Awesome Meatballs

This recipe is so good and so easy! A long time ago I used to have Italian Night when I worked for the Utah Shakespearean Festival. One night some of the crew delivered 10 lbs. of ground beef and 10 lbs. Italian sausage and asked me to make as make meatballs as I could. I was up to the challenge and this is the recipe I created.

1 lb. ground beef

1 lb. Italian sausage (mild or hot)

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups Italian breadcrumbs

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup Romano cheese, grated

1 tablespoon fresh chopped Italian flat leaf parsley

1 tablespoon fresh chopped basil

1 tablespoon fresh chopped oregano

1/2 cup warm water

Salt and Pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine meats in a large bowl. Add eggs, garlic, cheese and spices; mix well. Add in breadcrumbs and mix again. Add water and mix a final time. The mixture will be a little gloppy from the water, but it will make the final product so tender!

Form into balls. This will make 16 meatballs. (Less if you make them bigger.) Spray a broiler pan with non-stick cooking spray and place meatballs. I use this type of pan so the grease drains.

Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes. Your time may vary. You are looking for a nicely browned meatball. If you don't put them in sauce, you need to make sure the internal temp comes up to 160 degrees before eating!

Or...Drop meatballs in your sauce and cook an additional 15 minutes.

Enjoy!

Spaghetti alla Bolognese aka Spaghetti Sauce like Grandma used to make

My Grandma made spaghetti sauce differently than the other families I know. Sauce at my "Gramma's" didn't have a lot of sauce, but sure did have a lot of stuff in it. When I started cooking on my own I investigated tomato sauce based stuff and found I didn't like it as much. I also discovered that Gramma didn't make Marinara or Ragù. She made Bolognese. Yum! I am currently out of town and living in a hotel so I will probably not have any photos for a while but I will do my best to keep posting until I get on the ship.

1 lb. ground italian sausage
1/4 lb. ground beef
1 medium onion, diced
1 large carrot, diced
4 stalks of celery, diced
1 6 oz. can of tomato paste
2 15 oz. cans of diced tomatoes.
4 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon Oregano (or 2 tablespoons fresh)
1 tablespoon Basil (or 2 tablespoons fresh)
1/2 tablespoon Fresh ground Black Pepper
1/2 teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup dry red wine (I like a merlot)

Fry up your meats on medium heat. They can go in together. Drain any excess grease.
Next add in your onion, carrot and celery and garlic and fry until soft.
Add the wine and let it come to a simmer before moving on. By "simmer" I mean lightly bubbling. This will let the wine flavor marry with the other ingredients.
Then add in your diced tomatoes, all the dry seasonings and mix well.
Add the tomato paste. Fill the empty can with water two times and add it too.
Mix it all around and let it come back to a simmer.
Turn your heat down to low and cover your pan.

If you are going to do this right, let it simmer for 3-5 hours. Keep an eye on it or it will burn. Just stir every 20 minutes or so.

Truthfully, it is ready to eat about 20 minutes after you add the tomato paste. But it will taste OH SO MUCH better if you let all the ingredients sit together for as long as you can stand. You may find you need to add another can of water if you simmer it the full time.

Serve over spaghetti. Not angel hair, not thin spaghetti. REAL spaghetti. Thick and filling.
Add a nice green salad and some garlic bread and you have a delicious and cheap meal.

This should serve 6 with no leftovers.

YUM!

Chicken Fried Rice

Use your old rice. Rice should be at least one day old, two is even better! The chicken can be from your leftovers too! Remember that you can use just about any veggies you have on hand. This is a super cheap and easy recipe.

• Leftover rice
  
• 2 chicken breasts, cooked and cubed (you could use shrimp or beef too!)
• 2 eggs (more or less depending on how much rice you have)
• 1 cup frozen mixed veggies (or whatever leftovers you have)
• 1/2 cup onion, diced
  
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
  

First get your wok nice and hot - then add a couple dollops of oil.

If you have the chicken already prepared, heat it up in the wok and then dump it on a plate. If not, cook it and then dump it on a plate.

Next cook up the veggies and garlic until they are nice and tender.

Dump them on top of the chicken.

Next up are the eggs. Lightly scramble them in the bottom of the wok. Once the are done dump them on the chicken and veggies.

