Barbeque Meatballs

When the Pioneer Woman posted this recipe for BBQ Meatballs last week, I was tempted to run out and make them immediately.

Well, I restrained myself, but I did make them on Sunday because, quite frankly, I couldn't wait much longer.


They were really easy to assemble, and I'm glad I remembered to start them early since they take a lot of time between freezing, browning, and baking.

The result? AWESOME. Unbelievably delicious. When she says "Comfort food to the max," she is NOT kidding around.

I served my husband's on a roll to make a sub...

...and I just plopped mine down atop my mashed potatoes!

Meatballs

• 1 1/2 pounds ground beef
• 3/4 cup oats
• 1 cup milk
• 3 tablespoons very finely minced onion
• 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
• plenty of ground black pepper

Sauce

• 1 cup ketchup
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 3 tablespoons vinegar
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire
• 4 to 6 tablespoons onion
• Dash of Tabasco

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine all meatball ingredients. Roll into medium-small balls and place on a cookie sheet. Place sheet in freezer for five minutes.

Remove from freezer and immediately dredge in unseasoned flour.

Brown meatballs in canola oil until just brown. Place into a baking dish.

Combine all sauce ingredients. Pour over meatballs and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Serve with egg noodles, mashed potatoes, or crusty french bread.

Ladies' Brunch

For the third time, some of the ladies on the cooking message board got together for some food and fun. This time, we met at my house, and though we missed Jenn and Katie, we really had a blast.

(Out of the following pictures, only the one of the table, the French Toast, and the 4 of us are from me; the rest are courtesy of Colleen, who I hope doesn't mind that I pilfered her photos.)

Our spread:

Brooke made her delicious pasta salad:
Colleen brought some rolls and made a delicious chicken salad, which she brought in this beautiful bowl for ME! :)
Sarah made this awesome salad, and I can't even tell you what was in it - but it was GOOD:
And I made a stuffed French Toast:

Can't wait to do it again in May...!

Stuffed French Toast

On Saturday, my friends from the cooking board came over for a brunch get-together (more about that later). My contribution was a delicious Stuffed French Toast, courtesy of Ellie Krieger.

For the most part, I kept the recipe in tact except for two minor changes: I left the crusts on, and I used cream cheese where she used ricotta. Cream cheese just seemed to be a better choice for me!

I really thought this recipe was not only easy, but also delicious. I can definitely see making this on a regular basis!


Ingredients

• 3 eggs
• 1 1/4 cups nonfat milk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup cream cheese
• 8 slices of whole-wheat sandwich bread
  
• 1 (8-ounce) container strawberries, hulled and sliced
• 4 teaspoons bittersweet chocolate chips
• Cooking spray
• 2 teaspoons confectioners' sugar

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk and vanilla. Set aside.

Place 1 tablespoon of cream cheese in the center of 4 of the pieces of bread and spread around slightly. Top with about 6 slices of strawberries and a teaspoon of chocolate chips. Cover each with another piece of bread to make a "sandwich".

Spray a large nonstick skillet or griddle with cooking spray and preheat. Carefully dip each of the "sandwiches" into the egg mixture until completely moistened. Then place on the skillet and cook over a medium heat for 3 to 4 minutes per side, until the outside is golden brown and the center is warm and chocolate is melted.

Transfer to serving places. Top with remaining strawberries and sprinkle with confectioners' sugar.

Chicken with Artichokes and Angel Hair

Sometimes I think that I must get a different version of Everyday Food as everyone else. It will come in the mail, and I'll go through it and tear out what I think I like. And then sure enough, I'll see on someone's blog a recipe that I somehow completely missed!

Thanks to Reservations Not Required, I got a second chance to make this awesome chicken dish. I did take note of her disappointment in rinsing the capers and artichokes; I was a bit afraid to have too powerful of a taste, so I did still rinse, but just briefly. Perfect.


