Turkey Meatballs

I do enjoy spaghetti and meatballs. It is so simple but again something that I don't add to the rotation to often, more of a good backup plan in a pinch. And on that I have played around with a few recipes always feeling like they are missing something. So tonight I made a great meatball. A few of my old favorites all combined. Yum!

I made a LARGE batch- I feel with these, may as well go big so we can have leftovers. So now happily in my freezer are about 16 meatballs already and rolled for another nights dinner.


Turkey Meatballs, My Way

Prep- 10 minutes
Cook - 20 minutes + simmering time
Serves - this will make about 30+ average sized meatballs

2 lbs ground turkey, I used 1 lb light and 1 lb dark
2 eggs
1 bunch parsley, chopped very fine
1/3 cup milk
2 slices bread
2 tablespoons tomato paste
5 tablespoons parmesan cheese
1 large onion, diced
5 cloves garlic, minced
salt and pepper

option- ricotta cheese. I would add about a 1/2 cup. I love ricotta and wish I had some when I was making these. They would just add some more awesomeness to these awesome meatballs.

Add 1 tbs of olive oil to a skillet. Saute your onion and garlic. While sauteing add a good heaping teaspoon of salt to your onions. That helps them sweat.
While those are sauteing about 5-7 minutes go ahead and soak your 2 slices of bread in the milk. You may need a bit more milk- but you want the pieces to to be "covered" not soaking. Give those a good 4 minutes or so in the milk.
While you are sauteing and soaking go ahead and start tossing all your other ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
When you onions are done, give them a few minutes to cool down then add them.
Take your bread, gently squeeze out any excessive milk. Then crumble your bread up into your bowl too.

Now get to mixing. You can try doing this with a spoon, but really what's the point. Get your hands in there and mix it good.

Turn oven on to 400.

Get a baking sheet and start plopping meatballs. You can put them pretty close together because it's not like they are going anywhere.

If you want to freeze some too get a plate out and fill up your plate. I stuck the ones for the freezer in my freezer on the plate for about 15 minutes to firm them before putting them in a freezer bag.

Once your baking sheet is as full as you would like them throw them in the oven for about 20-25 minutes. Now, I simmered mine which I will explain in a second- if you plan on doing this I would say pull them out even if they aren't "cooked" all the way because you will be cooking them more. If not doing it this way cut one open and make sure they aren't pink and are cooked all the way!

If simmering go ahead and get your sauce ready and water on for your pasta to boil. Place meat balls in your pot with your sauce and get the heat on a medium-low. I simmered mine in the sauce for about 30 minutes.

I served these over whole wheat spaghetti and a loaf of homemade Italian bread!
It's amore!

Buffalo Tacos w/ Homemade Tortillas

I love tacos. I am not sure why I don't add them to the menu more often. Sometimes I get so wrapped in the new recipes, literally I think sometimes I spend hours looking for recipes! Yikes! So in my quest for some familiarity tacos were added. Buffalo tacos, because they are yummy. I am also making guacamole and homemade tortillas! Oh my, I am hungry now and dinner is still 6+ hours away!


Ok so I am trying homemade tortillas and am really looking forward to it!

Buffalo Tacos-

lets get real. I am a mom. A mom with a tiny baby. Ok well she isn't so much "tiny" as she is little, cute and oh so cuddly. So my buffalo tacos consisted of: 1 lb ground buffalo and 1 packet of Simply Organic Taco Seasoning! and there you have it ladies and gentlemen - Buffalo Tacos!

Next up Homemade Tortillas

Simple, few ingredients and so good. Don't you love when you make something from scratch for the first time as to have always buying it at the store and you are like WOW! That happened to me again. I love that when that happens.

Tortillas

prep 5 minutes, plus 20 for rolling balls out
cook 15 minutes
makes 12-15

3 cups all purpose flour, I used a hearty stoneground flour
6-8 tbs shortening, I would use 8+ tbs shortening and maybe only 6+ of lard. I used shortening and definitely imagined how different the flavors would have been with lard
2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 - 11/4 warm water

Mix flour, salt and baking powder together. Add in shortening and mix well with a pastry cutter ( I am not a "gadget" person, but I love my pastry cutter) Cut it all in and mix well. Go ahead and roll up your sleeves a bit and starting adding water- SLOWLY! I think I used just a little over a cup. Mix it really well. Feel free to flour your hands good so you aren't so sticky. You don't want your big ball to be over sticky.
Next roll the big dough ball into 12-15 smaller balls.
Let those sit for at least 10 minutes but longer is fine.
Now for the fun part...
Lightly flour your work space and rolling pin. They actually make cute tortilla rollers, of course. But I don't have one of those so I just pulled out my big old wooden rolling pin. Actually I let my 8 year old do most of this. But when rolling it out I needed to take over.
Take it slowly. You want them to be thin, but that also makes them able to rip easier. I would roll one way, turn it over and roll the other way.
Ours were all sorts of shapes. I think we had a heart, a rectangle and no circle anywhere!
Get your skillet nice and hot. Throw one it at a time, unless your skillet it big enough to fit two.
I would say it takes close to 1 minute on each side. I watched for those little brown spots to show up. Flip and watch for more little brown spots to show up!
I had a plate with a kitchen towel and hid them in there, except the one that went in my belly until dinner was ready.

