Meatball Stew- Simple One Pot Meal

Meatballs

3 eggs, beaten

2/3 c. bread crumbs

1/3 c. parmesan cheese

pepper to taste

1/2 lb ground beef, 1 lb ground chicken

OR JUST USE FROZEN ;)

To the pot add with meatballs add

4 med potatoes, chunked

3 sliced medium carrots

1 1/2 c. chopped celery (3 stalks?)

1 med onion, wedged

1 zucchini, diced

1 clove garlic, minced

4-6 mushrooms, sliced

1 envelope onion soup mix or make your own *(recipe below)

Water, if you want it to really be more stew like add a minimal amount of water. I added 10 cups and it was great. You can also add beef or veggie stock instead of water for more depth of flavor.

10-20 snap pea pods, cut in half and added the last 10 minutes of cooking

Simmer 30 minutes until veggies are tender

*Onion Soup Mix

from "Self Reliance by Jamie"

2/3 cup dried, minced onion

3 teaspoons parsley flakes

2 teaspoons onion powder

2 teaspoons turmeric

1 teaspoon celery salt

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground pepper

BEST CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES EVER...or second best ;)

On Thursday night I attended a Chocolate Chip Cookie Bake-off with the wonderful ladies in my ward.

I decided to make a recipe that my friend, Amber, had made a few years ago that I fell in love with. I think it came from MS. It's buttery and chewy with a bit of crispness when you bite into it. It's a bit of heaven in your mouth ;)

Here are some of the judges. Everyone had such a good time. Chatting and chewing.

Even down to the tinniest judge. I had some stiff competition and actually voted for the warmest gooiest chocolatiest cookie that Amber made. MMMMMM (I need that recipe). This recipe came in second...beaten out by Nicole's "Our Best Bites High Altitude Cookie". ENJOY!

So here's the recipe I use: not as it's written because I had to change it up a bit

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 3/4 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups oats
• 1 cup dried cherries ( I use cherry flavored cranberries or just cranberries)
• 4 1/2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped (I use 5.5 ounces of chocolate chunks or chips)
• 1/2 cup toffee pieces

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside. In a large bowl, sift together flour and baking soda.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and both sugars on medium speed until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl once or twice during mixing. Add the egg; mix on high speed to combine. Add the vanilla; mix to combine. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
3. Add flour mixture to egg mixture, and mix on low speed until well combined. Add the oats, cherries, chocolate, and toffee pieces; mix to combine after each addition.
4. Spoon a heaping tablespoon of dough onto a lined baking sheet. Repeat, spacing 2 inches apart. I use an ice cream scoop that is not totally full for some nice, BIG cookies.
5. Bake cookies until golden brown, 14 to 16 minutes.

Too Much Squash!

We have two yellow squash plants in our garden and you'd think there was 20. I love squash but sheesh. Found this really yummy recipe and tweaked it a bit so I thought I'd share.

Squash Patties

3 10-12 inch yellow squash, shredded

6 green onions, chopped

1/2 TBSP salt

1 c. wheat flour

1/2 c. real potato flakes

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 c. shredded cheddar cheese or pepper jack if you'd like to spice things up

ground black pepper to taste

You can also add green chile in here

Place squash in colander, sprinkle with salt and let drain for about 30 minutes, you can also press with a spoon

In a large bowl, mix the squash, onion, flour, potato flakes, egg, salt and cheese. Season with pepper.

Spray your griddle with Pam and drop 1/4 c. fulls then flatten out. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes on each side or until golden brown. Yield 24 patties...which you can freeze.

Enjoy with sour cream or nothing at all. YUM!

I do so love you mother...

My mom raised my brother and I sans papa and while times were definitely tough she did the best she knew how. I can't imagine not having Travis around to help with our children...parenting is hard work but so worth it!
I remember laying in bed with my mom reading our respective books, hers was usually a romance novel, she's given those up now that she has a wonderful husband. My love of reading comes from her though. She taught me how to cross stitch and tried to teach me how to crochet, sorry mom. Many of my go to meals are the ones my mom cooked for us while growing up. My mom has passed on this recipe for meat Periogies from my grandmother that are the perfect comfort food. Everyone in my family loves them. They take some work but they're worth it in the end. I make a double batch so I can freeze them.

