SPAGHETTI WITH MONSTER MEATBALLS

As we were to get snow, albeit only a dusting, I decided to serve a nice pasta dinner.  

First I made the meatballs.  These are a variation of my usual meatballs:

• 1 lb ground pork
• 1 lb ground beef
• 1/2 onion, small diced
• 4 cloves of garlic diced
• 1 C fresh breadcrumbs
• 1/2 C Panko
• 1/4 C fresh chopped parsley
• 1/2 C Parmesan grated
• 5 shakes of Worcestershire sauce
• a shake of red pepper (or more if you like)
• 2 beaten eggs
• salt and pepper to taste  

I took half of the mixture and froze it, I can use it for meat sauce, subs, lasagne, stuffed shells...endless possibilities.  The other half I scored into fourths and made two meatballs from each fourth.  Yes they are big, massive, monster meatballs but not the biggest out there!  I put them on a lined baking sheet and put them in the oven for 20 minutes at 425 degrees.   I turned them over and baked for another 10-25 minutes.  

I then took four of them and placed them in my homemade sauce.  

Saute 2-3 cloves of garlic with a pinch of red pepper in some olive oil, add a 28 oz can of chopped or pureed tomatoes, I used chopped and then used my immersion blender before adding the meatballs.  Add on 8 oz can of tomato sauce and a couple of tablespoons of tomato paste.  On a side note - how great is the tomato paste in a tube?!?!?  I love not having to waste 3/4 of a can of tomato paste to get 2 T of tomato paste.  Add 1/4 C of chopped fresh basil, 2 t dried oregano and 2 T chopped fresh parsley.  Combine and simmer for at least 20 minutes and then add the meatballs.

  

I used a "store" brand of whole wheat pasta, not the best so I will go back to a national brand.  Topped it with two meatballs and sauce, and for me a bit more Parmesan.

Eat well my friends!

 

RIBS WITH FRIENDS

On Tuesday we had some friends over for dinner and I had some center cut beef back ribs that I wanted to try.  I usually make St. Louis style pork ribs, I've never made beef ribs.  Let the adventure begin. 

I started by mixing up my dry rub.  The original that the hubs wrote down was from Emeril, it has since been tweaked to our liking.  This was the original that we wrote down, I will follow up the picture with what we actually use.

We will start with the basic difference when I use the oven vs the smoker, if I'm using the oven I will add Spanish smoked hot paprika.

• 2 T Brown Sugar
• 2 T Chili Powder
• 2T Paprika
• 1 t Spanish smoked hot paprika (if not using smoker)
• 1 T Garlic Powder
• 2 T Onion salt
• 1 T Fresh ground black pepper
• 1 t  Cayenne ( this is still being tweaked)
• 2 t dry mustard
• 2 t ground cumin

I rinse off and dry the ribs.  The next challenge is to take the silver skin off the back of the ribs, this was actually easier than my wrestling with the pork ribs.

I then take the rub and RUB it all over the ribs, front, back everywhere.  It is best to do this over the sink...almost no clean up, trust me you really want to do this over the sink!

I then wrap the ribs in plastic wrap, place on a baking sheet and put in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours but I almost always refrigerate over night.

Oh another lesson learned, use a baking sheet that has a lip, the rub can bring out meat juices...which without the lipped pan will leaving you cleaning your refrigerator the next day...you truly don't need to ask how I know that, right?

The ribs are out of the refrigerator, they get covered in aluminum foil and are ready to go into a 250 degree oven for 3 hours.  At half way through the 3 hours I turned the ribs.  At 3 hours I turned the ribs again and turned the oven down to 175 degrees for 2 more hours.  While they were in the oven I set the table.

Next up was preparing the sides, I went simple...The Pioneer Woman's Creamy Mashed Potatoes...

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ree-drummond/creamy-mashed-potatoes-recipe.html

As I usually do I altered the recipe some...I put the potatoes through a potato ricer, used half and half (and a bit more than called for with the cream) and I did not bake them.  I also used white pepper so I didn't have white specks in the potatoes.  And even more simply, green beans with a bit of butter.

