Saturday, October 26, 2013

Italian Sausage and Cheese Bites with Marinara Sauce


Almost everyone in the South has either eaten and/or cooked breakfast sausage "sausage balls" around the holidays. I decided to tweak the recipe slightly and use Italian sausage and a 5 Italian cheese blend and serve them with marinara sauce. I thought they needed a little more garlic perhaps or some red pepper flakes. Next time I make these, I will combine a pound of hot Italian sausage with the mild version and double the ingredients.

After baking, they can be frozen and will be ready to pop into a toaster oven to reheat after thawing. These are an excellent nibble food to have on hand during the football and holiday season for parties or drop in company.

Due to time constraints, I used bottled Prego marinara sauce. You  can certainly make your own!

1 pound ground Italian sausage
2 cups baking mix (such as Bisquick)
2 cups 5 cheese Italian blend, shredded
1/4 cup water

You can certainly mix the ingredients by hand, but I use the dough hook attachment on my Kitchenaid mixer. 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine all ingredients and roll into 1 inch size balls. Place on ungreased baking sheet and bake for 18 - 20 minutes until cooked through and nicely browned. Serve immediately or at room temperature.

Serve with warm marinara on the side.



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