Add a little more oil if your pan is looking dry.

Now put the rice in and spread it around. Don't mess with it too much or it will break down and get all mushy. I try to wait until I hear the rice really sizzle and then mix it around once.

After you hear the sizzle again - dump all the other ingredients on top.

Move it around again. Try to get the uncooked rice to the bottom when you mix all the ingredients.

Add the soy sauce and listen to it hiss.

Move it around one last time.

Should be done now! Maybe a total cook time of 30 minutes of you have raw chicken to start.... closer to 1o if chicken and veg are already cooked!

Serve with a side of Chili sauce with Garlic!

Mmmmmmm

Chocolate Chip Cookies

I saw this on Bucky's BBQ and Bread website. He got it from JustBaking.net. I liked the tweaks Bucky's made and added a few changes to make it mine.

The recipe is below. Using a tablespoon to drop them will result in cookies that are about 3" across. Using a 1/4 cup scoop (like the other sites say) results 5 1/2" cookies!

YUM!

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted YES, MELT THE BUTTER - it's part of the secret
  
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 3/4 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 tablespoon almond extract
  
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chunks (or dark - I think the milk ones are too sweet for this recipe.)
  

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees

Line air bake* cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Sift the flour, salt, cinnamon and baking soda and set aside.

Mix the sugars and butter just until thoroughly mixed, then add egg, yolk, almond extract and vanilla and mix until creamy. Add the sifted ingredients and mix until just blended.

Stir in the chocolate chunks, then drop dough 1 tablespoon at a time on a cookie sheet, about 3 inches apart, and bake for 15-17 minutes (more like 10-12 minutes if you don't use and air bake cookie sheet!).

Leave them on the cookie sheet to cool a bit when removed from the oven -this is important… they fall apart if you move them too quickly. Once they cool a few minutes, remove the cookies to a cooling rack to finish cooling.

* I use the air bake cookie sheets because they keep your cookies from burning if you leave them in longer. I have a tendency to multi-task and sometimes hear the oven making it's "I have been beeping for more than a minute" sound while in another room. I have dashed into the kitchen to dark brown bottomed cookies too many times. So now I use the air bake and they ROCK! If you over bake, your cookies are just crunchy, not ruined.

Cooper's Tail Waggin' Good Chili

For those of you who don't know... Cooper is our pup. He's really cute and loves to hang around the kitchen while I cook.

1 lb. stew meat, cut into 1/4" pieces (trim off as much fat as you can)
4 hot Italian sausage links, taken out of the casings
1 lb. ground turkey

1 green bell pepper, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 medium white onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, diced
4 jalapenos, diced (keep the seeds of only 2 peppers)

2 tablespoons Cayenne
2 tablespoons Chili Powder
2 tablespoons Cumin
1 teaspoon Cinnamon
2 tablespoons Chipotle chili fakes
1 teaspoon Salt

2 6 oz cans of tomato paste
2 14 1/2 oz. cans of diced tomatoes

2 15 oz. cans of spicy chili beans
1 15 oz. can of dark red kidney beans

1 12 oz. unibroue beer (or whatever you like - a medium ale)

Fry the sausage and turkey together in a large, heavy bottomed pot.
Remove and drain the meat in a colander.
Sear the stew meat in the same pot.
Remove the stew meat to the colander.
Pour just enough of the beer into the pot to deglaze. Scrape all the brown bits off the bottom.
Add a tiny bit of olive oil and saute the onions, green and red peppers, jalapenos and garlic.
All all the meat back into the pot.
Add the rest of the beer.
Add all of the dry spices.
Add the tomato paste and diced tomatoes.
Simmer for about 20 minutes.
Add the beans.
Simmer for another 30 minutes or so.

Serve with sour cream and shredded cheddar.

This is not a "burn you face off right away" chili, it is a slow burn - make you sweat type of heat.

YUM!

London Broil

Times are tough, here is a cheap and easy recipe.

Technically London Broil is a way to prepare meat, not a cut of meat but lots of supermarkets sell a cut of top round and call it London Broil.

London Broil

Ingredients:

2 lb. piece of Top Round or Flank Steak

1 container of fresh mushrooms (as many or few as you like)

Marinade:

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup apple juice

1/4 olive oil

1/2 tablespoon garlic, crushed

1/2 tablespoon fresh ground pepper

Juice from 1/2 a lemon

Combine all marinade items in a zip top bag. Close the bag and shake it a few times to mix all ingredients.

