Chili Braised Meatballs

These were another Pinterest find and they were definitely worth the effort. They were rich and smokey and hearty and just plain delicious.

They were formed and then stuffed with a small hunk of sharp cheddar cheese. Then cooked in a rich broth and served over my favorite pasta noodles.

Chili Braised Meatballs
Adapted from: http://www.kayotic.nl/blog/mountain-meatballs

What you need:

Meatballs:

• 1 1/2 pounds ground beef
• 1 small red onion, finely diced
• 1 1/2 tsp oregano
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1/2 tsp chili powder
• 1 large egg
• 1 handful breadcrumbs
• 4 oz cheddar or mozzarella or jack, shredded
• 1 Tbs olive oil

Chili sauce:

• 1 large red onion, chopped
• 1 bell pepper, chopped
• 1 jalapeno, seeds removed, diced
• 5 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
• 1/3 container of cherry tomatoes, or two diced plum tomatoes
• 3 Tbsp molasses
• 1 Tbsp brown sugar
• 3 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 6 Tbsp ketchup
• 6 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 tsp paprika powder
• 2 Tbsp Dijon mustard
• 1 tsp cocoa powder
• 1 heaping tsp granulated coffee
• 1 beef bouillon cube
• 1 1/2 cup water

What to do:

• In a large bowl, mix all of the ingredients under meatballs except the cheese
• Mix well but don't over mix. Form really nice sized balls of meat, a little bigger than the size of an extra large egg
• Press your thumb into the center of each meatball and stuff the cheese inside making sure the cheese is secure inside the meatball
• In a large dutch oven or heavy bottomed boiler, heat the olive oil and brown the meatballs. Once browned transfer them to a plate while you make the chili sauce
• In the same pan you just browned the meatballs, add the onion, bell pepper, and jalapeno. Saute for about 5-7 minutes
• Add the garlic and tomatoes and cook for another 5 minutes
• Add remaining ingredients. Stir well, bring to a boil.
• Add the meatballs back to the pan, reduce heat and cook uncovered over medium heat until sauce thickens and reduces, about 30 minutes.
• Enjoy over your favorite pasta noodles or rice!

Praline Apple Tart

You know something I always have in my freezer? Puff pastry. Puff pastry is one of those food items that can be used for sweet or savory foods, appetizer or main dish or dessert.  It is always a winner! I used my basic praline sauce recipe minus the pecans. It can be found by clicking here.

Praline Apple Tart
What you need:

• 1 sheet puff pastry, defrosted according to package directions, cut in half
• 2-3 green apples, cored and slice
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Lemon juice from half of a fresh lemon
• 1/2 cup Basic Praline Sauce (or a jarred sauce of your choice)
• Powdered sugar for dusting

What to do:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees
• On a very, lightly floured surfaced, give the puff pastry sheets 2-3 rolls with your rolling pin to thin them out just a little.
• Place the sheets on a cookie sheet and set aside
• In a medium bowl toss the apples, cinnamon, vanilla and lemon juice until well coated.
• Assemble the sliced apples neatly on the pastry
• Place in the pre-heated oven for 15 minutes or until pastry is browned and puffed around the edges.
• Once baked, drizzle with the praline sauce and sprinkle with powdered sugar
• Can be eaten warm or at room temperature

Insomnia Musings

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I have bouts of insomnia. LONG bouts of insomnia.  Someone suggested I should brain dump. Here is an excerpt from one of those dumps. I usually just write until my mind is uncluttered. No real beginning, a little sporadic and no real ending.

Weight loss is a tricky thing. I don’t mean ‘tricky’ as in there is some magic to losing weight but tricky as in figuring out what caused you to gain the weight in the first place.  All of the time it is not laziness. For most people I don't think it is laziness. 

Childhood trauma is real. I see the effects of unresolved childhood issues in adults all the time. I have some of my own but the BIG childhood thing I had, I had to resolve within myself with the help of a counselor.  When I reached out to the source of those issues, they were not receptive AT ALL. 

People are funny. Some people are unable to see past who or how you used to be compared to how you’ve overcome and who you are NOW.  They’d rather see you in a constant state of brokenness and hopelessness and helplessness. I’d like to think I’ve made a conscious effort of distancing myself from people like that.

Broken people do broken people things. How can I expect to receive love from someone who doesn’t even love themselves? It is impossible.

Life is still amazing to me. When I experience new things, I experience them in a childlike way. Not childISH but in amazement and wonder and awe.  Doing some of the things I only dreamed of truly astounds me. Since I can be a water-head, it also makes me weep in thanksgiving. Life is still full of wonderment to me.

A Re-Oiled Machine

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I have bouts of insomnia. LONG bouts of insomnia.  Someone suggested I should brain dump. Here is an excerpt from one of those dumps. I usually just write until my mind is uncluttered. No real beginning, a little sporadic and no real ending.


...over the years my drive and follow through have waned. I've let myself down more times than I'd like to remember. After each disappointment my confidence in myself slowly eroded. That drive that propelled me forward became a slow walk and the monster in my head that told me I can't, won't, or shouldn't began to have a bigger voice.

