"You have a baby. Now is not the time to try recipes from Pinterest!"

Tonight is our office's Christmas party and I work in an office full of women who are the Pinterest type, so we tend to be ambitious with our baking and decorating. At last year's party I was in the thick of the all-day-sickness portion of pregnancy and couldn't even think of sweets without wanting to hurl. So this year now that I'm all better and have a handsome new man to show off, my head was reeling with possibilities until my wise office manager reminded me. "You have a baby. Now is not the time to try recipes from Pinterest!" She's right. Now is the time to stick to time-honored recipes that I know work and I know exactly how much time they take.

So I thought I would share, in case anyone else out there needs to whip up a dessert or appetizer in no time flat:


Sausage Balls (or what we call Faux Boudin Balls- because it's nearly impossible to find real boudin here):

2 lbs. sage sausage
1 lb. shredded sharp cheddar
2 c. Bisquick
2 T minced onion
2 t poultry seasoning
dashes of Worcestershire sauce

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Get a big bowl, take off your rings and mash all ingredients together and roll into balls. Place on cookie sheets (I put down parchment paper first to help keep my cookie sheets clean longer) and bake for around 15 minutes. Let cool on paper towels to help suck out some of the grease. Et voila!

Haystacks:

1 12 oz. bag of butterscotch chips
1 heaping spoon of peanut butter (You can use creamy or chunky, normally I use creamy. Or you can omit this if there's someone allergic to nuts at the shindig.)
chow mein noodles

Pour butterscotch into a microwave safe bowl. Melt butterscotch in microwave for 2 minutes. Add peanut butter and mix well. Add chow mein noodles, about a half a bag, and mix until coated. Drop spoonfuls onto wax paper.

Normally I am a chocolate or nothing kind of gal, but I lurve haystacks! They always remind me of Christmas at my Grandma Patsy's with all the cousins, second cousins, great aunts and uncles and mamaws. I can't wait until we have a big family too and can have big Christmases like that again!