Add your meat to the bag.

Squish out all the air and leave to marinate overnight in fridge*, turning once.

*If you are cool like me, you can put this in your FoodSaver Marinator and marinate this in about an hour.

The meat should come out of the fridge an hour before cooking. It can just sit on your counter and come to room temperature. (Thank you, Alton Brown, for that little gem.)

Preheat oven on your Broil setting.

Broil your meat about 4 inches from the coils for about 5 minutes on each side. This is my best advice because all ovens are different. If you have ever done fillets in the oven, it's about that long. You want it to come out medium rare. Any more done will result in a TOUGH, DRY piece of shoe leather.

I put the mushrooms in an oven proof container on a lower shelf in the left over marinade. The marinade then becomes the sauce. (Make sure the marinade comes to a boil.)

Let the meat rest on your cutting board for 10 minutes before cutting. Then thinly slice it at a 45 degree angle across the grain.

Serve this with baked potato and a nice green salad. (or whatever you like!)

YUM!

Scalloped Potatoes with Ham in the Crock Pot

 5-6 large potatoes, sliced about 1/8" thick
1 small onion, diced
1 1/2 cups sharp Cheddar cheese, grated
1/2 cups of your favorite cheese, grated (I like Parmesan, Asiago, Provolone or Colby)
8 oz. cubed ham
2 tablespoons butter
3/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon of fresh ground pepper
1 tablespoon of garlic, minced (one clove)
1 teaspoon Adobo


Spray non-stick cooking spray in your Crock Pot. Layer potatoes, onions, ham and cheeses alternately in pot and put the butter on top.
In a bowl combine milk, salt, pepper, adobo and garlic.

Pour milk mixture over potato and cheese layers in the Crock Pot. Cook on high for 3-4 hours, until potatoes are tender.


You can also put in 1/2 teaspoon horseradish if you like it a little spicy!


YUM!

Oreogasims (aka Oreo Truffles)

Oreogasims
(Oreo Truffles)

1 bag double stuff oreos

1 8 oz. block cream cheese, softened to room temp.

1 large bag dark chocolate chips

1 tablespoon Crisco

OR

1 lb. dipping or enrobing chocolate (no crisco needed)

Crush the oreos and combine with the cream cheese in a food processor or blender

Scoop out tablespoon sized dollops and place on a cookie sheet covered in wax paper.

Freeze for 20 minutes

While the insides are freezing, melt the chips on the stove on LOW. Once mostly melted, stir in the crisco.

Once totally melted TAKE THE PAN OFF THE HEAT and only put it back on when the chocolate starts to set up. If you leave the pan on the heat too long your chocolate will burn and it will be ruined.

Use a fork or spoon to dip the frozen centers into the chocolate and put back on the cookie sheet.

 

Freeze 1 hour.

Take out of freezer 10 minutes before you are ready to eat them.

MMMMMMMM

100 calories per truffle (yikes!)

Make 42 truffles

*You can also skip the chocolate coating and roll the truffles in crushed almonds or mini chocolate chips or sprinkles...

Chicken Cacciatore in the Crock Pot

Sorry guys, I didn't remember to take process pictures this time. But trust me, this recipe is AWESOME!

3 lbs. chicken (I used boneless, skinless breasts)
1 can diced tomato
1 6 oz. can of tomato paste
1 small onion, diced
1 small red (or green) pepper, diced
2 cloves of garlic, diced
1/2 tsp. oregano
1/2 tsp. basil
1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper

6 servings of your favorite pasta

Chop the onion and put in the bottom of the crock pot
Put the chicken on top of the onion
Mix the rest of the ingredients together in a bowl and pour over the chicken

Turn the crock pot on low and cook for 8 hours.

Cook the pasta and plate your meal! The breasts will easily break in halves or quarters, or chunks, whatever you like best. Dip out the sauce with a ladle. Serve with your favorite salad and garlic bread.

I throw the left over pasta in the crock pot and let it sit in the sauce while we are eating. (If we have any leftovers!)

YUM! This is an easy and SUPER DELICIOUS recipe.

Enjoy!