Meatballs

I realized recently that although I use my mom's recipe for meatballs and sauce all the time, I actually have never posted it before.  These meatballs are delicious.  I could eat them all the time.  Now, I actually forgot to take a picture of my sauce (whoops!), so I will post that whenever I make sauce again.  For now, meatballs alone will have to suffice.
For an alternative to pasta, you can make my zucchini rollups as a side for these meatballs!

Meatballs

Meatballs

Ingredients:
1 lb. hamburger, or ground meat of choice
2 cloves chopped garlic
salt & pepper, to taste
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
1/4 cup grated cheese
1 egg
1/2 cup Italian flavored bread crumbs
additional garlic powder to taste

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 400F.

Mix ground meat, garlic, salt, pepper, parsley, cheese, egg, and bread crumbes together in a large bowl.  If mixture is too wet, add more bread crumbs, a little at a time. 

Roll into balls and place on sprayed cookie sheet. 

Spray the top with more pam & season with salt, pepper & garlic powder. 

Bake for about 20-25 minutes until brown.

Add to sauce the last hour.

Enjoy!

Buffalo Blue Cheese Meatballs

As I was clicking through Pinterest trying to figure out what to make for our New Years Eve get together, I found a recipe for blue cheese stuffed meatballs, they sounded great!  As I started to make these, I realized I was supposed to have a block of blue cheese as opposed to crumbles (which I had) and no egg... well I decided to kill two birds with one stone and use the cheese as a binder.  These ended up not being stuffed, but delicious anyhow.

Buffalo Blue Cheese Meatballs

Buffalo Blue Cheese Meatballs

Ingredients:
1 lb. ground turkey
1/4 cup onion, grated
1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
1 clove garlic, minced
1 Tbsp. ranch seasoning
4 oz. blue cheese crumbles
1 cup hot sauce (I used Frank's Redhot- though for a more mild flavor, you can use wing sauce)
2 Tbsp. butter

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 400.
Combine turkey, onion, breadcrumbs, garlic, ranch seasoning, and blue cheese in a large bowl.  (I used my hands to mix, if you want, you can use a fork.)
Roll into medium-sized meatballs, you should end with 16 meatballs.
Place meatballs onto a sprayed baking sheet.
Bake for 16-18 minutes.
Meanwhile, add hot sauce and butter to slow cooker.  Place on high and whisk until combined.  Turn to keep warm.
Add meatballs to slow cooker and spoon sauce over the top of each meatball.
These can be kept in the slow cooker for about a half hour.
Serve warm can be topped with blue cheese dressing.
Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from Inspired by Charm

Herbed Chicken Meatballs with Coconut Sauce

I found this recipe in my favorite casserole cookbook last week and knew I had to make them.  I love Thai flavors, and to use them in meatballs?  I was sold.  They came out a little bland, so I added some red curry paste for some added umph. (Plus, I need to use that up!  I feel like I have been using it for years.)
Serve these over some jasmine rice and use that extra sauce for the rice.

Herbed Chicken Meatballs with Coconut Sauce

Herbed Chicken Meatballs with Coconut Sauce

Ingredients:

Meatballs
1 lb. ground chicken
3/4 cup panko breadcrumbs
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, minced
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup milk
1 small onion, peeled
2 cloves garlic, peeled
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1/2 tsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. salt
Sauce
1 (14 oz.) can of coconut milk
2 tsp. cornstarch
1 Tbsp. vegetable oil
2 tsp. ginger
1 tsp. chives
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. red curry paste
1 Tbsp. lemon juice