Now that the sides are done, I take the foil off of the ribs, brush them with my favorite BBQ sauce and put under the broiler on high for 10 minutes.  The outcome is lovely, tender and tasted terrific, but do notice that the ribs to shrink and you must plan accordingly with the number of racks and the amount of sides.

We had a great dinner and Cyndi brought a heavenly Amish Honey Pumpkin Loaf with a glaze and topped with pecans! (I wish I could show you a picture but the leftovers are gone! hehe)

  Happy eating friends!

Personal Longing

I stated this blog to share recipes that I love and cook everyday and to satisfy my friends that see my food posts on Facebook and want the details.  One of the first recipes I posted was my pork green chile smothered burritos.  At the time I advised that you should try to find Hatch green chiles...I am in green chile heaven today as I found a company that not only has Hatch green chiles but a variety pack on top of it!!  BONUS!!  Now I need to convince myself that $10/lb for roasted Hatch green chiles is worth it!  I think I am completely convinced that my homemade pork green chile is better than anything out of a can, HA who would have thought!

I do not endorse or otherwise know anyone with this company but I'm so excited to see a variety pack of green chile, almost impossible to find.  Once I have the funds the 12lb variety pack will be on its way to my freezer!

Green chile heaven 

So many things I want to make with these beauties!

HUMMUS!

I have a serious addiction to hummus!  I love it plain, with sun dried tomatoes, with avocados, with roasted red peppers, with artichokes and spinach...you get the idea.  Today I decided to make two flavors I've never had before.  Drum roll..........

CREAMY RANCH AND BEET!

I love ranch dressing but my waistline does not!  What could be better than creamy ranch hummus?!?  It's thick enough to dip or spread on a sandwich and if you add a little milk it becomes an actual salad dressing.  Salad dressing with PROTEIN, who would have thunk it?

BIG RED was ready for the day!  And yes I do have an abnormal passion for my food processor.

  First up I rounded up the necessary items.

Garlic goes in first and gets whirred until finely chopped.

  
Follow the garlic with chick peas (garbanzo beans), 1 can drained (save the "bean water" for later), and 1/4 to 1/3 cup of tahini paste.

 Next I added the dried herbs, 1 tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp dried dill, 1 tsp dried parsley flakes, 1/4 tsp dried oregano and dried basil.  And finally about 3-4 Tbs of olive oil and the juice of 1/2 of a lemon.

Take all of this for a spin in the food processor or blender.  I watch the consistency and add the bean water until the consistency is where I want it.  If you want you can add salt and pepper also.

Once I get to a hummus that is about right I added 2 heaping tablespoons of fat free Greek yogurt.  The Greek yogurt gives it the tang of buttermilk but maintains the hummus consistency.

Once the yogurt is mixed in you will have a creamy and dreamy hummus.

And now for the one that when I showed the hubs he said "Yuck, how can you eat yuck?"

Beet Hummus

I love beets and I thought that adding them to my hummus base would be yummy!

Everything ready to go.

Again the garlic goes in and takes a spin.  Then I added the chick peas, tahini and 2 medium roasted beets. I had to open a new jar of tahini, make sure when you open a new jar you mix it really well.

Finished off with a couple of sprigs of fresh thyme from the garden (yes my thyme and rosemary are still alive, yippee!)  I then added two pinches of kosher salt and a pinch of black pepper.  I actually have measuring spoons for that...LOL!

And the glorious finished product.  The hubs said that it even smelled like beets, well that's the idea isn't it?

It is a fabulous purple/pink color, closer to the top picture than the bottom.

Eat well my friends.

Pickled Green Beans and Asparagus

 I spent yesterday with a new friend from my subdivision, we went and got some yarn for a couple of projects I'm doing and she picked up some stamps for her classroom.  We then went to Sam's Club, can anyone ever get out of there for less than $100?  Anyway, we had a great time and learned a lot about each other, thank you Cyndi.  Long story short I ended up with a craving for pickled asparagus and green beans.  I'll explain the Glad container in the above picture later.