Ingredients

• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 8 thin chicken cutlets (about 1 1/2 pounds total)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
• 1 can (14 ounces) artichoke hearts packed in water, rinsed, drained, and quartered
• 2 tablespoons rinsed and drained capers
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 8 ounces angel-hair pasta
• 1/2 cup parsley leaves

1. Set a large pot of salted water to boil. Place flour in a shallow dish, and season with salt and pepper. Dredge cutlets, shaking off excess. In a large skillet, heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium-high. Cook chicken in batches, adding remaining oil as needed, until light golden, 1 to 3 minutes per side; transfer to a dish.

2. Add broth to skillet, and bring to a boil; cook until reduced by half. Add artichokes, capers, and the chicken with any juices. Gently swirl to combine, and bring just to a boil. Remove skillet from heat. Swirl in butter, and cover to keep warm.

3. Add pasta to boiling water. Cook until al dente; drain. Serve chicken and sauce over pasta, topped with parsley.

Penne alla Betsy

Aside from her Crispy Yogurt Chicken, Penne alla Betsy might be one of The Pioneer Woman's most famous dish. I did make it months ago, but it didn't come out right (my fault, not hers) and then I never got the picture off of my camera.

I suddenly got the urge to make it, although not being a seafood-eater, I omitted the shrimp. Ewwie. I would have ordinarily subbed in some grilled chicken, but it was a Friday during Lent, so I didn't this time.


I thought that the cream sauce was really delicious, and even Ryan ate it all. Of course, my parents were over and bribed him with a "surprise" (That "surprise" turned out to be a chocolate chip cookie the size of my HEAD. Mom? Dad? I ate all of MY dinner too, you know...!) but hey - whatever gets him to eat, right?


Ingredients

• Olive oil
• Butter
• 1 lb of shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 3/4 lb penne or other short pasta
  
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
  
• 1/2 cup of dry white wine
• 1 8 oz can tomato sauce (I used about a cup or so of homemade sauce)
  
• 1 cup heavy cream
• Salt and pepper
• Parsley
• Basil
  

1. Put water on to boil for the pasta.

2. Heat a large frying pan and melt 2 tbsp butter and 2 tbsp olive oil in pan. Sautee shrimp until opaque and then remove to a plate to cool.

3. Melt another 2 tbsp butter and olive oil in the same pan and cook garlic until slightly browning. Add onion and cook until translucent.

4. Add pasta to boiling water and cook per package directions.

5. Add 1/2 cup of wine and allow to cook down for approximately a minute. Then add tomato sauce, stirring to combine, and cream.

6. Chop parsley and basil and add to sauce to taste. Add salt and pepper to taste.

7. Remove shrimp tails and chop shrimp into tiny, bite-size pieces. Return to sauce and stir to combine.

8. When pasta is cooked, drain, and then add to sauce, tossing to cover. (Or, if you're like me, add the sauce to the pasta pot because you don't have a big enough fry pan.) Serve!

Shamrock Shake

I decided to take Ryan out on a little McDonald's date on St. Patrick's Day, and I was just as excited to have a Shamrock Shake as I was to spend the evening with my little man.

However, unbeknownst to me, NOT ALL McDONALD'S CARRY THE BELOVED SHAKE! Oh, the horror!

And, of course, mine is one of them. I was very distraught.

I poked around online and found this copycat recipe on recipezaar.com. Though it's not as good as the original, it's not too shabby when you can't get an authentic one.


Ingredients

• 2 cups vanilla ice cream or soy ice cream
• 1 1/4 cups 2% low-fat milk or soymilk
• 1/4 teaspoon mint extract
• 8 drops green food coloring

1. Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend on high speed until smooth.

2. Stop blender to stir with a spoon if necessary to help blend ice cream.

3. Pour into 12-ounce cups and serve each with a straw.

Double-Chocolate Banana Pound Cake

I think that this bread was God's way of telling me that I need to stop baking and cease making my ass so fat.

I was looking for some kind of cakey bread to bring to work, and this one from Culinary Concoctions by Peabody seemed perfect. It looked easy enough, and Ryan was more than happy to be my little helper.


My first clue to stop should have been when I decided to get creative. I thought that I would add some cinnamon-sugar to the top, and then maybe another handful of chocolate chunks.