When I was in my 20s I was this well-oiled machine of quiet confidence, discipline and control. I could show you better than I could tell you and I did. For instance, when I was ready to chunk the deuces to Ohio for Texas that all happened within a ten day time span. I quit my job, packed up my apartment, and rode out.  I'm sure several people told me I shouldn't do this but I had full faith in myself and my abilities and did not entertain anyone's opinion about my life.  I. Left. When I relied on God period for direction my self- confidence was reaffirmed because I had a strong relationship with Him. I didn't care what anyone else thought about my life decisions because me and God were >>>>here<<<< and I trusted that he knew exactly what I needed.

Then some things happened in my early 30s that shook my self-confidence and made me doubt myself. The confident person that I used to be had disappeared and my life reflected that. In short, God was not the head of my life anymore. My daily study of the Bible stopped, going to church slowed down and prayer was rare. I was a mess and I felt like my faith was shattered.

But God is faithful. He is so very faithful...

Sherry Braised Short Ribs

If you knew how easy it is to roast tough cuts of meat you would probably do it all the time! Here the basic steps:

• Season: Keep it simple, salt, pepper, granulated garlic

• Sear: High heat in a little cooking oil.  Once you place it in the pan to sear, leave it alone! Don't overcrowd the pan, don't keep flipping it and don't press the meat down in the pan, just leave it be and flip it once. You want to get a get a good crust on it. 

• De glaze: For red meats I usually use a dry red wine. For poultry a dry white. Please don't ever use the cooking wine they sale in the store. It's gross. If you don't want to use any wine increase the amount of chicken or beef broth
• Finally, low heat roast: You typically want to do this for 2-3 hours or until meat is super tender. A low roast to me is 350 degrees.

See how easy that is? When I add vegetables, like carrots, celery and onions, I add it during the last 30 minutes of roasting but I add garlic cloves as soon as the meat goes into the oven so the garlic can get all melty and yummy!

Sherry Braised Short Ribs

What you need:

• 6-8 Meaty short ribs
• Enough salt, pepper and granulated garlic to season all sides of the ribs, about 1 tsp of each
• Enough oil(canola, vegetable, etc) to brown all sides of the ribs, about 1/4 cup
• 3-4 cloves of garlic left whole
• 1 cup good red wine (or beef stock or broth), I used Sherry
• 1 Tbs flour, optional
• 2 1/2-3 cups beef stock or broth
• 1/2 cup each, carrots, celery, onions

 

What to do:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• Add about a tablespoon of oil in a large and deep skillet over medium high heat. Let it get good and hot
• While the skillet is getting hot, season all sides of your short ribs with the salt, pepper and granulated garlic
• In batches, without crowding the pan, add the ribs to the hot skillet and sear them on all sides, about 3-5 minutes per side. 
• Remove the ribs from the skillet and set aside
• Reduce heat to medium, de-glaze the skillet with the wine. Let this reduce for about 5-7 minutes
• Whisk in the flour until there are no more lumps
• Add the ribs back to the pan and pour the stock/broth over the ribs until they are just covered
• Bring the liquid to a boil
• Remove from heat, add garlic cloves, cover and place in preheated oven
• Roast, for 2.5-3 hours or until ribs are fork tender. If liquid gets too low add additional beef stock/broth
• Add the chopped vegetables during the last 30 minutes of roasting
• Serve over rice, mashed potatoes, or a really good risotto

Short ribs will bless you, do you hear me!! Bless. You.

Menu...

In no particular order, this is what we will be eating over the

next two weeks. I am making a HUGE effort to incorporate 

new dishes this year. Pinterest has been a boon to my menu

planning.  I'm always looking for good food to cook, what's on

your menu?

 

 

Creamy sage pork chops Chive mashed potatoes Fresh green beans

Roasted Spanish Chicken Chorizo and Red Potatoes Roasted broccoli

Crispy Chicken with Mushrooms and Cream Seasoned Brown Rice Fresh spinach with garlic

Shrimp and grits with bacon

Pork Roast Garlic Gnocchi Fresh green salad

Jamaican Pork Roast Sandwiches Baked Kettle Chips

Honey Lime Ginger Chicken Seasoned Brown Rice Roasted Corn

Cream Cheese Pound Cake  Browned Butter Sugar Cookies Hazelnut-Chocolate Chunk Ice Cream

 

Regular Old Photo Dump

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookie w/Nutella Filling

Playing with my camera

Playing with my camera...again

Not sure if I ever blogged about this most delicious carrot cake.



At a rest stop in Kansas...I think. She couldn't wait to get in the snow




And make a snow angel






Straight hair for a pageant



They were such troopers en route to Fargo we had to let them work
off some of that energy. There were sharks on the floor!

Buds

What our drive looked like the entire trip up.

We made it to Fargo and I had to Vaseline her face up before she headed out to play

Cousins

Calm before the storm

My sweet niece...

She was smitten with B.

I will blog about this once I tweak it a bit. Cheeseburger Mac

Ready for roasting for a cheese sauce I did not like

The makings of chocolate cinnamon rolls.