Preparation: 
Preheat the oven to 400 and lightly grease the baking dish with cooking spray.  Combine the milk and bread crumbs in a large bowl.
Use a box grater to finely grate the onion and garlic.  Add the grated onion and garlic to the large bowl. Mix in chicken, olive oil, egg, cilantro, and lemon juice.  Mix thoroughly with your hands.
Form into about 16 meatballs in the prepared baking dish. Cook for about 15 minutes, or until the meatballs are browned.
Meanwhile, heat the vegetable oil in a small saucepan and add the curry paste.  Cook for about one minute, then add coconut milk, cornstarch, chicken broth, salt, chives, and ginger.  Whisk and cook over low heat until the sauce has thickened slightly.  Stir in lemon juice.
Pour the sauce over the meatballs in their dish and turn down the oven to 325.  Bake for an additional 20 minutes.  Serve with extra cilantro.
Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from Not Your Mother's Casseroles by Faith Durand

White Bean Stew

Today it was really cold in Philly, so I decided to make a stew for dinner... bonus, this one took about 30 minutes to make!  Of course I changed a few things, fresh spinach wasn't on sale this week, but frozen was, so I used that instead, and I added some red chili flakes for a little spice!

White Bean Stew

Matt, helping out with dinner!

White Bean Stew

Ingredients:
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 14 oz. turkey kielbasa, cut into 1/4 inch thick medallions
1 large onion, diced
4 cloves of garlic, minced
2 15 oz. cans Great Northern beans, drained (I used one can of cannellini beans and one of Great Northern)
2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1/2 tsp. rosemary
1/2 tsp. paprika
1 box frozen spinach, thawed
Salt
Pepper
1/4 tsp. red chili flakes

Directions: 
Heat olive oil in large skillet over medium heat.  Add garlic and onion, stirring occasionally, about five minutes.
Add beans, broth, rosemary, paprika, salt, and pepper (both to taste.)  Crush the beans with the back of the spoon, to thicken, about eight minutes.
Add spinach and kielbasa.
Cook until heated through.
Enjoy!

Recipe Adapted from Eat. Drink. Smile.

Mexican Turkey Burgers with Mango Salsa

Today I was going to make Thai turkey burgers, but then Alyssa came into the kitchen, saw the peanut butter out, and made a face.  I didn't have scallions anyway, so I switched my menu to Mexican turkey burgers instead; especially because the mango salsa could stay!  The Mexican burgers went over well, especially because I made up the recipe on the fly!

Mango Turkey Burger with Mango Salsa

I went bun-less to cut some carbs, but it's a burger of course, use a bun if you want!

Mexican Turkey Burgers with Mango Salsa

Ingredients:
Burgers:
1 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1 pound lean ground turkey (93/7)
1 small onion, chopped
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
1 egg

Mango Salsa:
1 mango, cubed
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
The juice of 1 lime
Salt and Pepper to taste

Preparation:
Combine all the ingredients for the hamburgers in a large bowl.  Heat oil over medium heat.  Shape burgers into 4 patties.  Cook on one side for 4-5 minutes.  Meanwhile, combine all mango salsa ingredients in medium bowl.  Flip burgers.  Cook 3-4 minutes, or until cooked through.  Serve with mango salsa spooned over top.

Recipe Adapted from Chocolate Broccoli

Turkey Noodle Soup

Obviously I needed a way to use some of the turkey leftovers because Matt and I can't eat 11 pounds of turkey meat before it would go bad.  I decided to transform some of it into turkey noodle soup, especially because my stomach had been upset, and what's better than chicken noodle soup?  (Or I suppose in this case, turkey noodle soup.)
This was a very easy soup to make.  First, I put one box of frozen mixed vegetables in the crockpot, celery, then added 4 cups of chicken stock, a couple cups of turkey, some parsley, salt, and pepper.  About an hour before I was ready to eat, I added some spiral noodles.  After they had cooked for a half an hour, I added two more cups of broth, as the noodles had sucked up a bunch of the broth.  I let it cook another half and hour, and it came out great!

Turkey Noodle Soup

Turkey Noodle Soup

Ingredients:
1 box of frozen mixed vegetables (I used one with corn, carrots, and peas)
2 celery stalks, chopped
2 cups cooked turkey (or chicken)
1 cup uncooked spiral pasta
6 Cups Chicken Stock
Parsley
Pepper
Salt

Preparation:
Turn Crockpot on low
Add vegetables, turkey, 4 cups of broth, and seasonings to taste.
Let cook for four hours (actually it doesn't really matter how long you cook this, as long as it's hot)
About 1 hour before you're ready to eat, add the remaining broth and the noodles.  Let cook one hour and you're ready to eat!
Enjoy!

