Classic Spaghetti & Meatballs

 

photo borrowed from here

This recipe is adapted from Pioneer Woman's spaghetti & meatballs. I found the sauce to be delicious and the meatballs were fantastic.  I have made other kinds of meatballs before, but this was the first time that I have made meatballs from scratch to go with spaghetti. Loved it!

Ingredients:

Meatballs:

• 3/4 pounds Ground Beef
• 3/4 pounds Ground Pork
• 3 cloves Garlic, Minced
• 3/4 cups Fine Bread Crumbs
• 2 whole Eggs
• 1/4 cup Flat-leaf Parsley, Minced
• 1/4 teaspoon Salt
• Freshly Ground Black Pepper
• 2 T Milk
• 1/2 cup Olive Oil

 Sauce: 

• 1 whole Yellow Onion, Diced
•  3 cloves Garlic, Minced
• 1 small Can tomato paste
• 36 ounces Can Crushed Tomatoes
• 1/4 teaspoon Salt
• 1 teaspoon Sugar
• Freshly Ground Black Pepper
• 1/4 cup Flat-leaf Parsley, Minced
• 2 t. basil
• 2 pounds Spaghetti, Cooked To Al Dente

Preparation Instructions

To make the meatballs, combine meat, garlic, breadcrumbs, eggs, salt, pepper, parsley, and milk in a mixing bowl. Mix together well with hands. Roll into 1 1/2-inch balls and place on a cookie sheet. Place cookie sheet into the freezer for 5 to 10 minutes to firm up.
To brown the meatballs, heat olive oil in a heavy pot or large skillet over medium-high heat. Add meatballs 8 at a time, turning to brown. Remove and drain on a paper towel after each batch. Set meatballs aside.
In the same pot, add the onions and garlic and cook for a few minutes, or until translucent. Pour in  tomatoes. Add salt, pepper, sugar, parsley, basil. Stir to combine and cook over medium heat for 20 minutes.
Add meatballs to pot and stir in gently. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes, stirring very gently a couple of times during the simmer.

Serve over cooked spaghetti. Sprinkle with Parmesan.

Zucchini Casserole

This is a great recipe when you have extra zucchini or even when you have leftover rice. It is savory and a complete meal in one pan. Because I have a big family, I adjust the ingredients to my liking in order to have this casserole go even further (more rice, more zucchini, more sauce, etc.)

Ingredients:

1 can cream of mushroom
1 cup cooked rice
1 lb. extra lean ground beef
3 tbs. chopped onion
6 small zucchini (or so), sliced
salt & pepper

Directions:

Brown meat. Add onion and cook together until onion is tender. Add cream of mushroom. Add rice. Mix all of that completely and turn off heat.

Lay zucchini slices on bottom of greased casserole dish. I use a 9x13. Then pour above mixture over zucchini.

Prepare the following sauce in a saucepan over medium heat: 2 T butter, 1 c. milk, 2 T flour, salt & pepper to taste. Prepare to a roux. Finally add 1 c. grated cheese. Pour over top. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Beef Tips and Noodles

My mom made this often when I was young. It has become a favorite of my husbands and even my kids love it. The best part is the simplicity of it and the meat is so tender.

Ingredients:

1 lb. stew meat
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can tomato soup (or cream of mushroom soup)
1 package dry lipton onion soup mix

Directions:

Mix the ingredients together in a crockpot. Cook on High 4-6 hours or Low 5-7 hours.
Serve over egg noodles.

*Last time I made it, I did not use the tomato soup and instead used two cans of cream of mushroom soup (this is the way my uncle makes it). It was really good!
*I buy bulk already cut up stew meat from Costco, seperate it into baggies and freeze it. It's always nice to have different kinds of meat on hand.

Stuffed Peppers

My mom made this when I was a kid and I loved it. I just ate the insides as a kid but I've grown up a little and now I eat the insides and the pepper. It is really yummy and simple. Give it a try!

