Spaghetti and Meatballs

Okay, so ... do you know anyone who doesn't like spaghetti and sauce? Thought not. It's like being a kid again. It's ... fun food. The "meatballs" part is just an added fun thing that meat-lovers will appreciate. I'm actually not a huge meat-lover myself, but it's fun once in a while. And guys tend to really be into having the meat in their meals.

So, I'm going to share this spaghetti and meatballs recipe with you. Well, mostly meatballs. I mean, I'll tell you how I do the spaghetti and sauce part, but mostly, the cool part of this recipe is the meatballs themselves. I took the meatball recipe straight out of the Betty Crocker Cookbook. The thing is, I used ground turkey instead of ground beef. I guess it's supposed to be a little bit better for you than beef (not that I care all THAT much, but it's not important, because these taste every bit as good as beef meatballs). The sauce part is just my own creation (mostly prepackaged, so don't be too impressed). Okay, so...here it is:

Spaghetti and Meatballs

Ingredients:

For the Meatballs:
1 pound ground beef or turkey (the store I go to tends to sell ground turkey in 1 1/4 pound packages. I don't know why, but that's what I had to work with, so I changed all the other amounts accordingly. I'll do the math for you here. To be honest, you can be a bit loose with this recipe and it still comes out good. DON'T WORRY!)
1/2 cup dry bread crumbs (add another 1/8 cup or so to go with the extra turkey)
1/4 cup milk (I could do the math here, but the extra amount is so ridiculously small. Basically, add another 1/4 of 1/4 cup)
3/4 teaspoon salt (again, just a tiny bit more to even out the extra turkey)
1/2 teaspoon Worchestershire sauce (and add a tiny bit extra if you've got the extra turkey - it's totally loose)
1 small onion chopped (about 1/4 cup) (I mixed white onion with a little shallot - it's just a matter of taste...plus, I had some shallot I wanted to use up. And, of course, you can add a little more if you've got the extra turkey)
1 egg (I did not add any extra egg to make up for the extra meat and it was still fine. The egg is just there to hold the mixture together and that 1 egg seemed to do the trick).

For the pasta and sauce:
1 jar of "Vodka" spaghetti sauce (or any sauce that's more orange than red - maybe a super cheesy sauce would be a good substitute)
1 jar of spaghetti sauce (any kind that's more red - as opposed to more orange, like the vodka sauce)
A bunch of your favorite pasta (I used spaghetti because it's thick and just seems to go well with this recipe. Also, you may want to consider how much of this you're going to eat at one time. If you want to, you can just make enough pasta to go with your first meal and then, anytime you want to eat more of the sauce and meatballs, just whip up some more pasta to go with it).
A ton of mushrooms (optional) (if you like mushrooms, that is. Otherwise, skip it. I used 2 bags of fresh sliced mushrooms from Trader Joe's. I suppose a bag is about the equivalent of a container of mushrooms from the store. I like the ones from Trader Joe's because they're sliced thick).
2 Tbsp butter (or olive oil) (Just use whichever one you enjoy the flavor of. I happen to think butter goes really, really well with mushrooms).
A dash of salt and pepper

Grated parmesan (optional - for serving on top of the finished product)

Directions:
Mix all the meatball ingredients; shape into twenty 1 1/2 inch meatballs (I actually got more than that out of it...maybe mine were smaller. I used a mellon baller to get them nice and round). Place on an ungreased cookie sheet or rectangular pan. Bake uncovered in 400 degree oven until done and light brown, ABOUT 20 to 25 minutes.

Heat enough water to cook the amount of pasta you've decided make. Remember to add a pretty good sized dash of salt to the water. It does actually flavor the pasta while it's cooking. When the water boils, add a big drizzle of olive oil to the pot, and throw in your pasta. It's usually a good idea to stir the pasta often during the first minute or two to prevent it from sticking together. Cook until the pasta is done (of course, the time depends on what kind of pasta you're making - check the package for suggested times and of course, give it a taste when you think it's ready). I don't recommend the old "throw the pasta at the ceiling and if it sticks, it's done" test. Too messy for me. I just taste it (trying not to burn my mouth in the process) and see if it's the consistency I want.

