Oven Roasted Meatballs

Homemade meatballs are indeed time-consuming, I won’t lie ……. BUT once you have eaten homemade meatballs  you just can’t possibly go back to store-bought!  I hate the messy greasy job of  frying them in the pan, so I eliminated that step by throwing them in the oven instead.  To get the softest meatballs I have used a ratio of 3:1 (3 eggs for 1 lb of ground beef) Also this is where you want to splurge on calories and get 80/20 ground beef. Of course the addition of milk and bread crumbs also adds to the texture.

I usually buy a huge package of ground beef from Costco 7 lbs or so and I make a huge batch and take the morning to cook them up and then I have many meals of meatballs that I freeze.  I love just eating them with a bit of marinara sauce and fresh cheese, meatball subs, spaghetti and meatballs, sweet and sour meatballs etc 🙂

• Servings: 15-20
• Time: 3hrs
• Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients:

• 4 lbs of ground beef 80/20
• 12 large eggs
• 2 cups of milk
• 2 cups of panko bread crumbs
• 1/3 cup of fresh garlic chopped fine
• 1 1/2 cups of finely chopped onions
• 1/3 cup of parsley finely chopped
• 1/4 cup of basil finely chopped
• 1 cup of grated parmesan cheese
• 2 tsp of freshly cracked black pepper
• 1 tbsp of kosher salt

Directions:

Turn oven on to 375 . Mix all ingredients in a large bowl.  In this instance clean hands will be your best friend to really get it mixed up well.  I use a cookie size scooper for getting the perfect amount of the mixture every time.  Roll in a ball and place on a lined half sheet pan.  Cook for 20 minutes. Allow to cool slightly and enjoy 🙂

TIPS:

• If you have a food processor use it for all the chopped ingredients, it really goes soooooo much faster.
• I take tinfoil to line my half sheet pans and use pam spray so they don’t stick!
• A small ice-cream scooper really get the perfect amount of meatball mixture every time so they cook evenly
• Don’t overcook! If you want that soft melt in your mouth texture watch the clock! I actually under cook them a bit because once you take them out of the oven to rest the heat will still be cooking them as they sit! Also if  I am going to freeze them, well-done meatballs will give you a firmer texture when you go to rewarm them.

Huevos Rancheros

What to do with all the Pico de Gallo? Get your tortillas and eggs and have a healthy breakfast 🙂

Its that simple! Bon Appetite

Chocolate Chip Pecan Cookies with a Twist

As promised here is the recipe from my knitting class.  I was inspired by Egos and Buffaloes and her love of Orange/Chocolate combinations.

She has some wonderful baking recipes.

Ok so the twist is I put Orange zest and a squeeze of fresh juice in the batter.  It is wonderful! Hope you enjoy!

• Servings: 8
• Time: 1hr
• Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients:

• 1 cup of butter
• 3/4 cups of sugar
• 3/4 cups of brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 tbsp of fresh orange zest and 1 tbsp of fresh orange juice ( I zested 2 oranges)
• 1 1/4 cups of flour
• 1/2 tsp of salt
• 1 1/4 tsp of baking soda
• 2 cups of bittersweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup of pecans chopped small

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cream the sugars and butter together untill fluffy, add the eggs, vanilla, orange zest and orange juice. Cream well untill light and fluffy.  Take all the dry ingredients and mix well, then add to your creamy mixture. Mix just until the flour is incorporated. Add your nuts and chocolate chips and give it a few more stirs to incorporate them in the dough. Drop by heaping tbsp onto a parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes or till the edges start to turn golden brown. Let cool and enjoy 🙂

10 Grain Muffins

• Servings: makes 12
• Time: 1hr
• Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients:

• 1 cup of 10 grain cereal mixture (Bob’s Red Mill)
• 1 cup of flour
• 1/2 tsp of salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp of baking soda
• 1 cup of buttermilk
• 1/2 cup of brown sugar
• 1/2 cup of butter
• 1 egg

Directions:

Mix the 10 grain cereal with the buttermilk and let the mash sit for 1/2 hour before preheating your oven to 400 degrees F.

Cream the sugar, butter and eggs together. Mix dry ingredients together. Add the dry ingredients, and the milk mixture to the sugar mixture. Do not over mix. Spoon into muffin wrappers or greased muffin pan. Bake for 15 min or till golden. Enjoy!

Peanuty Peanut Butter Cookies

These chewy sumptuous peanut butter cookie will not leave you guessing if it is peanut butter. These pack a good forward peanut taste on the palate.

 

• Servings: makes 2 dozen cookies
• Time: 45 min
• Difficulty: easy
• Print

Ingredients:

• 2  cups of all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cups of finely ground peanuts
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp of baking powder
• 1/2 tsp of salt (decrease if you are using salted ground peanuts)
• 1 cup of brown sugar
• 1 cup of white  sugar
• 1 cup of butter
• 1 cup of chunky peanut butter
• 3 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F

Combine your dry ingredients in a bowl (flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt) with the finely ground peanuts, mix well.  Blend sugars with your butter using a mixer till light in color. Add eggs, peanut butter and vanilla and continue mixing till light and fluffy.

Add flour mixture till just mixed. Drop by spoonfuls onto a cookie sheet. Press gently with fork tines to form crosshatch pattern. Bake 15 minor till edges are slightly brown.