I LOVE Love

  

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I hope you receive the love you deserve

every day but most especially today!

       

Season of Lent

 

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Lent begins tomorrow. Though I am not Catholic, I enjoy the Lenten season.  I specifically and purposefully focus on eliminating the things that I feel have pushed me off of God's path for me. One year it was alcohol, another year it was slothfulness, another social media and last year was meat (excluding seafood).  The rewards for giving up those things were tremendous.

 

Lent is a season of forty days, excluding Sundays, of penance and prayer before Easter. It begins on Ash Wednesday and ends the Saturday before Easter.  The forty days represent the time Jesus spent in the wilderness being tempted by Satan.  This Lenten season I don't know what I want to sacrifice.

 

I feel a deep need to be more prayerful, more spiritual because I have a lot of confusion going on and I need to separate God's path from my own, if that makes sense. I only want what God wants for me and right now I don't feel like I have a clear picture of what that is. I want us to be on the same page.

 

I've also been VERY restless over the pass several months.  The last time I was this restless, I quit my job, packed up my apartment and moved from Ohio to Texas all in a ten day span. Because of this I have been less present at home with B. Lately, I will get home, cook dinner and veg out until midnight.

 

Well, after re-reading this I guess I do know what I want to focus on for these 40 days:

 

• Constant, focused prayer and study about the situations that are causing confusion

• Constant, focused prayer and study about this restlessness. I think the confusion and restlessness may be linked

• Fasting from FB, Twitter and IG, I will be removing them from my phone tonight.  I want to ensure that I am the best Mommy I can be for my B, the best friend I can be to my friends and the best person I know I can be. Slothfulness is not sexy and we all know I love The Sexy!

 

Tarte au Citron

 

My most favorite dessert is a lemon tart.  My family has eaten more lemon tart variations than I am sure they care to admit.  I could absolutely eat one every week if I didn't want to maintain my hot mama-ness *sigh*

 

I used the tart crust recipe from yesterday and did not wait for the baked shells to cool before filling them with this lemony luscious-ness! I'm greedy!

 

Tarte au Citron

Heavily Adapted from: http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2009/05/tart-au-citron-french-lemon-tart/

Enough curd for One 9-inch tart

What you need:

• 1/2 cup freshly-squeezed lemon juice
• Grated zest of one lemon
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 6 tablespoons butter, salted or unsalted, cut into bits
• 2 large eggs
• 2 large egg yolks
• One pre-baked 9-inch tart shell

What to do:

• In a medium-sized *non-reactive saucepan, heat the lemon juice, zest, sugar, and butter. Have a mesh strainer nearby
• In a small bowl, beat together the eggs and the yolks
• When the butter is melted, whisk some of the warm lemon mixture into the eggs, stirring constantly, to warm them.
• Scrape the warmed eggs back into the saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens and almost begins to bubble around the edges
• Pour the lemon curd though a strainer directly into the pre-baked tart shell, scraping with a rubber spatula to press it through
• Smooth the top of the tart and let cool completely before slicing and serving.

*A nonreactive saucepan is one that is made from stainless steel, glass, or ceramic materials 



French Pastry Dough

The crust on a tart is the best part; buttery flaky goodness I tell you.  I found this easy tart shell a while ago when I was researching how to make lemon curd.  Firstly, Dav.id Lebovitz rocks and rocks. Secondly, aside from purchasing them from the store, this will be the easiest and tastiest tart shell you can make.

This crust is awesome because of how the ingredients are put together.  Let me explain, you dump all of the ingredients EXCEPT the flour in an oven safe bowl until the butter turns brown around the edges, remove the bowl from the oven, add the flour and stir it all together. There is no surface flouring or dough rolling and the crust is really good! 

I've also used these shells for savory dishes as the dough is only mildly sweet. I've baked these shells and stored them in an airtight container for up to five days and frozen the baked shells for later usage.  The recipe can also be easily doubled!  Did I mention how easy it is to make?? 

French Pastry Dough

http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2009/05/french-tart-dough-a-la-francaise/

Makes enough dough for 1 9 in round tart pan

What you need:

• 3 ounces unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 3 tablespoons water
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup all purpose flour

What to do:

• Preheat the oven to 410º F
• In a medium-sized ovenproof bowl, combine the butter, oil, water, sugar, and salt.
• Place the bowl in the oven for 15 minutes, until the butter is bubbling and starts to brown just around the edges.
• When done, carefully remove the bowl from the oven, dump in the flour and stir it in quickly, until it comes together and forms a ball which pulls away from the sides of the bowl
• Transfer the dough to a 9-inch tart mold with a removable bottom and spread it a bit with a spatula.
• Once the dough is cool enough to handle, pat it into the shell with the heel of your hand and, and use your fingers to press it up the sides of the tart mold. Reserve a small piece of dough, about the size of a raspberry, for patching any cracks
• Prick the dough all over with the tines of a fork about ten times, then bake the tart shell in the oven for 15 minutes, or until the dough is golden brown.
• Remove from the oven and if there are any sizable cracks, use the bits of reserved dough to fill in and patch them
• Let the shell cool before filling.