Saute the mushrooms, butter, salt and pepper in a non-stick pan over high heat until the mushrooms change color and soften (about 4 or 5 minutes). Stir occasionally. (It's not really all that important how long you cook them because they'll cook a bit in the sauce anyway).

If you used a VERY LARGE saute pan that's big enough to hold all the spaghetti sauce and meatballs, then go ahead and just add both jars of sauce to that saucepan with the mushrooms in it. Otherwise, put the mushrooms and both jars of sauce into a large pot or saucepan. Add the meatballs, too. heat the whole mixture over medium-low heat until it's warmed through.

Serve the sauce and meatballs over the pasta and sprinkle with grated parmesan if you want to. YUMMM!!!

NOTE: This makes a pretty good amount of food. You can, of course, freeze some of it for later use. I don't recommend freezing the pasta itself, but you can put the sauce and meatballs into freezer bags in smaller portions (one or two servings). When you want to eat them, just throw the frozen mass into microwave in a loosely covered container (you don't want sauce all over the inside of your microwave and it has to be LOOSELY covered because otherwise, pressure will build up and cause a food explosion inside the microwave. Again - a huge mess!).

Sesame Chicken, etc...

Sesame Chicken - sounds Asian, but actually, it didn't have anything else around it to make it Asian cuisine, so it really wasn't. BUT, it totally could be if you wanted it to be (put it in a stirfry, or on a salad with asian dressing and mandarin oranges). Anyhow, it was good. I saw "The Take Home Chef" do it once and although it's not on his website, I did find some people talking about it on another site and they seemed to have gotten ahold of the recipe. I put this chicken on a salad and it was totally yummy. Here's the recipe...


Sesame Encrusted Chicken

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (actually ALL of these amounts are totally irrelevant. Basically, just have some olive oil for the "drizzling", season as many chicken tenders as you feel like making, and have enough sesame seeds to "encrust" the chicken.)

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

12 chicken tenders (or however many you want to make)

1 tablespoon sesame seeds (I saw this recipe being made on TV, so I know how the chicken was supposed to look. It's really a solid single layer of sesame seeds covering the entire chicken tender, and I can tell you that 1 tablespoon is WAY not enough. I used 3 or 4 tablespoons for just 3 chicken tenders).

Season the chicken tenders with salt and pepper and coat evenly with the sesame seeds (no need to shake off excess, like a lot of recipes tell you to do when you're breading something. Whatever sticks on there is fine). Drizzle with 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Place a non-stick pan over medium to high heat and place chicken tenders into the pan. Cook for 2-3 min on each side. (I made 3 tenders over high heat and it took about double that time on each side. You can let the seeds get nice and golden brown. I was using a very NON-stick pan, so I'm not sure what will happen if you're using a ... NON non-stick pan).

EXCITING NOTE ABOUT THE SESAME SEEDS...I bought some really small jars at IKEA (they're 4 for $2.99) and they're the perfect size to store seeds. And, they have screw tops, so they're really airtight, which is good to keep them fresh.

Incidentally, I made turkey meatballs the other day...YUMMM. More on that next time.

Zucchini Parmesan Crisps...Eh. Not so great

So, I tried this recipe that I saw on the Food Network (it was that lady who cooks healthy stuff, so I should've known it wouldn't be very good). Dont' get me wrong - I like healthy food, but not when I'm purposely trying to make it that way. I like food that's naturally healthy, like salad and fruit and nuts and seeds. I don't like "low fat, sugarfree" stuff. Anyhow, this recipe was not very good at all. It was too salty, for one (but I put a big dash of salt in it, rather than the prescribed amount, so that's my fault). It wasn't bad. It was just...boring. And frankly, I prefer steamed zucchini with some fresh parmesan on it.

Also, I grated up too much parmesan, so I added extra bread crumbs to even it out. Actually, it was about double what the recipe called for...which makes no difference whatsoever because all it's for is to dip stuff in. So in the end, I had a bunch more bread crumb mixture left over. Just for "shits and giggles", I mixed the rest of the crumb mixture with one whole egg and dumped that on the baking sheet as well. It came out ok. Kind of like ... I don't know. It's not really like anything else. It's not fluffly, but not too dense either. It's a salty dough-cake. Not very exciting, to tell you the truth, but I felt like it couldn't hurt to try. I hated to see all that breadcrumb/parmesan mixture go to waste.

