Hold on to your pants!

Meatball Grilled Cheese. Did I just blow your mind? Move over meatball sub, you just got one upped. This was top of the charts. Everyone knows that meatballs make better leftovers but combine that with a grilled cheese? I was in heaven. The meatballs with the toasted potato bread and the gooey cheese. I even sprinkled a little bit of parm on the outside for some added zing.

Meatball Grilled Cheese

(from My Kitchen!)

Ingredients:
Leftover meatballs in sauce
Bread
Butter
Mozzarella cheese
Directions:
1. Butter the outside of you bread and place in a warm pan.
2. Layer the cheese, then saucy meatballs, and a little bit more cheese. Top with bread.
3. Cook till golden and flip carefully to brown the other side. If you want to be super fancy (I was) you can sprinkle some parmesan on the outside of your bread, it tastes amazing.

Turkey Tuesday!

I made my meatball recipe with turkey tonight and it wasn't half bad. A little on the dry side and they sucked up a TON of sauce. I have to pick up another jar so we can finish them tomorrow. I did add a bunch of red pepper flakes to the mix so it had a nice zip to it.....but it didn't beat the original beef meatballs.

Turkey Meatballs!

Bean Balls!

No Meat Monday has come early! I've been thinking since watching "Fork Over Knives" and have realized a couple of things. I rarely ate meat in college or grad school. College consisted mainly of oatmeal, cereal, soup and grilled cheese. When I lived with Grandma for a semester in grad school dinner normally had meat but she's super healthy and it was always a balanced meal (and always a yummy salad!). When I lived by myself I didn't eat a lot of meat because I was poor/I was just cooking for me/totally going to die from food poisoning. Now that I live with the boy, I cook a lot of meat and there is just generally more food. Time to start working on that.

Fresh out of the oven Bean Balls!

I've been craving spaghetti and meatballs or lasagna lately so I figured this would be a good place to start. There are several recipes for vegetarian meatballs or bean balls I found on the internet, all of them are very similar. So I took bits and pieces and combined it with my meatball recipe. It came out pretty good! The texture is very soft but flavor wise it was good (especially once it was in the sauce). I tried one right out of the oven an it reminded me of falafel or red pepper hummus. I might be able to sneak these by as a super soft turkey meatball since we had some very delicious soft meatballs at Christmas. I'll tell Mr. Lawyer eventually, I just want to see if he'll notice!

Bean Balls!

(adapted from the internet)

Ingredients:
2 cans of beans, rinsed and roughly mashed (I used cannellini but saw recipes for black, pinto, garbanzo, etc)
1 roasted red pepper, minced (or raw or carrots! so many different recipes)
2 teaspoons garlic, minced
1/3 cup onion, finely chopped
1 egg
1/2 to 1 cup panko bread crumbs (I had to use 1 cup because my mixture was so wet)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon Italian herbs (or fresh)
Sauce and Pasta
Directions:
1. Mix together all ingredients. Do not over mix or puree the beans, you want there to be some texture!
2. Form into "meatballs" and place on a greased baking sheet. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.
3. Add to sauce and bring to simmer. Serve with pasta.

Messy Meatballs

Provolone on your leftover meatball sub? Divine. Adds some class to a messy meal as Mr. Lawyer demonstrated.

Special Request!

I had a special dinner request from Mr. Lawyer: Spaghetti and Meatballs. This worked out perfectly as there was some frozen ground beef that I wanted to use up. I try to be diligent with the "first in first out" rule but sometimes cravings strike and this poor little package of beef got left behind months ago. I also write the date on everything and double wrap everything. I get laughed at for it but I'm paranoid about stuff like that. Anyway, it seemed like some Wegmans Meatballs were on the menu! It had been a while since I made them so I was excited.

Wegmans Meatballs

(from my lovely Wegmans!)

Ingredients:
1 cup Panko Breadcrumbs
2 large eggs
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup grated Pecorino Romano Cheese
2 tsp minced Garlic
2 Tbsp minced fresh Italian parsley
1 tsp Italian Seasoning (or a dash of oregano/basil)
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 lb 80% Lean Ground Beef
Directions:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
1. Add panko, eggs, water, cheese, garlic, parsley, seasoning, salt, and pepper to large bowl; stir to combine. Add beef; mix by hand until just combined (use the claw! overmixing will toughen meatballs). 

2. Scoop up about 3 Tbsp meat mixture to form balls; smooth by rolling in cupped hands. Arrange meatballs on baking sheet, about 1 1/2-inches apart. 

3. Bake 15-17 min or until internal temp reaches 160 degrees.

I also toasted up some garlic bread and as a little twist I added some finely chopped fresh rosemary to a couple of pieces. It was delicious! You only need a little, too much would be extremely overpowering.

Bits of Meatballs

Bits and Pieces Time! (and apologies for the horrible lighting in the photo but I was hungry and didn't want to wait) Homemade meatballs from the freezer? Best thing ever. I was craving some comfort food that was nice and hot in order to fend off the lingering fall chilliness....enter meatball subs.

Meatball Subs

The key is to turn the roll into garlic toast. It gives it a nice little crunch and a punch of flavor. You can also scoop out some of the bread so your meatballs are nicely cradled by the bread. Instead of parmesan we topped them off with shredded smoked gouda. Faaaaancy!

