Well, leftovers are delicious. Enough for us to have for two meals. The Tuscan Spice blend is too spicy for the girls. Ellie would have eaten it if she hadn't had a tummy ache. Rachel--well, you never can tell. Maybe next time she'll love it. :)

Good eating!

Give me a little Quiche!

Quiche is a favorite of my family's - and by my family - I mean the Rather clan. Maybe it's the English thing. Or the Scotch-Irish thing. It certainly isn't the German thing, as Perry will tell you, he's not a Quiche fan.

My favorite quiche recipe comes from the days I catered for a small coffee shop in Tucson, Arizona called "Cuppacinos."

For Ashley's Veggie Quiche, you'll need:

* Pillsbury Ready Made Roll Out Crust
* 6 eggs
* 1/4 cup 1/2 & 1/2
* Julianned Red Pepper
* Yellow Banana Squash, Thinly sliced
* Italian Squash, Thinly sliced
* defrosted, squeezed out, chopped spinach
* 1 cup cheddar shredded cheese
* 1 cup swiss shredded cheese
* 1/3 cup minced onion
* 1 clove garlic, minced
* 1 tbs EVOO
* 1 tbs butter
* pinch of salt & pepper

Using a spring form pan, if you've got one, line bottom with one crust, and tear 2nd crust in half, building up the sides.
Bake crust in 350 degree oven for 15 minutes, until golden (poke bottom with a fork, if it puffs up)
In a heated pan, drizzle EVOO and melt butter
Sautee onion & garlic together
Add red peppers & squash & zuchini, tossing with salt and pepper

Defrost (do not cook) chopped spinach, and squeeze out all extra water (salt leaves liberally)
Place in pan with sauteed veggies and stir together.

Place veggie mixture in browned crust.
Top with shredded cheese.

Whisk eggs and 1/2 & 1/2 together, and pour over top, poking down into the veggies for even distribution.

Bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes, until top is firm to touch.

Serve up with a caesar salad! If you have a Fresh & Easy nearby, pick up their caesar dressing! it's divine...

Happy Eating!

German Pancakes for a Tree Trimming Breakfast!

German Pancakes are a tradition of my hubby's family. So, in honor of our German heritage, here's the scoop on a fantastic, fluffy, buttery treat.

You'll need:

* 3 large eggs
* 1/4 cup flour
* 1/2 cup milk
* 1/4 tsp salt
* 1/2 tsp almond extract
* 2 tbs butter
* 2 tbs lemon juice

Fruit jam (we like Grape)
Powdered sugar to taste

NOTE: Drag out your cast iron pan for this one! I just toss the ingredients into the Kitchenaid mixer, and let it do all the dirty work.

Heat oven to 400.
Place butter into cast iron pan, and put it in the oven until butter is melted.

Whisk eggs until frothy.
Whisk flour into eggs until smooth (no lumps).
Add in milk, salt, and almond extract.

Remove cast iron pan (filled now with melted butter) and pour in frothy pancake mixture. Drizzle with lemon juice and place in oven. Bake until pancake is puffed up, and golden brown at the tips.

Spread jam over top, and sprinkle generously with the powdered sugar! Use cookie cutters to cut into fun shapes - if you have toddlers, or they may balk at the presentation. Aye! yai! yai!

Enjoy this tasty, fun treat!

Shout Out For Recipes

Hello, family and friends of Feeding a Finicky Family!

Please let us know how you feed your finicky eaters... and how well your family received them? Did they clean their plates and ask for seconds? Did they push their plates away in disdain? Did you have to coerce them into eating a final bite before dessert?

We want to know!

I Want My Baby Back Baby Back RIBS!

Okay, guys... this is one from the Finicky Family Cookbook. AND a huge hit with the girls. Best of all? Easy Peasy!

You'll need:

* Baby Back Pork Ribs - Fresh, not frozen
* One yellow onion, sliced
* One can chicken broth (or 2 cups water, w/ 2 chicken bouillon cubes)
* One crushed clove garlic
* One bottle KC Masterpiece Barbecue Sauce (Wendy likes Sweet Baby Janes, right, Wen?)
* Salt / Lemon pepper

Sides:

* Ore Ida French fries (salted, and dusted with Parmesan cheese)
* Coleslaw
* B & M Baked Beans, heated through
* Marie Calendar's Mix Cornbread, for extra credit

Dust off that crockpot! fill with chicken broth, sliced onion, garlic clove.
Cut up ribs in 4 0r 5 pieces, lay meat side down.
Crank up the heat to high for at least 2 or 3 hours - or cook on low for 5-ish hours
One hour before serving, turn meat side up, and spread barbecue sauce on top. Cover and turn to low.

15 minutes before serving, place ribs on baking sheet and cover with more sauce. Place in oven along with the fries.

Keep ribs in oven until sauce bubbly, and thick.

Serve, and watch your little ones go to town! Ellie was delighted, as no one fussed at her for getting sauce all over herself. :)

Enjoy! and let us know how you liked it!

Fish Tacos - De-Lish!

Did I mention that my friend Alina gave us the world's best fish taco recipe? If you are a costco shopper, this is the quick and easy dish that I can serve up in a jiffy. I was never a fish stick kind of gal. My mom never served them. I look at fish sticks with the same disdain I show to liver and onions, and any other odd assortments of German foods that Perry seems to call his own "comfort food."

At any rate - pay attention to the brands. Brands are key. Gorton's fish sticks are not to be purchased. Under ANY circumstances!

* Trident Ultimate Fish Stick - Alaskan Pollack
* Jack's Fresh Salsa
* Ranch Dressing (wendy, you'll have to do some evaluating here -- could be, you could mix the salsa with sour cream...)
* Corn tortillas
* Avocado slices

Heat fish sticks in oven, as directed
In a bowl, mix together the salsa and dressing - to taste. Should be - salsa creamy
Over flame, turn corn tortillas until they are softened. Watch your fingers!
Slice avocados, thinly

In your corn tortilla, lay 1 1/2 fish stick per tortilla
Drizzle with salsa mixture
Place avocados on top

ENJOY! Perry ate 3 and would have had more. Lovely with refried beans!