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!

Pasttata

I got this recipe from the Food in my Beard guy. I was looking for a good way to get rid of some left-overs and he delivered. The link is to his actual recipe with cool photos and stuff so look at it if you can't figure out what I mean.

Pasttata (pronounced: pas-ta-ta) (heh heh)

3 small zucchini (chopped into bite sized pieces)
2 cloves of garlic (minced)
1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes
1/2 ground turkey (or pork or sausage or beef - whatever)
1 medium onion
1/4 teaspoon of: sage, marjoram, cayenne, rosemary (or whatever you like)
1/2 lb. leftover cooked spaghetti noodles
6 eggs
2 cups cheese of your choice (I used fontina, Parmesan, mozzarella, brie)
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Brown the meat in a large oven-proof skillet and drain off grease. (On medium heat)
Cook the zucchini in the skillet (if needed) with the onion, garlic, tomatoes, and dry spices.
Add the meat back in and mix well.
Add the spaghetti noodles and mix well.
In a bowl, mix the eggs and 1 1/2 cups of the cheese.
Pour cheese and egg mixture into pan with all the other ingredients.
Use tongs to incorporate it all together.
Let it begin to cook in the pan like you do a frittata.
Once it is mostly cooked (eggs are no longer runny) put it in the oven to finish it off.
I say about 30-40 minutes in the oven. Look for it to begin to brown on top.
Take out of the oven and let rest 3-4 minutes.
Turn out onto plate and add the last 1/2 cup of cheese.
Put back in oven for a minute to melt the cheese.

Cut it like a pie and serve.

I found the spaghetti noodles make it a much heartier meal than your average frittata. Serve with some dinner rolls and a salad for a filling meal. YUM!

Angi - Smoke free and Healing for Twenty Days, 9 Hours and 3 Minutes, while extending my life expectancy 1 Day and 9 Hours, by avoiding the use of 408 cigarettes!

The Best Alfredo Sauce EVER

The best Alfredo sauce EVER!!!!

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My picky 10 year old and hubby both loved this. I doubled the garlic, took out one tbsp. of butter and added a dash of Adobo. YUM! Thanks, this was my first attempt at Alfredo. I'll never use another recipe.

Ingredients

• 7 tablespoons sweet butter
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup 1/2 and 1/2
• 1/4 teaspoon white pepper
• 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
• 1 cup Mozzarella cheese
• A dash of Adobo
• 1 tablespoon fresh parsley
  
• 1 (12 ounce) box pasta of your choice

1. Melt butter in medium saucepan over medium/low heat.
2. Add the garlic, cream, 1/2 and 1/2, white pepper and bring mixture to a simmer.
3. Stir often.
4. Add the Parmesan cheese and simmer sauce for 8-10 minutes or until sauce has thickened and is smooth.
5. When sauce has thickened add the Mozzarella cheese a little at a time and stir until smooth. STIR FREQUENTLY.
6. While the sauce cooks, boil pasta.
7. I added grilled chicken and steamed broccoli at the end.

This is soooooo good. Yum! I think about 600 calories per serving. Not nearly as bad as some of the Alfredo recipes I have seen out there.

Made this for Matt and Kenzie tonight. They LOVED it.

Angi - Smoke free and Healing for Fourteen Days, 23 Hours and 26 Minutes, while extending my life expectancy 1 Day, by avoiding the use of 300 cigarettes!