Anna Posted August 13, 2016 Share Posted August 13, 2016 15 minutes ago, havanaholly said: Oh, yum!!! Easy weekend dinner so to speak and it works with the weather too as it is grey sky and drizzling.... hugs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodentraiser Posted August 23, 2016 Author Share Posted August 23, 2016 Meatballs tonight! My goal was to get the soft, fall apart tender meatballs that Stouffer's puts in their Spaghetti and Meatballs frozen dinner, and I may just have accomplished that. I had a meatball recipe, but me being me, had to bash it. So I made it basically the same way I make meatloaf. Then I put the mixture in the fridge for the flavors to meld and to be easier to roll out into balls. After a couple of hours, I rolled out the meatballs (I got 40 of them) and put them on a tray and broiled them for about 10 minutes to get all the grease out of them. Then I took a couple of jars of Classico spaghetti sauce, dumped it all in the crock pot, and then threw in some garlic, onion, basil and parsley. Then I added the meatballs and turned it on high for 4 hours. It should be getting done in about 30 minutes. Here's hoping I'll be spooning some meatballs out of the crock pot and that I haven't tenderized them to the point of just spooning out meat sauce instead! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KathieB Posted August 23, 2016 Share Posted August 23, 2016 12 hours ago, rodentraiser said: Here's hoping I'll be spooning some meatballs out of the crock pot and that I haven't tenderized them to the point of just spooning out meat sauce instead! So, how'd it work out? L has been hinting that he'd like some banana bread, but around here bananas don't last long enough to ripen to recipe level. I discovered on Epicurious.com this morning that unpeeled bananas can be ripened by baking for 15-20 minutes @250F. His birthday is Thursday. I may try this out. Banana bread birthday cake? Why not? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodentraiser Posted August 23, 2016 Author Share Posted August 23, 2016 Not too bad at all. But it tasted like meatloaf in spaghetti sauce. So I think I'm going to work on the taste a bit and maybe not throw as much stuff into the meat next time - maybe cut down some on the breadcrumbs. I think that will also help to make the meatballs a little firmer. Some of them did break up, but overall, I certainly got the texture I wanted. I also think next time I will broil them until almost done and then not leave them in the crock pot for so long. I had them on high for 3 1/2 hours. One thing I liked was broiling them to get all the grease off. My sauce in the crock pot had no noticeable grease in it and although I wash out my jars with water after emptying them into the crock pot to get all the sauce out, my sauce wasn't at all thin. Now as to all the sauce I have left - woweee. Two jars makes a lot. I think today sometime I will brown another pound of hamburger and then add it to the sauce. When it cools, I'll just ladle portions into baggies and freeze. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grazhina Posted August 23, 2016 Share Posted August 23, 2016 Kelly, lately I've been using this recipe for meatballs. They come out even better than my old ones. Here's the basic recipe. 1 lb ground beef - the 85%, aka ground chuck 1 smallish onion, chopped fine 2 cups grated Romano cheese capful of dried parsley 1/2 c seasoned dry breadcrumbs 1 egg 1 tsp salt 1 tsp pepper a few shakes garlic powder Sometimes I use more garlic, or some marjoram, oregano or Italian seasoning. If I don't have Romano I'll toss in Parmesan. You can use less cheese, it still comes out good. If you're out of seasoned breadcrumbs, just toss in some Italian seasoning, oregano or marjoram. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grazhina Posted August 23, 2016 Share Posted August 23, 2016 Today I'm making shaved steak sandwiches with sauteed onions and peppers. The guys like Cheeze Whiz on theirs too. Also making onion rings because they like them. I might as well toss that box of frozen fried pickles in the oven too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodentraiser Posted August 23, 2016 Author Share Posted August 23, 2016 3 hours ago, grazhina said: Kelly, lately I've been using this recipe for meatballs. They come out even better than my old ones. Here's the basic recipe. 