Roast Turkey

Matt's Dad cleaned out his freezer while we were at his house, (which was awesome!) and along with that clean-out came a 21 pound turkey.  Yes, 21 pounds.  Now, I didn't realize at the time that I took it that it was so big, I figured, why would one man have anything bigger than a ten pounder... WRONG!
Yesterday morning when I set out to cook it, I realized we forgot to pick up a roasting pan.  I was going to try and invent something using a 9x13 and some cookie sheets, but my oven is too small for that, so I called my mom.  She told me that I should cut the turkey in half and and use the 9x13, so that's what I did!  (Okay, really, Matt cut it in half... and it was still kind of frozen, so he had a heck of a time!)

Matt hacking away at our turkey

After it was cut, it fit perfectly in our 9x13 and became a great 11 pound bird.  I rubbed the outside with garlic, salt, pepper, parsley, and sage.  (I didn't have rosemary or thyme!)

Half turkey before going in the oven

Then I covered it with foil and cooked it for an hour on 325.  After an hour, I took the foil off and let it cook an additional 2 hours.  I pulled it out and when I cut into it, the meat was white!  We ended up going out to dinner last night with Matt's aunt, so we put it in the fridge.  When I took it out to make hot turkey sandwiches tonight, I realized the center was still a little pink.  However, after I nuked the sandwiches in the microwave, the meat cooked.  Next time, I will cook it for about 3 and a half hours.  However, it was very tasty and juicy!  I think it was a pretty good first attempt at a turkey!

Roasted Turkey

Roast Turkey

Ingredients:
1 10-11 lb. turkey
2 tsp. garlic
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
2 tsp. parsley
1 tsp. sage

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 325.
Rinse turkey and pat dry.
Mix garlic, salt, pepper, parsley, and sage in small bowl.
Rub spice mixture over turkey.
Cover and cook for 1 hour.
Uncover and cook for an additional 2.5 hours, or until juices run clear.
Enjoy!

Turkey Sausage, Potato, and Kale Soup

When Matt and I were on our road trip, Matt had a version of turkey sausage, potato, and kale soup and since then I have wanted to make it.  I looked at a bunch of recipes for similar soups, but ulitmately decided to make up my own recipe.  I threw an onion and four cloves of garlic into a big pot with some olive oil.  I accidently had the heat up too high and burned a little bit of the garlic, but it tasted fine.
After I cooked that down, I put in the potatoes and cooked those down for a few minutes.  After that I put in the sausage and kale.  I should have put the kale in in batches because it practically overflowed out of the pot I had so much!

There's soup under there!

After the kale cooked down for a minute or so, I added two cans of low sodium chicken broth and added some salt and pepper.  Then, I let that simmer for about an hour.

Simmering Soup!

I tasted it and added some more seasoning and it was ready to serve!

Turkey Sausage, Potato, and Kale Soup

Turkey Sausage, Potato, and Kale Soup

Ingredients:
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 medium potatoes, diced
1 lb. turkey sausage, removed from casing
1 bunch kale, ribs removed
4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
Salt and Pepper

Preparation:
Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat.  When hot, add onion and garlic.  Saute until onions are soft, about three minutes.  Add potatoes.  Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add sausage and kale.  Cook for an additional 5 minutes, or until kale has cooked down for the most part.  Add broth and salt and pepper to taste.  Bring to a boil.  Simmer for 30-45 minutes.
Enjoy!

Christmas Chili

Today I decided to make chili.  I didn't realize all of the vegetables I used were red and green until they were in my crock pot, so I decided to name it Christmas chili.  I combined a couple of recipes into my own for this one.  First, I cooked down some onions, celery, garlic, and green peppers.  Once they were soft, I added ground turkey.