I was happily (and LIBERALLY) sprinkling the cinnamon-sugar when I had to stop to think about the smell. I suddenly smelled a very strong, very smoky, very distinctive odor. But why would my preheating oven smell like cumin?

Well, as I'm sure you can guess, yes, I grabbed the wrong container from my spice shelf and sprinkled a ton of CUMIN all over my precious bread. I grabbed a spoon and started slicing away at the top layer, determined to get it all off. (Thank GOD I didn't sprinkle on the chocolate chunks - I would have been PISSED if I'd have wasted all that chocolate!)

I'm not really sure what caused problem #2, but my cake completely and totally fell apart as I tried to gracefully slip it out of the pan. I'll just let the photos speak for themselves...



I gotta say, though, crumbly or not, this was some damn tasty bread... once I got the cumin out, of course. :)

Ingredients

• 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 TBSP baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ¼ tsp salt
• ½ cup sour cream
• ½ cup mascarpone cheese
• 6 ounce unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 2 tsp cinnamon (the recipe didn't say how much to use - I guessed!)
  
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 fully ripe bananas, pureed
• ½ cup white chocolate, chopped into chunks
• ½ cup chocolate covered toffee pieces (if you can’t find, chop up a Heath or Skor bar) (I just used plain old chocolate chips)
  

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and flour a 9-x-5-3-inch loaf pan. I used 4 mini loaves.

Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a medium bowl and set aside. Combine the sour cream and mascarpone cheese in a small bowl and set aside.

Using a standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment beat the butter with the cinnamon on high speed until soft and creamy, about 1 minute. Slowly add the sugar, 1 TBSP at a time, beating continuously on high speed. It should take 5 to 10 minutes to add the sugar. The mixture should be light, fluffy and creamy white in color. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.

Add the eggs, one at a time. Be sure each egg is completely incorporated and scrape down the sides of the bowl before adding the next.

Add one third of the flour mixture to the batter and beat until it is just incorporated. Add one third of the mascarpone cheese mixture and mix until just incorporated. Add the flour and mascarpone mixture in two more additions, mixing until addition is incorporated before adding the next. Fold in the bananas, white chocolate chunks, and toffee pieces.

Pour the batter into prepared pan. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes. If using mini loaves, fill 2/3 of the way full and bake for 45-50 minutes. Cool in the pan on a rack for 5-10 minutes, then remove from pan and set on rack to cool. Serve warm or at room temperature. Will keep for one week in fridge or 3 weeks in freezer.

Source: Adapted from The Secrets of Baking by Sherry Yard

Pasta Almost alla Marlboro Man

As I've probably said a billion times so far during this pregnancy, I could eat pasta every single night. As it is, I try to "limit" to no more than 3 or 4 times a week.

When I saw this recipe for Pasta alla Marlboro Man on The Pioneer Woman Cooks (anyone else dying to know what his name is?), I thought it had to be better. Sure, it was pasta, but the dude's a cowboy. A ranch guy. An outdoors, rugged manly man. So a skimpy pasta dish wouldn't do crap for him. There had to be tons of meat. And meat should be good for me and at least kinda sorta balance out the 3lbs of pasta I can pack away in a week.


I did make a couple of minor changes, so check in with Ree at the link above for the official version.


Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 pound ground turkey
• 1 large onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• Salt to taste
• Freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 1 generous teaspoon ground thyme
• 1 28-ounce can whole tomatoes
• 1 14-oz can crushed tomatoes
  
• 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for sprinkling
• 1 pound rigatoni

Heat olive oil in large skillet or pot over medium-low heat. Add onion and cook a couple of minutes, until starting to turn translucent. Add garlic and stir, cooking 1 minute, making sure not to brown the garlic.

Add ground beef and cook until brown. Drain most of excess fat.

Add salt, pepper, and ground thyme. Stir to combine.

Dump in canned tomatoes with their juice. Stir, reduce heat to low, and cover pot. Cook for 30 minutes, stirring a couple of times.

