Welcome to Divine Promotions 2016 Christmas Blog Hop! Be sure to enter the Rafflecopter at the end of this post and go back to the main page to hop to the next blog on the list! If you’d like to be entered in an individual giveaway here on this site, leave a comment below after reading this post. 🙂
The holidays were always a special time when I was growing up. My parents worked hard, and though we decorated the house and tree, we weren’t big on parties or celebrations. The one thing we always did was pile into the car after breakfast and drive to my grandmother’s house. There the entire family clan would gather from all over the country. My grandmother would have been cooking and baking for days, and the aroma of our favorite dishes greeted us on entering the house, as much a part of the decorations as the handmade ornaments on the tree or the small panoramas that came out of storage to sit on the mantle or the end tables.
Growing up in a house of utilitarian cooking, where food was considered mere fuel for the body, we loved going to Granny’s house for the holidays! Turkey roasted to perfection, pots of mashed potatoes and green beans (cooked in the true Southern style, until they were limp and had given up), candied yams, dressing and gravy made from the turkey, yeast rolls brushed with butter, tiny ham biscuits, and bite-sized sausage balls. And then the desserts! Pumpkin, pecan, and chocolate silk pies, applesauce cake, pound cake and coconut cake. Something for every preference and plenty to take home afterward. We ate until we could hold no more, opened presents, and watched a movie while the grownups talked. Bliss.
After my grandparents passed, much of the magic went out of the holidays. Work schedules and tight finances frequently prevented us from gathering as a clan, and truth be told, without the love and warmth of my Granny’s house, it was hard to make the trip. The old recipes were lost, as well as the experience as to how to make it just right.
I think that’s one of the reasons I adore holiday stories and movies. I love the unabashed sentimentality of the tales, the possibility of magic, and the promise of true love. I compiled a list of holiday reads past and present earlier this month–if you’re an author with a holiday story, feel free to leave a link in the comments! If you’re a reader, enjoy this great compilation of holiday stories! I also have a holiday story coming out on Dec 21–the Holiday House Swap Book Tour is ongoing until 12/16 and you can pre-order it now from your favorite outlets.
Amazon: http://amzn.to/2gT2a1o
Amazon CA: http://amzn.to/2gOUf6c
Amazon AU: http://amzn.to/2gOVv9w
Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/2gGsV9P
Kobo: http://bit.ly/2gfbQDo
Dreamspinner Press: http://bit.ly/2gIcJ8B
All Romance: http://bit.ly/2fS1JDy
In the meantime, I’d like to share with you the recipe for my grandmother’s famous sausage balls–you can google this online and get all sorts of variations but the key is in choosing high quality ingredients, but also in the mixing.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
Mix 3 cups Bisquick baking powder
1 lb of pork sausage (flavor of your choice)
10-16 oz of shredded Cheddar Cheese (the sharper the better–I prefer Vermont White)
1 TB of water (as needed to mix ingredients)
Now other recipes will tell you to add milk or additional seasonings, but this is the way we’ve always done it. I recommend placing the sausage (I prefer Jimmy Dean’s or Gunnoe’s in the original flavors, though the hot makes a nice change) in a large mixing bowl and adding the cheese and Bisquick a little at a time. MIXING THOROUGHLY IS CRUCIAL. Work that flour and cheese into the sausage, adding more until all the ingredients have been mixed. Most of the time, a small amount of water (1-2 TB) will be needed to work the flour into the meat.
The next key step is rolling the sausage/flour/cheese mix into tight little balls in the palm of your hand. This further mixes the ingredients–too big a ball and they won’t bake well. Too small and they will burn. It should be smaller than a golf ball, and fit nicely between your palms as you roll.
Bake for 20-25 minutes on a non-greased baking sheet or until golden brown on the outside and NOT PINK on the inside. These taste even better reheated the next day and are great for parties. They also freeze well, so we tend to make a big batch at Thanksgiving and have the rest at Christmas. Oh, what am I saying? They never last until Christmas–we have to make more!
Be sure to leave a comment here telling me what’s your favorite holiday food (and why), along with your email address if you’d like to enter to win a reader’s choice ebook from my backlist! And check out the Rafflecopter as well–some great prizes here!
Here are the blogs taking part: be sure to visit them all and enter the Rafflecopter along the way! And Happy Holidays to everyone!
My favorite holiday food is Peanut Butter Blossoms, because I love peanut butter cookies and the Hershey kiss on top is awwsome. Thanks for the chance!
Yum! We make something similar except we push a Reese’s mini-cup into the warm cookie! Of course, the broken ones are fair game to be eaten–cook’s rules!
Oh yum – those look great!
It’s really difficult to pick a favorite holiday food – one of them is tamales. We eat them on Christmas Eve.
Thank you! They are definitely a family-favorite! Why tamales? Why Christmas Eve? I sense a story there. Is that a family tradition? 🙂
My favorite are my mom’s kiffles, both the nut and lekvar kind.
I have to ask: what are kiffles? 🙂
My favorite holiday food (drink) is egg nog. Plus my grandmother’s sugar cookies.
I can’t manage to drink a smoothie so I’m pretty sure eggnog would be out–but I’m all over those sugar cookies, man! And snickerdoodles, and gingerbread, and butterscotch-oatmeal, and… 🙂
Sarah Madison recently posted..Divine Promotions Christmas 2016 Blog Hop & Giveaway!
I always look forward to the tamales family friends bring on Christmas Eve (I always give them a huge batch of baked goods in return)…it’s great to see their family each year, and the tamales are insanely delicious! (I vow to take them up on their promise to teach me how to make them one year…)
You’re the second person to mention tamales–and yet I’ve never heard of offering them at Christmas before! Is it a common tradition in your area?
Sarah Madison recently posted..Fool’s Gold and Truth & Consequences Honored in the 2016 Rainbow Awards!
I am very partial to a Spanish seasonal treat called Turron de Jijona (which is a soft almond and honey nougat type deliciousness) which is one of the few treats I can enjoy due to allergies, etc.
Thank you for being part of this blog hop and for a chance to win one of your books. I have just started reading Fool’s Gold and I am wondering/waiting to find out if Jake’s dad is redeemable or not. I am also wondering is this a stand alone title, as I can already feel at this stage that I would love some more please <3
Oooh, that sounds yummy!
And you made me grin from ear to ear with your comments on Fool’s Gold! Yay! I do hope you’ll enjoy it! It probably *is* a standalone, but I’m working on a short epilogue that I hope will please. And I’m definitely writing more stories set in that kind of world. 🙂 Thank you!
Sarah Madison recently posted..More Stellar Reviews for Holiday House Swap: Book Tour & Giveaway!
During the holidays I enjoy See’s Candy! Happy holidays!! lindaherold999@gmail.com
That sounds vaguely familiar–I’ll have to look it up!