The truth is that this whole recipe was a disappointment because I was imagining the taste and texture of deep fried, breaded zuccini. Now that's yummy! Stupid health food. Next time, I'm going to go straight for the real dough and fry it up in a pan. I'll let you know how it goes.

Anyhow, here's the recipe for those who are willing to sacrifice taste for the sake of eating healthy. Enjoy...

Cooking spray
2 medium zucchini (about 1 pound total)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan (3/4-ounce)
1/4 cup plain dry bread crumbs
1/8 teaspoon salt Freshly ground black pepper


Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray. Slice the zucchini into 1/4-inch thick rounds. In a medium bowl, toss the zucchini with the oil. In a small bowl, combine the Parmesan, bread crumbs, salt, and a few turns of pepper. Dip each round into the Parmesan mixture, coating it evenly on both sides, pressing the coating on to stick, and place in a single layer on the prepared baking sheet.
Bake the zucchini rounds until browned and crisp, 25 to 30 minutes. Remove with spatula. Serve immediately.

Per Serving:
(serving size, 1/2 cup) Calories 105; Total Fat 6g (Sat Fat 2g, Mono Fat 2g, Poly Fat 0g); Protein 5g; Carb 8.5g; Fiber 1.5g; Cholesterol 1mg; Sodium 222mg Excellent Source of: Molybdenum, Vitamin C Good Source of: Calcium, Manganese, Vitamin B6, Protein

A Fish Tale

For some reason, I managed to make some really great fish tonight. I'm usually not very good with fish - it's kind of hit or miss for me. I tend to undercook or overcook it and I really have no idea what kind to buy.

So, I'm not sure what made it great tonight, but I can tell you what I did and maybe it'll all make sense. What I bought was Trader Joe's frozen, wild caught salmon. I defrosted it in the fridge all day and then cooked it on a preheated cast iron griddle (you know, the kind that fits over two burners). Incidentally, I used the grill side (with the lines on it).

The last time I tried fish on that griddle, it stuck pretty badly. It (the griddle) was brand new at the time, and even though it was supposed to be pre-seasoned, I thought maybe it wasn't seasoned well enough. And, I read that the first few times you use cast iron, you should cook foods high in fat, to avoid sticking. Of course, I didn't know that until it was too late..oh well. So, I decided to season it myself.

For those who care, here's where I read up on how to season cast iron (I followed the directions for "new pans", even though mine was supposed to be pre-seasoned. It worked pretty well, I think, because the fish didn't stick too badly this time (I used a short burst of cooking spray as well). There are a lot of bits left on the grill, but the fish came off without too much fuss. I cooked each side for about 3 or 4 minutes over high heat (they were pretty thin fillets. thicker ones may take a minute more). I also threw a little salt, pepper, and lemon juice on there while the first side was cooking.

On a very exciting note...I added a tiny bit of fresh cilantro and parsley (from my newly planted window herb garden), and it made an incredible impresssion. Just a little bit added SO much life to the fish. Very exciting for me, since I just started my little herb garden a couple of days ago.

It's also really easy to make a little sauce to go with the fish. What I make is very much like tartar sauce. It's basically mayonnaise, a little lemon juice, a lot of dill, and some salt. It's just all "to taste" - I don't really measure because you can hardly mess it up. Of course, this sauce is really fattening and high in calories (as far as sauce goes). But then again, unless you eat a ton of it, it's not really going to offset how "good for you" the fish is.

So, there you have it - my fish tale. Tomorrow, I may try Parmesan Zucchini Crisps. Stay tuned...

Bran Muffins

Alright. So, that's a boring way to start a food blog. Sorry, but that's what I made today. They were actually quite tasty and moist. The great thing about this recipe is that you can change it in a million ways. Add different fruit (other than raisins), or add nuts. I'm going to try some sweetened nectarines next time ('cause they're in season and cheap right now). Also, I've heard that zuchini works great, too - or carrots.