All of my green (and white) vegetables!

While they were cooking, I turned on my crock pot and added one can of chicken broth, two cans of diced tomatoes (with green chiles), and one can of red kidney beans.  After the turkey had cooked most of the way through, I added that and the vegetables to the crock pot as well.  To finish it off, I added a mixture of chili powder, Italian seasoning, cumin, and garlic.  I also added the rest of the tomatillo salsa I made the other day.

Even my crock pot fit the theme!

I cooked the mixture on high for two hours, stirring occasionally.  To serve, I threw some mozzarella cheese on top.  Next time, I will add a little bit more seasoning.  I actually used the seasonings that my mom uses in her white chicken chili recipe, but that has green chiles in it, so it doesn't need as much.  Here's to next time!

Christmas Chili

Christmas Chili

Ingredients:
1 tsp. vegetable oil
1 medium onion, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1 pepper, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound ground turkey
1 (14 oz.) can chicken broth
2 (14 oz.) cans diced tomatoes with green chiles
1 (14 oz.) can red kidney beans
2 tsp. garlic powder
2 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. oregano
1 tsp. cilantro
1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp. salt
Toppings: Shredded cheese, sour cream

Preparation:
Add vegetable oil to a medium skillet over medium heat.  Add onions and garlic.  Cook for about 3 minutes, until slightly soft.  Add pepper and celery.  Cook for about 3 more minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add ground turkey, cook about 5 minutes, it's okay if it is still a bit pink, you will cook it more in the slow cooker.
Meanwhile, add all other ingredients to slow cooker.  When vegetable and turkey mixture are done, add that to the slow cooker as well.
Cook on high for about 2 hours.
Top with whatever you like.
Enjoy!

Spanikopita Meatballs with Tzatziki

Look at these lovely formed meatballs!  (Don't worry,
they're not cooked yet!)

My mom makes these quite a bit, so today I decided to try my hand at it!  (Plus we had ground turkey in the freezer.)  This recipe actually can be credited to Rachael Ray, but with my mom's help, I tweaked it a bit.  First of all, it's supposed to be made with ground chicken, but was ground chicken on sale this week?  Nope, ground turkey was.  (I made it with ground turkey.)  Next, the turkey meatballs themselves are a little bland without the tzatziki, so I added extra garlic, salt, and pepper.

The mixture, before making them into meatballs. 

The tzatziki itself was great, though I didn't have any coriander (who does on a budget) so I added extra cumin.  I also didn't have enough Greek yogurt (guess I should have had Cheerio's for breakfast) so I just finished what we had.  

I finished off the meal with some spaghetti tossed in olive oil and garlic.  Delicious!!  

The finished product!!  (Okay, this actually doesn't look that
good, but trust me, it was.)

Spanakopita Meatballs with Tzatziki

Ingredients: 

Meatballs:
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 boxes frozen chopped spinach, defrosted
3/4 cup crumbled feta
1 pound ground chicken

Tzatziki:
1 Tbsp. garlic powder
1 1/2 cups Greek yogurt
1/3 cucumber, peeled and chopped
1 Tbsp. dill
1/2 lemon, juiced
1 Tbsp. cumin
Salt

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 400.
For meatballs:
In a bowl, combine onion and three cloves of garlic.
Squeeze the water out of the spinach until completely dry.  Add it to the garlic and onion.  Add feta, chicken, and garlic powder with a liberal drizzle of olive oil.  Mix well and form 18 meatballs.  Place the meatballs on a baking sheet and bake 10-12 minutes, or until they are golden brown.
For Tzatziki:
Place yogurt, garlic, cucumber, dill, lemon juice, cumin and salt in a bowl and mix well. Serve with meatballs as a dipping sauce.
Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from Food Network

P.S.- If you're an avid reader, then you know I made Mexican chicken soup a couple of days ago.  Well, I had some leftovers for lunch today and it was much better.  The spices have time to strengthen and the overall flavor was better.  Just a tip if you wanted to make it!