Periogies

Dough

1 egg

3 1/4 cups flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 c. water

1 1/2 TBS Buttermilk

Mix egg with flour, add salt and as much water needed to make smooth dough ( I always need more water)

Filling

1 medium onion, chopped

2 cups leftover meat or 1lb lean ground beef, cooked

2 slices white bread (I use wheat) soaked in water and squeezed.

3 strips of bacon, cooked and crumbled

Cook bacon, keep drippings. Saute the onion in the bacon drippings until translucent. In a large bowl mix together cooked meat, crumbled bacon, and onion. Tear up the bread and incorporate into mixture. Season with salt and pepper.

Start a large pot with water to boil.

Roll out dough to about 1/4" and cut into squares. The larger the square the bigger the pocket. I usually make mine about 4" to 5" square. Place about 2TBSP of the meat mixture into the center of the pocket. Fold over into a triangle and seal sides. My brother and I always used to do this part and now my kids do it. We use a fork to press down the dough on the two open sides of the triangle. Make sure there are no holes in your pockets. Boil pockets until they float...this happens quickly.

You can either freeze at this point or move on to cook and serve. In a frying pan melt butter and add little olive oil. Pan fry the periogies until golden and serve with sour cream, yogurt, salsa or any combinaton!

ENJOY!

Have a great day.

Gobble, Gobble

First off, my turkey needs an eye (just a silk flower folded in half for the feathers and some other shapes I cut out so easy for the kids to help make these for their teachers)! Next, what are your plans for Thanksgiving? Do you have any tried and true stuffing recipes (without seafood in them)? We're staying at home and I guess I'll be cooking a turkey because Travis couldn't NOT buy one...it was only six dollars he says to me...sheesh. I have an amazing recipe for a Sweet Potato Puff (I truly detested sweet potatoes during the holidays until I tasted this yummolicious treat). I've given the recipe to my friend Natalie about three times, but each time she manages to lose it. Smiles. So, I promised her I would post it here on the old blog so she could get to it any time she wanted. If you have some extra time, try it out, I promise you'll love it or your money back. Teehee.
Have a great day.

Sweet Potato Puff
3 cups mashed sweet potatoes, cold (bake for about an hour at 375 degrees)
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. butter, melted
2 eggs, beaten
1/3 c. milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 c. flaked coconut

TOPPING:
1/2 c. packed brown sugar
1/2 c. chopped pecans
2 TBSP butter, melted
1/4 c. flour

Beat potatoes in mixing bowl and add sugar, butter, eggs, milk, and vanilla until fluffy. Stir in coconut. Spoon into 2 1/2 qt baking dish.
Combine topping ingredients and mix until well blended. Sprinkle over sweet potatoes.
Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 35-45 minutes or until golden brown.
ENJOY!

Thinking of you...K Lee.

Now that she's received the card I can post it here. My ultra sweet bloggin buddy needed a little pick me up and I made this bright, cheery card to hopefully do the trick.
We had this recipe for Chicken Tikka Masala last night and it WAS everything that those who had tried it said it would be. SO yummy...I haven't eaten myself stuffed in a long time...but even as I was putting the leftovers away I found myself sneaking two more pieces of chicken...even cold this stuff was delicious. I used four chicken breasts and my dh grilled them (plenty of sauce for four and more leftovers for today). Thanks to Danielle for sharing the link.

Creamy Green Chile Stew

YUMMMMMMM!
Saute
1 onion
1 tsp garlic
4 chicken breasts cut up
In pot add above to
2 cans chicken broth
4 cans great northern beans
1/2 frozen container autumn roast green chile
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cayenne
Turn down heat and simmer for 30-45 minutes
After it cooks add
2 cups sour cream
1 cup whipping cream
Eat with tortillas or french bread. NO LEFTOVERS ON THIS ONE!

BLOG BOOTY BELOW!

Eggplant Parmigiana

So mine doesn't truly look like this, I borrowed the image from Bobby Flay. Smile. I'm just going to go through and tell you where I've changed the recipe around and hopefully you'll get the gist of it.
Olive Oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1 med onion
2 16 oz cans of diced tomatoes or fresh if you'd like
1/2 tsp of oregano
1/2 tsp of basil (I used fresh from my garden)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2 eggs ( I needed three)
1 lg eggplant ( I used 2 medium) sliced into 1/4 inch slices
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
1 8 oz package of mozarella cheese sliced into 1/4 inch slices (who do they think they're kidding?!?! I used a pound to do my two layers)
CRUSTING for EGGPLANT
1 cup dried bread crumbs (THIS IS NOT ENOUGH BREAD CRUMBS, however, I have always used crushed Ritz or Townhouse crackers, just put them in the blender and whalah! I'd say about two sleeves would cover this much eggplant. I like an even coating)
I also add some Italian seasoning, onion powder, and salt to my crusting mixture.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees

Dip each slice of eggplant into eggs and then coat with crumbs. Place on olive oiled cookie sheet and bake until golden brown in places on top (make sure it's tender. I like to turn my eggplant slices midway and cook for approx 10-15 minutes total).