Also: super messy. On the first bite Mr. Lawyer splattered sauce all over his shirt, his bicep, and probably me.

Rainy Day Bread

It was a nice rainy day which was perfect for hot chocolate and making bread! I was recently gifted a copy of Mary Gubser's Quick Breads, Soups and Stews that Melissa found at the library book sale and it's quite the little gem. I'm excited about a lot of recipes but decided to start off with the basic white bread recipe which promised me "an excellent crusty bread with a handsome crust." And that is exactly what came out of my oven! It was a nice loaf of homemade bread, had a good texture and density, and the crust was pretty handsome! 

It accompanied some of my meatballs from the freezer, a nice salad and some New York State wine for a very yummy dinner. The yellow pepper in the salad and basil for the pasta both came from our little balcony garden. 

Basic White Bread

(From Mary Gubser's Quick Breads, Soups and Stews)

Ingredients:
3 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup warm milk
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons butter/margarine, melted
1 package quick-rising dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water
Directions:
1. In a food processor add flour and salt, pulse to combine.
2. Mix milk, honey and butter in a small bowl. In a second bowl add water and yeast, stir till dissolved.
3. With the food processor running add in the yeast mixture followed by the milk mixture. Mix for 20 seconds. Remove dough and knead by hand for 1 minute. Round into a ball, cover in plastic wrap and a towl. Let proof for 30 minutes. Knead down for 1-2 minutes, cover and let rest 10 minutes.
4. Preheat oven to 400. Spray loaf pan with vegetable spray. Form dough into a loaf and bake for 30-35 mintues. Remove from oven and turn bread out onto a wire rack to cool.

I am excited to pick my next recipe from this book! Some section titles are: The Delectable Muffin, Cornbread and Spoon Bread, Biscuits and Scones, Seafood Soups, Creamy Soups, Coffee Cakes, and A Perfect Loaf to name a few.

Big Italian Dinner!

I feel like spaghetti and meatballs is always a dish that you compare to your parents (or grandparents!) so I was nervous to make this for the Lawyer but he loved it! And it wasn't a boyfriend lie! I first had this meatball recipe when Grandma Nancy made it for me and even better, it's a Wegman's recipe (♥!)! Grandma made the meatballs according the recipe, the first time I made them I used asiago cheese and they were still amazing. This time I followed the recipe and used pecorino romano. I would change nothing about this recipe unless you wanted to experiment with the cheese, which I completely approve of. The panko breadcrumbs are essential (and we all know what a sucker I am for panko!) These are my go to meatballs!

Wegman’s Meatballs!

(Wegmans obviously)

Ingredients: 
1 cup Panko Breadcrumbs
2 large eggs
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup grated Pecorino Romano Cheese
2 tsp minced Garlic
2 Tbsp minced fresh Italian parsley
1 tsp McCormick Italian Seasoning (or a dash of oregano/basil)
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 lb Wegmans 80% Lean Ground Beef
Directions: 
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
1. Add panko, eggs, water, cheese, garlic, parsley, seasoning, salt, and pepper to large bowl; stir to combine. Add beef; mix by hand until just combined (use the claw! overmixing will toughen meatballs). 

2. Scoop up about 3 Tbsp meat mixture to form balls; smooth by rolling in cupped hands. Arrange meatballs on baking sheet, about 1 1/2-inches apart. 

3. Bake 15-17 min or until internal temp reaches 160 degrees.

I also tried a new sauce recipe out. It was pretty good although the name was misleading. I could taste the spicy but not the basil (except for the torn basil we put on top, from my very own basil plant!) I also simmer the meatballs in the sauce for a while after they come out of the oven. Supposedly the pine nuts add a creaminess to the sauce but I'm sure it would be fine without them because 1/4 cup pines nuts is equal to one month of my rent, just kidding! (except not really, those nuts are expensive!) While I'm not as in love with recipe as I am my Wegman meatballs I would make it again, but I would also experiment with new recipes. I did omit the fennel seeds because of my intense (and unfounded?!) hatred of fennel seeds. I like fennel bulb but for some reason I just cringe when I find fennel seeds in my pizza or spaghetti sauce.

Spicy Tomato-Basil Sauce 

(Bon Appétit) 

Ingredients:
4 1/2 cups canned crushed tomatoes with added puree (from two 28-ounce cans), divided
1/4 cup pine nuts
4 1/2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3/4 cup finely chopped onion
4 large garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon fennel seeds (finely crushed in plastic bag)  or not.
3/8 teaspoon (or more) dried crushed red pepper
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh basil
1/3 cup dry white wine

1 teaspoon dried oregano
Freshly ground black pepper
Directions:
1. Place 1 cup crushed tomatoes in blender. Add pine nuts and blend until very smooth, about 1 minute. 2. Heat oil in heavy large pot over medium-low heat. Add onion, garlic, fennel seeds, and 3/8 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper. Sauté until onion is soft, about 5 minutes. 

3. Add remaining crushed tomatoes, 2 tablespoons chopped basil, wine, and oregano. 

4. Scrape in tomato mixture from blender and stir to combine. 

5. Simmer sauce until flavors blend, 5 to 6 minutes. 

6. Season to taste with salt, pepper, and more dried crushed red pepper (I did add more red pepper)

7. Add your meatballs!