Ingredients:

6 large green peppers

1 lb. ground beef

1/2 c. chopped onion

1 16 oz. can tomatoes, cut up (or stewed)

1/2 c. long grain rice

1/2 c. water

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. Worcestershire

1 c. shredded cheese

Directions:

Cut off tops of green peppers; empty seeds. Chop 1/4 c. of tops, set aside. Boil the peppers uncovered in water for 5 minutes. Drain well and sprinkle insides with salt. In skillet cook beef, onion, 1/4 c. peppers. When meat is brown and veggies tender, drain fat. Add undrained tomatoes, uncooked rice, water, salt, Worcestershire sauce, and pepper. Boil, reduce heat, cover, simmer 15-18 minutes, till rice is tender. Stir in cheese. Stuff peppers with meat mixture. Place 10x6x2 baking dish. Bake covered 350* for 30-35 minutes.

Sweet & Sour Meatballs

This recipe is straight from the classic Lion House Cookbook. My friend brought these to me when I had Henry. They are absolutely delicious and simple to make too. I am thinking they'd make a great New Year's Eve finger food (toothpick food) too!

1 to 1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef
3/4 cup rolled oats
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon salt
Few grains pepper
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

Combine all ingredients; mix well. Form into about 12 balls, each about 2 inches in diameter (I used a medium sized cookie scoop). Place in casserole dish. Cover with sauce*. Bake at 350 degrees F. for about 30 minutes. Makes 6 to 8 servings, 2 large meatballs each.

*Sauce: (I double the sauce so there is extra to pour over rice).

1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup vinegar
1 teaspoon prepared mustard
1/4 cup barbeque sauce
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

Combine ingredients and blend thoroughly. Heat and pour over meatballs.

Spinach & Mushroom Pot Roast

We love having pot roast and mashed potatoes and gravy on Sundays. I got the idea for the spinach & mushroom from The Domestic Art Cookbook (Vol. II).  I normally make a more traditional pot roast but it was nice to try something new. My kids were less than enthused about the spinach in it. But John & I loved it. Next time I wouldn't throw the carrots in, because we like to steam them and candy them with some butter and sugar. I think this pot roast would especially be good for a special occasion because it is more colorful and pretty.

Ingredients:

3 lb. beef roast

1 small onion, sliced

1 packet dry onion soup mix

4-6 cups water (enough so that the roast is 1/2 submerged)

2 cloves minced garlic

2 bay leaves

1 box frozen chopped spinach or

2-3 cups fresh spinach

2-3 cups sliced mushrooms

Directions:

Combine onion, soup mix, garlic, bay leaves, and water, mix. Place roast in crock pot. Cook on high 5-7 hours. (I like to start it the night before on low, especially if it is frozen, and then turn it to high 4 hours before we eat). Add spinach & mushrooms and cook until vegetables are tender (around 1 hour). Mix 1 cup of drippings with 1 packet brown gravy mix (substitute 4 T cornstarch if needed). 

Wonderful with mashed potatoes.

Garden Vegetable Soup With Ground Beef

Ingredients:

1 lb hamburger
1 1/2 quarts water
1 c. chopped onion
1 c. potatoes
1 c. cabbage, shredded
2 crookneck squash, sliced
2 small zucchini, sliced
3 carrots, sliced
3 tomatoes, diced
1 bay leaf
1/4 tsp basil
1/2 tsp. thyme
1/2 tsp pepper
1 1/2 Tbsp salt

Directions:

Brown hamburger. Drain. Cut all vegetables bite size. Put everything together in a big pot. Cook 1-2 hours. Remove bay leaf.

You really can add as much or as little of each vegetable as you prefer, but this is what i mixed up and is shown in the picture. original recipe found here... http://hayleesfood.blogspot.com/2009/04/hamburger-soup.html
This is from my friend that lives across the street. She brought it to me when we had our baby and made it more like what I posted so I followed what she made for us rather than her original recipe because we liked it so much.