Not wanting to spend $6 or more for a single jar of a pickled vegetable I decided to pull out the family kosher dill pickle recipe and go for it!  

 First I needed to get the water started so I could sterilize the lids and jars.

Next was prepping the veggies.  I did both asparagus and green beans.  I also needed small HOT red peppers and garlic.  We'll get to some of the other stuff later.

I needed to start by cutting the asparagus and green beans to they would fit in the jars I had.

I measured and cut one stalk and then continued with the remaining pound and a half of asparagus and two pounds of green beans.

While I was cutting down the veg the water began to boil for sterilization, so in they went.  I had to do them in batches.  If you are doing a large amount you can put the jars (not the lids) in the dishwasher.  Here are the lids and seals just out of their bath.

Once everything was sterilized I began to fill the jars.  In the bottom I put 1/2 or a whole red pepper, one garlic clove, 1/8 tsp (per quart, so I used 1/2 of that) alum and 1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons of dill seed. (If you have fresh it's better but it is February so no luck there)

 

I then began to pack the beans and asparagus as tightly as I could.  I must say that before I started packing the veggies I started my pickling mix on the stove.  1 cup of pickling salt, 1 Qt of  apple cider vinegar and 3 Qt water, bring to a boil.  I also made sure I had enough water in the blue pot and brought it to a boil too.

Once packed I added the pickling liquid to the jars and sealed them.

   They then went into the blue pot for a 5-10 boil.  

I began to pull out the jars and had gotten down to the last jar it split open.  I took out my spider sieve and got the green beans out and then filled the Glad container with the spices, green beans and some of the leftover pickling liquid...

The split jar in the sink.  Had is shattered I would have just gotten rid of the green beans but it was a clean cut so I could save them, yea!!!

After I took them out of the water bath I let them cool.  The Glad container went in the refrigerator so that it could stay cold and have time to absorb all the yummy flavors.  The other 5 jars cooled, lids popped and they were then turned upside down.  The will spend 2-3 weeks "curing" and sucking in all the great flavors, spices and heat of the fabulous pickling combination I have!

 I can't wait to dive into these!!

 

 

Celebrating the Chinese New Year

 I love when I can cook something out of the ordinary, but this wasn't it..LOL.  I make fried rice every now and then to use up leftovers. I decided that for the Chinese New Year last Thursday I would use up some of the leftover pork roast.

I did take a shortcut with the appetizer and got frozen egg rolls that I popped in the oven.

I started early in the day by making the rice so that it had time to cool.

Once it finished cooking in the rice cooker I put it on a baking sheet to cool and separate the rice grains.

Next came the veggies.  

 I thawed some peas in a strainer in the sink and chopped everything else, except the carrots - I used pre-shredded carrots.  I kept the mushrooms large because the hubs doesn't like them so I left them big enough for him to pick out.  Once chopped I set them aside.

Now for the roast, I chopped it into bite sized pieces and then minced the garlic and grated the ginger root.  

In the end I added about half of the ginger that I have in the picture.

Next I got everything together before mixing the eggs as once you start cooking it goes quickly.

Some of the liquids included sesame oil, fish sauce and soy sauce.  When I reheated the leftovers last night I did add more soy and some hoisin.

Lastly I scrambled two eggs.

The actual making of the fried rice is quick and easy.  Start by heating a wok or deep pan over medium low heat, add the eggs and cook gently until they are cooked through.  Take them out of the pan and chop into bite sized pieces.

I raised the heat and added the veggies, letting them cook for 3-4 minutes.  Then added the roast pieces, rice, ginger and garlic and stir fried for a couple more minutes.  Lastly I added a couple of dashes of sesame oil, fish sauce and approximately 1/4 cup of light sodium soy.

Serve immediately.