YUM!
I will say the thinner ones were more taco like. The ones that didn't get so thin reminded me of flat bread.

That is it for now! I will try to add photos soon and will also be posting my yummy guacamole too!

xo

Life is a poem...

It has been a few days. Sorry, no truly my deepest regards. I haven't cooked much this week from being in bed all day Sunday and then spending Monday making sure I was feeling 100% better. But I am back and ready to get in the kitchen, but first a little bit about my week or in particular my night last night!

So my dad is a poet. By day he is an attorney and yadda yadda that is great but by love and passion he is a poet. He is having 2 books published this year, one by Dos Madres a small but wonderful local press company here and another by Wordpress later in the year.

Last night he had his first reading in quite a while. It was wonderful. We were in the tea room of this delectable local bakery. 30 people together quiet and listening to his words. He spoke smoothly and with emotion. Real emotion, the kind of emotion that my sister and I looked at each other and got tears in our eyes. Beauty. I remember when I was a kid listening to my dads poems. I have every single one of his chat books from the 70's with his poems in it, they sit nicely on my bookshelf all in a row.

So life is a poem. My poem has included so much beauty and laughter, it has traced the lines of many pages and still after every word there is a smile. A joyous poem perhaps.

Here is my dad reading a poem he wrote for our wedding:



Here is one of my fathers poems. Read it, then go back and read it again. When you are done the second time think about it and perhaps read it again.

Walrus
It slips from my heart
Like the walrus slips
From the ice into the sea
Diving deep to dig for oysters
In the mud with his ivory tusks

But it always returns

I feel those wet flippers
And the pain from two huge tusks
Pulling that dark slippery wrinkled form
Back onto my heart
And I am frightened
Until I feel the warmth from his blubber
Which the Eskimos eat
And burn in their lamps
And I want to live and receive light
From him too

I shake again
When the walrus moves
Knowing he is hungry
And must go
I cry wait
As he slides into the water
And I hope for
The day
When my arms
will be strong enough
To wrap around and hold
The broad neck
Of this mustached whale horse

to ride him into the dark
Into the warmer water
To dig in the mud and watch
For polar bears and kayaks

By Gerry Grubbs

A recipe I must share!

My cousin Windy sent me this recipe yesterday. These look great and I can't wait to try them. I love food that you can sneak vegetables in it and the kids will still love them.

What is your favorite recipe that "hides" ingredients:

Good Morning Muffins

2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
3 eggs
1/2 cup vegtable oil
1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
2 cups peeled, chopped apples (I actually grate mine)
2 cups peeled, grated carrots
1/3 cup flaked coconut
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 c sliced almonds

Heat oven to 375 degrees. In large bowl, mix flour, sugar, soda, cinnamon, and salt. In another bowl, beat eggs. Add oil, milk, vanilla. Mix well. Stir dry ingredients. Fold in apples, carrots, coconut, raisins, and almonds. Fill greased muffin cups 3/4 full. Bake 20-25 minutes.
ENJOY!

I am really looking forward to making these muffins! Thanks cousin for sending this my way!

Thankful Thursday

Here I am, my husband has been gone most of the week traveling with work. He was home Tuesday night for dinner and we had soup. Roslaee just fell asleep and I am going through years of recipes I have collected, scribbled and torn out of old magazines. Deciding on what to keep, what to pass on and what to get rid of so no one else has to experience them.

Grocery list making is well under way also. As well as laundry and floor sweeping. Motivated, perhaps a little.

Well, here it is. My weeks menu:

Friday- Chicken Noodle Soup with Cheddar Biscuits
Saturday- - Out, deservingly
Sunday-- Happy Shrimp Stir Fry w/ Brown Rice
Monday- Tuna Noodle Casserole, because if I make this the kids will be so good. I really should make it more often.
Tuesday- Grilled Turkey & Cheese Sandwiches w/ Tomato Soup
Wednesday- Tacos w/ Homemade Tortillas and Guacamole

The menu this week is quick and simple cooking as we have stuff 3 nights this week which means Jimmy goes home from work, we eat and head back out! Busy. What does your menu look like? What are some of your favorite things to cook?