Meanwhile, saute onions and garlic in a pan with a little olive oil. When onions are limp, add tomatoes, salt, pepper, oregano and basil. Simmer this until eggplant is done roasting.

Layer: Eggplant to cover bottom of 9x13 pan (it's okay to overlap the eggplant), 1/2 tomato mixture, 1/2 parmesan, 1/2 mozarella slices. REPEAT (use up all the rest of your eggplant on this layer then top with every thing else that's left)

Bake in oven at 450 until cheese is golden...about 15-20 minutes

ENJOY! We sure did.

You @ 5 & Creamy Chicken Anyone?

This is little miss priss, Tessa, she turned five in April and I wanted to document some of her favs at this time in her young life. I love how she always strikes a pose for the camera or as soon as she sees the lens she SMILES!
Polka and flower paper are CK. I used my giant edged scissors to make the pinking edge around the main image. I inked the edges with Choco Chip ink. Alpha letters and ribbon are from American Crafts. Flower stamps are Stampin' up with punched circles added over top. The journaling circle is from See D's stamps, also stamped in CC ink. I paper pierced holes in a swirly design under the "5" which is from K&I Memories alphabet soup. I think that's it!

This feeds my family of five and THEN SOME.

RECIPE: Easy peasy in the crock pot. Put one stick of butter, four chicken breasts cut into bite sized pieces and two packets of Italian dressing mix (the dry mix to make your own Italian dressing, I used Good Seasons) in your crock pot on high for two to three hours (this is good to do while your at church). Meanwhile leave two 8oz packages of cream cheese ( I used reduced fat) on the counter to soften. After you see that chicken is cooked OR when you get home, remove the chicken from the crock pot and add in the cream cheese and two cans of cream of chicken soup. Stir 'til smooth. Add chicken back in and cook for however long you want to on low or for and hour or two on high. Serve over rice and I SWEAR no one will be disappointed. Great for gatherings or as a comfort food. This is one of my husbands and kids favorites, not one little piece of rice is left on their plates.

Have a great day!

Tzatziki--It's what's for dinner!

Well tzatziki and pita and spinach-feta hummus and lettuce and tomatoes and a little beef. YUM! We layered like tostadas because I couldn't get the wheat pockets to open.

TZATZIKI

1 pint sour cream (I used plain yogurt instead with a little sour cream added in.)
· 1 English cucumber , peeled, grated on a box grater, salted lightly for 5 minutes and squeezed between the hands to remove extra water (the long, thin, almost seedless kind)
· 3 garlic cloves , mashed to a paste
· 1/2 cup olive oil
· 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
· 1 tablespoon minced fresh dill (optional)
· to taste salt
Directions
1. Just mix everything up together until it is all blended and the oil has emulsified into the yoghurt/sour cream. Taste for seasoning, and add salt if you think necessary. Put in a resealable container.
2. Allow to 'sit' in the refrigerator for at least 2-3 hours before using to allow the flavors to come out.

We made the hummus from scratch too but I have to warn you. The recipe calls for 1/4 cup of crushed red pepper flakes, we only used one Tablespoon and it was still WAY hot. I would ommit altogether next time or maybe only use a tsp otherwise super yummy. My dh said he would eat it as a chip dip.

SPINACH FETA HUMMUS
1 can garbanzo beans/chickpeas (15 oz), drained
1/2 cup fresh spinach
3 oz, crumbled feta cheese
1/4 cup olive oil
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 cups red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon roasted garlic
PREPARATION:
In a food processor combine, beans, spinach, garlic, olive oil, and lemon juice. Blend well. Add cheese and red pepper flakes and blend to a smooth and creamy dip.

And I just wanted to say thank you to Samantha at Living Creatively for sending me this beautiful Valentine. So appreciated.

Have a great day.