1 lb ground beef - the 85%, aka ground chuck 1 smallish onion, chopped fine 2 cups grated Romano cheese capful of dried parsley 1/2 c seasoned dry breadcrumbs 1 egg 1 tsp salt 1 tsp pepper a few shakes garlic powder Sometimes I use more garlic, or some marjoram, oregano or Italian seasoning. If I don't have Romano I'll toss in Parmesan. You can use less cheese, it still comes out good. If you're out of seasoned breadcrumbs, just toss in some Italian seasoning, oregano or marjoram. That's pretty close to how I made mine. I added some Worcestershire sauce, ketchup, and liquid smoke, plus put in the rest of the Parmesan cheese and minced garlic. I may leave all those out next time and just use the Romano cheese. I'm thinking I would like my meatballs to have more plain, tomatoey taste. Now do you soak your breadcrumbs in milk? I've read for a moist meatloaf, you put about equal parts milk and breadcrumbs in a bowl and let the breadcrumbs soak up all the milk before you add it to meat mix, so they don't soak up all the moisture in your meatloaf while it's cooking. Since I wanted the meatballs close to falling apart tender, that's what I did with them this time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grazhina Posted August 24, 2016 Share Posted August 24, 2016 Kelly, I've never soaked breadcrumbs in milk for meatloaf or meatballs. I've seen many meatloaf and meatball recipes that call for several eggs, and I tried a couple of them. My family complained that the meatloaf and balls were rubbery and I should go back to my old familiar recipe. For meatloaf I use 1 & 1/2lb. 85% lean ground beef, 1 & 1/2 cup fresh breadcrumbs and 1 beaten egg with 1 grated or finely chopped onion, salt, & pepper. Then I mix some ketchup, Worcestershire sauce and about a tbl brown sugar, and dump it into the meat mixture to flavor it. I used to use BBQ sauce,but DH doesn't like jarred BBQ sauce. I save some of the ketchup mixture to glaze the meatloaf towards the end of cooking. My meatloaf isn't the kind that slices well, it'll crumble some when I slice it, but we like the taste so I promised I'd never fool with it again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodentraiser Posted August 25, 2016 Author Share Posted August 25, 2016 Yep, that's pretty close to what I make, except I only use 3/4 cup of breadcrumbs and the milk. I don't like a glaze on mine, so I don't do that part. I split my meatloaf into 3 sections when it's done and then freeze 2 of them, so I don't really slice mine. I have no idea if it really crumbles that much. It's moist enough and tastes good, and that's all I care about. But I do want to change the taste of the meatballs, though. Thank you for sharing your recipe, though, I think I'll try using that brown sugar next time and see how I like it. Tonight I have hamburger thawed for hamburger and rice. I need to get something made ahead of time for the next two nights because it's going to be hot, hot, hot again. I can't wait for winter! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grazhina Posted August 28, 2016 Share Posted August 28, 2016 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havanaholly Posted August 28, 2016 Share Posted August 28, 2016 Shrimp & grits at our house. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KathieB Posted August 28, 2016 Share Posted August 28, 2016 We had the beef quesadillas from Blue Apron today. My, but they were good! Wish I knew what was in the spice packet that flavored the beef. I could pick out cinnamon, but the others eluded me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grazhina Posted August 29, 2016 Share Posted August 29, 2016 Kathie, I was curious so I looked it up online. the seasoning blend Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KathieB Posted August 29, 2016 Share Posted August 29, 2016 1 hour ago, grazhina said: Kathie, I was curious so I looked it up online. the seasoning blend Thanks, Grazhina. I just looked at the recipe card that came with it. The spices are listed there -- it's the same as the online pdf. In real life, it was too small for me to read without a magnifying glass. This recipe is a keeper, lovely fresh flavors, but for two people it would take buying more ingredients than needed (creme fraiche, for example). This is where having the exact ingredients shipped to your door is a savings (I think. I want to cost it out to be sure.