Holiday Recipes: Made from Scratch Sausage Balls

For me sausage balls have always been a staple around Christmas time. My mother made them pretty much every year and just like eggnog, my palate starts getting a hankering for their greasy, cheesy, spicy goodness. 

The recipe below is for those of us who opt not to make them with instant biscuit mix and would rather use ingredients not created in a lab.

• 1 1/4 cup of unbleached flour

• 1/2 teaspoon of salt

• 1/4 teaspoon of ground pepper

• 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne or red pepper

• 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder

• 2 cups of grated cheddar

• 1 pound of breakfast sausage (such as Jimmy Dean or Smithfield)

• 3 tablespoons of unsalted butter (preferably from grass-fed cows)

• 1/4 cup of milk

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, salt, pepper, red pepper, and baking powder. Add cheese, toss to coat. Add in sausage, melted butter, and milk. Mix well with hands. Shape mixture into balls and place on a greased baking sheet. Bake about 25 minutes; until the sausage balls are golden brown and thoroughly cooked.

Enjoy! Merry Christmas! 

Holiday Attractions and Christmas Lights around the Southeast

It's that time of year again, time to get out your tacky sweaters, spike the eggnog and celebrate the Season. Here are some of the best places to do it... Click to Continue... 

Band of the Week: Rising Appalachia

Playing the Fox Theater in Atlanta Friday December 19th, Rising Appalachia is not only a group that creates music to tickle your eardrums, but they are equally adept at raising your conscious level and attempting to lead you toward an insight on the inner-workings of the universe and the role of humanity within it. Their earthy sound is comparable to Nahko and the Medicine for the People, The Dirty Projectors, and Atlanta band Hello Ocho, with beautiful harmonies, spacious grooves, and an overall tribal vibe throughout much of their music. Their tunes are best enjoyed with in a dimly lit room, with a fire going and some of Washington state or Colorado's finest, and perhaps a glass of red wine - or by a camp fire, in the woods.

Photo Album - December 2014

Hoping to get some great shots of fall foliage, I traveled to the rolling hills of Northwest Georgia. Unlike Atlanta though, where I live, most of the leaves were already gone. It does get a few degrees colder in this part of the state than it does in Atlanta - that's my only explanation. I feel like some of these photos would be a bit more powerful had it been overcast that day, but, at the same time, some of these shots would not have benefited from the lens flares that came from this abundantly sunny day. I shot with a Canon T2i and a an 18-55mm lens. 

Winding Country Road, Rome GA