Easier Beef Bourguignon

Okay, let me just put out this little disclaimer. While this isn't as difficult as the Julia Child version, this isn't your quick and easy family dinner. It is quite time-consuming and during the preparation of the pearl onions, I thought it was flat-out ridiculous. In fact, as I was preparing it, I decided it was too time-consuming to post on this blog. But then we sat down to eat dinner and it was so delicous, so flavorful and tender, that I decided I would go ahead and post it. This isn't your regular beef stew. This is either a special occasion dish more fitting to an anniversary dinner or trying to impress the in-laws, or a cooking therapy dish for when you need an afternoon in the kitchen accomplishing something great! If you bravely give it a try, let me know what you think!

Ingredients:

4 slices bacon
2 to 3 Tbsp olive oil
4 lbs trimmed beef chuck, cut into 2-inch cubes, patted dry with paper towels (I bought really good quality stew meat already cut up)
Salt and freshly ground pepper
2 cups sliced onions
1 cup sliced carrots
2 cups red cooking wine
2 cups beef broth
1 cup chopped tomatoes
1 tsp thyme
3 cloves crushed garlic

Beurre manié: 3 Tbsp flour blended to a paste with 2 Tbsp butter

24 pearl onions (I actually used the whole little bag, which was more like 30)
Chicken stock
Butter
1 1/2 pounds of button or cremini mushrooms, quartered

Directions:

In a large frying pan, cook the blanched bacon to brown slightlym then remove and crumble. Add about 1 tbsp. olive oil, heating it so that a drop of water sizzles. Dry beef chunks with a paper towel to prevent splatter. Brown the chunks of beef on all sides in the bacon fat and olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and put them into a heavy-bottomed Dutch oven or covered casserole pan. This will take a little time because you want each piece of beef to have it's own spot--no stacking up the meat. I had to repeat this step with three pans of beef.

Remove all but a little fat from the frying pan, add the sliced vegetables and brown them, and add to the meat. Deglaze the pan with wine, pouring it into the casserole along with enough stock to almost cover the meat. Stir in the tomatoes and add the garlic and thyme. Cover with foil and place in a preheated 325°F oven, until the meat is tender, about 2 to 3 hours.

While the stew is cooking, prepare the onions. Blanch the onions in boiling water for 1 minute. Drain and rinse in cold water to stop the cooking. Slice the end tips off of the onions and peel them. Sauté onions in a single layer in a tablespoon or two of butter until lightly browned. Add chicken stock. Add a teaspoon of sugar, and season with salt and pepper. Cover and simmer slowly for 25 minutes or until tender. The onions should absorb most of the water. If there is water remaining after cooking, drain the excess. Set aside.

Prepare the mushrooms a few minutes before serving the stew. Sauté quartered mushrooms in a few tablespoons of butter and olive oil until browned and cooked through. Don't crowd the mushrooms as this makes them sweat and then the flavor and texture isn't as good.

When the stew meat has cooked sufficiently, remove as much liquid as you can and put it in your saute pan or a sauce pan. On low heat, whisk in the beurre manié, then simmer for 2 minutes as the sauce thickens lightly. Pour over the meat, folding in the onions and mushrooms. It should still be hot, but if it isn't, return it to the oven for twenty minutes or so to heat it up, basting meat and vegetables with the sauce every few minutes.

I served it the first day over brown rice and that was good. After that, we just had bowls of the stew. YUMMY!

Shepherd's Pie

Ingredients:

2 lbs. all purpose potatoes, peeled and cut into quarters
1/2 cup milk
2 Tbsp. cream cheese
salt and pepper
1 lb. lean ground beef
2 onions, finely chopped
2 carrots, finely chopped
1/2 cup apple or white grape juice
1 1/2 tsp. dried thyme leaves
1 10-oz. pkg frozen peas, thawed
1 10-oz. pkg frozen corn, thawed
Cheese

Directions:

1. Boil potatoes until tender. Drain - (OR, I used one package of the instant potatoes from Costco and they worked great.) Add milk, cream cheese, and 1/4 tsp each of salt and pepper. Mash or stir together until smooth.
2. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Brown the beef. Add 1/4 tsp each of salt and pepper. Remove beef from cooking skillet.
3. In the same skillet that you browned the beef, add the onions and carrots. Add 1/4 each of salt and pepper. Cook vegetables for about 8 minutes, or until tender. Add the juice. Cook for 2 minutes or until reduced by half. Stir in the thyme and reserved beef with any juices.
4. In a 9x13 dish, spread half of the mashed potatoes in an even layer. Top with beef/vegetable mixture and then the thawed peas and corn. Spoon remaining mashed potatoes over the veggies to cover filling. Top with desired amount of cheese and bake for 25 minutes or until cheese is melting and a little bit golden brown.