Uncover the pot and cook an additional 30 minutes.

Cook rigatoni according to package directions—don’t overcook! Drain and place individual portions into bowls.

Stir in 1/4 to 1/2 cup grated Parmesan into the sauce. Check and adjust seasonings. Ladle sauce over cooked pasta, sprinkle with more Parmesan, and serve.

Chocolate Brownie Ice Cream

From the moment I laid eyes on Annie's recipe for Milk Chocolate Ice Cream with Brownie Bits, I was in love. I starred the recipe and added to the ingredients to my Peapod order. (Do you do Peapod? If not, you should. Grocery delivery is freaken fantastic.)

When it came time to make it however, I still had some brownies leftover from a box (Hey - don't judge. The box cost $1. You'd buy it too!) and couldn't really justify making even more. I thought about just throwing the box brownies into the recipe from Annie, but decided against it. I had visions of writing, "The ice cream was good, but the brownies were just ehh." I decided to save her complete version for next time.


I then remembered that Erin posted a Chocolate Ice Cream recipe on her blog, Dinner and Dessert (which she got from David Lebovitz's The Perfect Scoop). I didn't star it initially because, well, in case you hadn't noticed, I like chunks of stuff in my ice cream, and plain ice cream has no chunks. But, in a rare lightbulb moment, I decided that I could throw my brownie chunks into Erin's recipe and I'd be very happy.

And "happy" does not begin to describe yours truly when eating this ice cream. Wowzers.


Here is Erin's recipe. I just also crumbled up the brownies and froze them for about a half hour; I added them to the machine for the last 2 minutes of churning.

Ingredients

• 2 cups heavy cream
• 3 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder (I used dark)
  
• 5 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
• 1 cup whole milk
• ¾ cup sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 5 large egg yolks
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Warm 1 cup of the cream with the cocoa powder in a medium saucepan, whisking to thoroughly blend the cocoa. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer at a very low boil for 30 seconds, whisking constantly. Remove from the heat and add the chopped chocolate, stirring until smooth. Then stir in the remaining 1 cup cream. Pour the mixture into a large bowl, scraping the saucepan as thoroughly as possible, and set a mesh strainer on top of the bowl.

Warm the milk, sugar, and salt in the same saucepan. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm milk unto the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.

Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula. Pour the custard through the strainer and stir it into the chocolate mixture until smooth, then stir in the vanilla. Stir until cool over an ice bath.

Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions (If the cold mixture is too thick to pour into your machine, whisk it vigorously to thin out).

Makes about 1 quart

Saucy Baked Chicken

I starred this chicken dinner from Taste and See a few months ago and finally made it this week. I regret waiting so long - this was so ridiculously delicious. The chicken was so tender and juicy, and the sauce was incredible. I will most definitely be making this again!

(For some reason, the ingredients and directions won't show up. You should be able to highlight them to read it, or copy and paste into Word. No amount of editing and making sure the font is white is helping!)

Sorry for the weird pictures; I couldn't get one where just the chicken was in focus! But I couldn't NOT do a picture either, so this is the best I could do. :)


Ingredients

• 4-6 chicken cutlets
• 1 medium onion, sliced
• 8 ounces sliced white mushrooms
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 and 1/2 cups chicken broth
• 4 TBSP all purpose flour
• 2 TBSP lemon juice
• 2 TBSP balsamic vinegar
• 1 and 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper

Preheat oven to 450.

Pour oil into a casserole dish. Add chicken, onion and mushrooms, turning to coat with oil. Bake 5 minutes; turn chicken over and stir vegetables. Bake an additional 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk flour into chicken broth. Add vinegar, lemon juice, salt and pepper, stirring well.

When chicken has cooked for 10 minutes, add broth mixture to casserole dish, cover with foil and bake 10 minutes. Remove foil; stir vegetables and bake, uncovered, until sauce bubbles and is slightly thickened, about 10 minutes.

Heat broiler. Turn chicken over. Place dish 6 inches from heat and broil until chicken just starts to turn golden, about 3-5 minutes. Serve immediately.