Spicy Parmesan Sausage Meatballs with a Whiskey Barbecue Sauce

I don't eat red meat so meatballs are generally off the table (quite literally) in our house. But Eric loves them and I wanted to come up with some variation that we both could eat. Then it donned on me: sausage! We both like sausage, especially spicy sausage. These things smelled so good cooking that Eric couldn't resist coming into the kitchen more than once to see if they were done yet.

Sausage meatball recipe adapted from here.
Whiskey sauce recipe adapted from here.

Ingredients:
Meatballs
16-ounce roll of spicy pork sausage
1/3 cup Italian bread crumbs
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Sauce

2/3 cup ketchup*
2/3 cup brown sugar*
1/3 cup honey whiskey (I used Jack Daniel's Honey Whiskey)

*Or you can substitute out the ketchup and brown sugar for 1 cup of your favorite barbecue sauce

Directions:
Meatballs
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease 9x13-inch baking pan with cooking spray.

Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl with your hands. Roll the mixture into 1-inch balls and place in the baking dish in a single layer.

Bake for 12-14 mintutes or until thoroughly cooked.

Sauce
Mix together ingredients in a sauce pan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat then reduce to a simmer. Cook for 15 to 20 minutes.*

Pour sauce over meatballs and serve.

*The cook time on this sauce should vary by taste. After 20 minutes of simmer, Eric thought the sauce still tasted too strongly of alcohol (I disagree, I loved it). Depending on your preferences, you could cook the sauce for longer to burn off more of the booze or pour in less whiskey to begin with. Just taste the sauce as you go until you find your perfect balance.

Enjoy!

~Krissy

More Sausage Recipes:
Black Bean and Sausage Stovetop Casserole
Cheesy Sausage and Potato Casserole
Pasta with Vodka Sauce and Sausage
Pumpkin Penne Casserole
Roasted Sausage, Potatoes, and Peppers 
Sausage and Bean Casserole
Savory Apples Stuffed with Sage and Sausage
The Tale of Two Quiches: Spicy Sausage and Spinach Quiche

Chicken Breasts Stuffed with Ricotta, Pesto, and Sun-dried Tomatoes

This dish came together because I just happened to have all four of these ingredients in the refrigerator and I needed to make dinner. I had made the sun-dried tomatoes a few days ago without any plan for them other than letting Eric snack on them. I had a little ricotta that needed to be used before it expired, and I happened to pick up the pesto at the store on a whim. It all just came together into one delicious dinner.

Ingredients:
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
4 tablespoon ricotta cheese
2 tablespoon mozzarella, shredded
2 tablespoon Parmesan, grated
2 tablespoons sun-dried tomatoes*
3 tablespoon pesto**
pepper, to taste
1 egg white
3/4 cup breadcrumbs (I usually make my own by crushing saltine crackers)

Directions:
Heat oven to 375 degrees. Grease an 8x8-inch pain with cooking spray.

With a mallet, thin the chicken breasts to a 1/4-inch thickness. Mix the ricotta, mozzarella, Parmesan, pesto, sun-dried tomatoes, and pepper together in a small bowl. Spread half the mixture on each chicken breast and roll the breasts up tight.

Place the egg whites and breadcrumbs each in a different shallow bowl. Dip the chicken rolls in the egg then in the breadcrumbs, coating it. Set the chicken breasts seam side down in the baking dish. Bake uncovered for 35 to 40 minutes or until the chicken is thoroughly cooked.

*I make my own sun-dried tomatoes out of cherry tomatoes. If you're using sun-dried tomatoes out of can, you'll want to chop them up.

**I use Knorr pesto mix to make my pesto. But you can use jarred pesto or homemade.

Enjoy!

~Krissy