Dinner In A Pumpkin

This dinner was brought to me by a sweet neighbor lady when Lily was born. I made it for the first time last night. We all enjoyed it and the children thought it was so cute, festive and fun for fall. It is a pretty simple recipe, but you must endure cleaning out a pumpkin (not one of my favorite things to do). My neighbor always doubles the recipe and makes an extra. My pumpkins were pretty small, so my doubled recipe actually made three. I think this would be a fun Halloween dinner.

Ingredients:

1 onion (chopped)
1 small to medium pumpkin
2 tbs olive or vegetable oil
1-2 lbs ground beef
2 Tablespoons soy sauce
2 Tablespoons brown sugar
1 4-oz can sliced mushrooms (chopped very small)
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 1/2 cups cooked rice
1 8-oz can sliced water chestnuts (chopped very small

Directions:

Cut off top of pumpkin and clean out seeds and pulp. If you wish, paint face of pumpkins with markers or acrylic paint. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large skillet saute onion with oil. Remove from pan. Brown ground beef, drain and then mix onions, brown sugar, mushrooms, soup and soy sauce. Simmer about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add cooked rice and water chestnuts. Spoon mixture into cleaned pumpkin shell, replace pumpkin top, place on baking sheet or roasting pan and bake 1 to 1 1/2 hours or until inside of pumpkin shell is tender. To serve scoop out cooked pumpkin with the rice mixture. Enjoy!

Beef Stroganoff

This was a really easy meal. It isn't all from scratch, so sorry, but sometimes you need something fast but still home-made and yummy. My family loved it. Almost everyone had seconds. So here's to fast and easy preparation for busy nights when you might be tempted to hit a drive-thru.

Ingredients:

1 package pasta (about 17 oz)

2 tbsp. olive oil

Ready-made meatballs (I have a large bag from Costco and I used about six or seven meatballs per person and had a few left over)

2 tbsp worcestershire sauce

2 cans cream of mushroom soup

1/2 cup sour cream

1 cup sliced mushrooms (I didn't have any of these, and my kids wouldn't have eaten them, but I would have loved them!)

Directions:

Cook and drain pasta according to package directions.

While pasta cooks, heat oil in skillet and add meatballs. If meatballs are frozen, add a little water and steam them. Add worcestershire sauce and stir. Add cream of mushroom soup. Continue stirring over medium heat. Add mushrooms. Continue heating for a few more minutes. Add sour cream and stir until well-mixed.

Pour over cooked noodles.

Enjoy!

Grilled Steak with Onion & Blue Cheese Sauce

Whoa. This was incredible. Better than anything I've eaten in a LONG time, including any restaurant. I got this recipe from The Pioneer Woman website. I did not use Rib-eye like she did, I got some cheaper cuts on sale and John grilled them up. Meanwhile I made this amazing sauce and the sidedishes. It was a very simple meal. The aroma and the flavor were amazing. I made these fried red potatoes and the sauce was wonderful on those as well. I will definitely make this again but since we don't have steak much, I'll probably save it for special occasions.

Ingredients:

2 ribeye steaks (or any steak)
Salt & Pepper (or other desired steak seasonings, we used Montreal Steak Seasoning)
4 tablespoons butter
1 very large yellow onion sliced fairly thin(I used two small yellow onion)
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese

Directions:

Melt butter. Add sliced onions and sautee over high heat. Cook for 5 to 7 minutes, or until brown and caramelized. Reduce heat to simmer and pour in cream. Cook for 3 to 5 minutes, or until reduced by half. Stir in blue cheese until melted. If sauce thickens too much add some broth. Serve steaks on generous portion of sauce.

