The Teacher Dish: Halloween

Sausage Balls

Man, I love sausage balls. My mom has made them for years. Every holiday season, my mom would always have a big bowl of these cheesy spheres of goodness and they would surely get gobbled up by everyone. When I married my husband I had to learn how to make things gluten free for his special diet. Luckily, Bisquick came out with a gluten-free Bisquick mix. What a lifesaver. I can easily whip up pancakes, waffles, AND sausage balls!

I used half of the batch to take to a Halloween party and added a special twist by putting green olives with pimentos into the sausage ball. Instead of just plain old sausage balls (which are yummy just like they are), they are now Zombie Eyeballs! The other half, I just made plain.

These are so easy to make and get gobbled up at parties. Make them for your next get-together with friends, or make them for your family and serve them with breakfast. Here's the basic recipe:

Sausage Balls
2 pounds (2 packages) sausage
4 cups baking mix - Bisquick is the best. I use the GF version.
4 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup water

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line your baking sheets with parchment paper. They won't stick if you do this. If you don't have parchment paper, then make sure you use a spatula about half way through baking and move them around on the baking sheet.

Mix ingredients together well. Your hands are your best instrument for this. Get in there and mix it up! I add the cup of water because the gluten-free Bisquick Mix is very fine. The water makes it easier to blend together and then form into the balls. Scoop out enough of the mixture to form about a 1 inch ball and roll in your hands to form a ball. At this point, I added the green olive, but if you aren't making Zombie Eyeballs, then you would omit the olive. When adding the olives, just make small indention in the center of the sausage ball, then insert olive and make sure the sausage mixture covers part of the olive. When it bakes, it will stay in place.

Once you have your sausage balls on the baking sheets line with parchment paper, place in oven and bake for 18 to 20 minutes or until golden brown.

These sausage balls freeze well. Just put the leftovers (if you have any) in a baggie or airtight container and freeze for later.

Zombie Eyeballs!

Have a safe and happy Halloween!
-Karen

Here's a pic of our Halloween costume- cat burglars!

Spinach Dip

There are some people that are just chip and dip people. I am one of them. I love a good chip and dip. So does my entire family. This is a recipe my mom made while I was growing up. She still makes it to this day. Spinach dip tastes great with chips, crackers, and veggies. You just can't go wrong with it. Sure, I've seen the pre-made stuff at the store and it is good, but the homemade stuff is so much better. The original recipe my mom gave me for Spinach Dip calls for real mayo and real sour cream. I lighten it up a bit and use the lighter versions. Hey, sometimes you have to make sacrifices!

Spinach Dip
1 cup light mayonnaise
1 container (16 ounces) light sour cream
1 package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
1 small 8 ounce can water chestnuts, roughly chopped
1 package Knorr Leek Soup Mix

Mix ingredients and let chill in refrigerator for 4-6 hours. Serve with vegetables, crackers, or chips.

You can serve it in a regular serving dish, or use a sourdough bread bowl. Just cut the bread bowl open at the top and scoop out the bread. Fill it with the dip and serve with items of your choice. It's so good, people will end up eating the bowl!

Are you a chip and dip person?? Are you my people?? Either way, enjoy!
-Karen

Here's a creepy way to serve your Spinach Dip on Halloween!
Oh, and my husband wanted me to make sure I gave him proper credit for carving this pumpkin.

And here we are in our Halloween costume for the night- cat burglars!

7 Layer Mexi Dip

Growing up, my mom loved to make dips and appetizers. This 7 Layer Mexi Dip was one of our favorites. I love dipping into all the yummy layers with a crunchy tortilla chip. This recipe is so easy to make. Just layer, layer, layer. Then eat, eat, eat! This Mexi Dip is wonderful to take to parties, or serve at home when you're having friends over for game night, a holiday gathering, or to watch the big game. I made this recipe for a friend's 40th birthday party. The party was a Halloween theme, so I made the dip a little spooky by adding a sour cream spider web.

Here's the regular version!

7 Layer Mexi Dip

Ingredients:
1 (16 ounce) can refried beans
2 small (4.5 ounce) cans mild green chilies, rinsed and drained
1/2 package taco seasoning mix (I use a gluten free package)
1 (16 ounce) container sour cream
1 package (8 ounces/ 2 cups) shredded cheddar cheese (I use a Mexi blend)
2 Roma tomatoes, diced
2-3 green onions, chopped
1 small can sliced black olives

In a casserole dish, layer items in this order: refried beans, green chilies, taco seasoning mix, sour cream, shredded cheese, diced tomatoes, green onions, and black olives.

Layer, layer, layer!

Here's how to make it spooky for a Halloween party. First, spread guacamole dip on a flour tortilla. Put sour cream in a squeeze container. Create your spider web using the sour cream. And the finishing touch is to add a plastic spider to make it spooktacular!