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodentraiser Posted August 29, 2016 Author Share Posted August 29, 2016 Grazhina, is that the link to the seasoning? Because it won't open when I click on it and I'd be thrilled to see it, too. Kathie, you can make your own creme fraiche or just sub sour cream. I'm back to meatloaf and mashed potatoes tonight, but tomorrow I'm going to try making onion rings with pancake batter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KathieB Posted August 29, 2016 Share Posted August 29, 2016 5 minutes ago, rodentraiser said: Grazhina, is that the link to the seasoning? Because it won't open when I click on it and I'd be thrilled to see it, too. Kathie, you can make your own creme fraiche or just sub sour cream. I'm back to meatloaf and mashed potatoes tonight, but tomorrow I'm going to try making onion rings with pancake batter. It's a link to the recipe. The spice blend is: ground cumin, smoked paprika, garlic powder, ground coriander and ground cinnamon. It doesn't say how much of each. Didn't realize sour cream could sub for creme fraiche. Thanks for that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodentraiser Posted August 29, 2016 Author Share Posted August 29, 2016 Thank you, Kathie! I wonder why the link won't work for me. Hmmm.....ghosts in the machine.....Call it a hunch, but I would think you could get away with using a teaspoon of each spice except cinnamon. I would use a half teaspoon of that. But as long as we're trading links, here's a link for making homemade creme fraiche. I've tried it and it isn't all that difficult. But I just didn't think it tasted all that great. I have seen it at Trader Joe's, but didn't get it. I might next month to see if I'm missing anything. http://foodwishes.blogspot.com/2011/03/homemade-creme-fraiche-nobodys-ever.html And, I guess I'm not adding bacon to the mashed potatoes tonight. I just burnt up 6 strips in the oven. I haven't been baking the bacon all that long, so I'm still trying to figure out the time. Seems like after 10 minutes it's hardly done, two minutes later it's charred. Ah, well......... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KathieB Posted August 29, 2016 Share Posted August 29, 2016 Thanks, Kelly! The recipe calls for mixing lime juice in with the creme fraiche. I was surprised it didn't curdle. Info in the link indicates that sour cream will curdle. I'm going to have to test it. The creme fraiche/lime juice made a lovely base for the salsa (with the addition of corn, lime zest and Shishito chiles, which were new to me). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havanaholly Posted August 29, 2016 Share Posted August 29, 2016 Kathie, I have been substituting Greek yogurt for sour cream, and I think the lime juice will mix without curdling. Cumin & coriander are common spices used in Mexican cooking, apparently; I taste them in just about everything I order in Mexican restaurants. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KathieB Posted August 29, 2016 Share Posted August 29, 2016 4 hours ago, havanaholly said: Greek yogurt for sour cream, I do this, too. Good point about not curdling. Will test it, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodentraiser Posted August 29, 2016 Author Share Posted August 29, 2016 Chef John makes the point in his blog (and I'm copying here):....besides the amazing taste and luxurious texture, maybe the best thing about crème fraiche is its ability to be cooked. Because of it's composition and fat content, it doesn’t curdle and separate when you heat it like sour cream. Oh, by the way, the beef recipe showed up. It's a file that I saw on my desktop when I finally closed my web browser for the night. So it's there! Thanks again, Grazhina! And tonight, all I'm having is a tuna melt. I made some homemade potato, bacon, cheese soup yesterday and had enough left over for a big lunch today. So I won't be too hungry tonight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havanaholly Posted August 29, 2016 Share Posted August 29, 2016 I'm going to rub some boneless pork chops with brown mustard and coat them with seasoned breadcrumbs and saute them and serve a veggie pilaf with them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodentraiser Posted August 29, 2016 Author Share Posted August 29, 2016 ♪♫ Going to Holly's for dinner.... going to Holly's for dinner...♫ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havanaholly Posted August 30, 2016 Share Posted August 30, 2016 4 hours ago, rodentraiser said: ♪♫ Going to Holly's for dinner.... going to Holly's for dinner...♫ You're too late... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodentraiser Posted August 30, 2016 Author Share Posted August 30, 2016 *rolls eyes* Story of my life. OK, well, it's off to the kitchen to make my tuna melt! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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