Easy and Delicious Meatloaf

My mom used to make this meatloaf with chili sauce that she canned herself. It was so delicious. I don't have home-canned chili sauce, but have found a kind I really like at the grocery store. It comes in a cute, round jar and I think its called Home-style Chili Sauce. It works great.

Ingredients:

2 eggs
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 14 oz. jar or can chili sauce (the chunkier, the better)
1 cup rolled oats
1 lb. lean ground beef
2 tbsp. brown sugar

Reserve about 1/4 cup chili sauce in a small bowl.

Directions:

Mix together the eggs, onions, chili sauce and rolled oats until thoroughly combined. Mix in the hamburger just until mixed together. (I roll up my sleeves, and use my clean hands.) Shape and put in loaf pan.

Mix the brown sugar with the rest of the chili sauce and cover the top of the meatloaf. Cook at 350 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes. Enjoy!

Campfire Dinner

We all love a simple dinner! This is great for throwing over a campfire, into the barbeque, or into your oven and couldn't be any easier to prepare! Serve it with some warm rolls and you have Sunday dinner simplified!

Ingredients:

potatoes

carrots

red onion

hamburger

dry onion soup mix
cream of mushroom soup

Directions:

Simply slice your potatoes, carrots and onion to a uniform thickness. Place desired amount of each onto heavy tinfoil sprayed with non-stick cooking spray, crumble raw hamburger over the top, sprinkle with desired amount of onion soup mix and add a heaping spoonful of mushroom soup. You really can't go wrong so don't be afraid to just throw in a little more of this and a little less of that! Wrap up foil to seal in heat. Place into a 400 degree oven for 45 minutes or until meat is cooked through and vegetables are tender. Also try it in your barbeque or over a campfire!

North African Meatballs & Couscous with Dates

So I tried The Food Network's Melissa D'Arabian's recipe from last week's show. It was a hit with all but two in my family and even those two liked it, just didn't want as much sauce as the rest of us. It had very different flavors than I usually cook with, which was great. Good to shake things up once in awhile. My only complaint was that there weren't any leftovers. I wanted more later.

North African Sauce:

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 small onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 lemon, zested
1/2 cup pitted and chopped briny olives (I purchased just the right amount off the olive bar at our Smith's)
1/2 cup white wine (I subsituted diluted apple juice)
1/4 cup chicken stock or broth
1 (14-ounce) can crushed or diced tomatoes
1 teaspoon light brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes
Pinch ground cinnamon
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

In a large saucepan heat the olive oil over medium heat and saute the onion and garlic until soft but not brown, about 3 minutes. Add the lemon zest and olives and cook for 1 more minute. Add the white wine, deglaze the pan, and let it reduce for a 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in the stock, canned tomatoes, sugar, red pepper flakes, and cinnamon, and simmer to blend flavors, about 7 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Meatballs:

Ingredients:

1 egg

2 tablespoons tomato paste

3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh cilantro leaves

1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger

1 teaspoon ground cumin

Pinch ground cinnamon

3/4 pound ground beef

1/3 cup finely ground rolled oats or fine bread crumbs

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

3 to 4 tablespoons vegetable oil, for cooking

4 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves

Directions:

In a medium bowl, add the egg and tomato paste and stir until smooth. Add the cilantro, ginger, cumin, and cinnamon and mix until well blended. Stir in the ground beef and oats, season with salt and pepper, to taste, and combine gently after each addition. Do not overmix. Rolling with your hands, make about 32 meatballs, about 1-inch in diameter.
In a large saute pan, heat 3 tablespoons vegetable oil over medium heat, and brown the meatballs in batches until golden on all sides. Add more oil, as needed. Transfer the meatballs to the pan with the sauce and let simmer for 20 minutes. Sprinkle with fresh parsley and serve over Couscous with Dried Dates.