I substituted 1/3 cup applesauce for the oil and it came out fantastic. I don't think you can tell the difference, so why add all that fat? Don't get me wrong. I am NOT a fat-conscious cook AT ALL. I normally don't hesitate to throw a stick or two of butter into a recipe. In fact, my motto is "butter, sugar and salt are what make everything taste good." BUT, why do that if you can have something just as good with less calories and fat? I'm not overweight, but I don't feel the need to eat 3 pieces of cheesecake and a bucket of lard every day. Ya know? In fact, you'll find that I really LOVE vegetables. Not because I'm supposed to, but because they can be so delicious if they're prepared well and it DOES make me feel good to eat food that's full of color and life (alongside my pizza, of course).

Oh, and the best part of this recipe? No mixer involved. Just mix everything with a fork. Super easy and quick, with very little cleanup.

Anyhow, here's the recipe and if you want to read other people's reviews and comments, you can click on this link, which is the original place I found the recipe.

As always, my comments are in BLUE.

BRAN MUFFINS

INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 cups wheat bran (This can be a little hard to find. I recommend a health food store. Whole Foods has it for really cheap in their bulk bins. You can also substitute oat bran, or oat bran cereals for a slightly different flavor and texture. Don't be afraid to experiment...a little)
1 cup buttermilk (don't have buttermilk? Just use 1 cup of milk and 1 tablespoon lemon juice or white vinegar. Allow it to sit for a few minutes. The acidity is the most important factor that distinguishes buttermilk from regular milk. Interesting note - you can freeze extra buttermilk in 1 cup containers or plastic bags. You can also buy powdered buttermilk at the grocery store.)
1/3 cup vegetable oil (or substitute the same amount of applesauce)
1 egg
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup raisins (or any fruit,vegetable or nut you like. Just be mindful of the water content. If you add something really liquidy, you may need to add a little extra flour, or just reduce the amount of other liquids in the recipe (like the buttermilk). If you're not comfortable with baking, I recommend you make it with just raisins the first time. That way, you'll know what the consistency is supposed to be like).

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease muffin cups or line with paper muffin liners. (I prefer to grease muffin cups. Because of the lower fat content, these tend to stick to the paper liners).
Mix together wheat bran and buttermilk; let stand for 10 minutes.
Beat together oil, egg, sugar and vanilla and add to buttermilk/bran mixture. Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Stir flour mixture into buttermilk mixture, until just blended. Fold in raisins and spoon batter into prepared muffin tins.
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Cool and enjoy! (Incidentally, the first time I made them, that time worked fine, but the second time, it took 30 minutes, so you'll have to do the old toothpick test. Seriously, it's really handy. You stick a toothpick in the center and if it comes out clean, they're done. If it's got dough on it, then they're not done yet).

The Inaugural Post

Alright. So, God knows I suck at maintaining a blog, but I think part of the problem is that it's hard to find things to say sometimes. I mean, life is pretty much the same most days, with a few exciting events happening now and then to break the monotony. Who wants to read a blog that says, "Well, nothing new going on. Just the same old thing"? I love life, but honestly, when it comes down to the day to day, life is kinda boring...BUT on the other hand, for me, FOOD is always exciting and entertaining and captivating. I find myself cooking or baking something new almost every day (one of the benefits of being underemployed). And when I'm not doing it, I'm thinking about it. So, all that to say that hopefully, I will have enough "cooking news" to keep a FOODIE blog going.

Technically, I don't know if I really qualify as a "Foodie". I tend to think of that like as a kind of snobby person who's into "fine cuisine". Don't get me wrong. I LOVE fine cuisine. But at the same time, I also like pizza or a hot dog sometimes. And good old-fashioned comfort food rocks my world as well. BUT WAIT....news flash....

I just discovered Wikipedia's definition of Foodie and it goes like this...
"Foodie is an informal term for a particular class of aficionado of food and drink...Although the two terms are sometimes used interchangeably, foodies differ from gourmets in that gourmets are epicures of refined taste who may or may not be professionals in the food industry, whereas foodies are amateurs who simply love food for consumption, study, preparation, and news. Gourmets simply want to eat the best food, whereas foodies want to learn everything about food, both the best and the ordinary, and about the science, industry, and personalities surrounding food. For this reason, foodies are sometimes viewed as obsessively interested in all things culinary."

So, I guess I am a Foodie. It's official. Alright. Goodie for me. I've already done some baking today, so look for the first "real" post in a few minutes!