Reconciling My Hatred of Meatballs

Meatballs. Gross. Or at least gross is what I used to think. I hate ground meat unless it is extremely well seasoned taco meat. But, I am also married to an Italian man who loves meatloaf and meatballs which means I needed to find a compromise. The meatloaf compromise is that whenever I will be out of town I buy the groceries for Mark to make his own meatloaf because NO ONE will ever get me to eat catchup-y ground beef....that for me is the epitome of disgusting. The meatball compromise is a new one though. I had never even thought of making meatballs because I don't like ground meet with my pasta. Really, I don't like any meat in my pasta. Pasta in my mind is to be enjoyed with cheese....lots and lots and lots of cheese. Parmesan, no Romano. So, I present to you my meatball compromise. The other night I made Chicken Meatball Subs. They were so delightful that we ate them two nights in a row, and probably could have eaten them a third night but we ran out of meatballs on night two. I merged a few recipes that I found through Google, which is what I always do, but these just came out amazing. This is rare for a first try of a recipe. Thank goodness it came out better than my first try at Chicken Divan (SO GROSS). So, here is the recipe for the meatballs and to make them into subs just add some garlic bread, mozzarella and homemade tomato sauce. SO GOOD, YOU MUST TRY THEM NOW!!!!!

Chicken Meatballs
3 slices Italian bread, torn into small bits (1 cup)
1/3 c milk
3 oz sliced pancetta, finely chopped
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 small garlic clove, minced
2 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1 egg
1 lb ground chicken
3 T tomato paste
1 T finely chopped flat-leaf parsley

Preheat oven to 400°F. Soak bread in milk in a small bowl until softened, about the time it takes to get everything else ready.
Cook pancetta, onion, and garlic with a little bit of salt and pepper in a large skillet over medium heat until onion is softened, about 6 to 8 minutes. Cool while getting the rest of the ingredients together.
Squeeze bread to remove excess milk, then discard milk. Lightly beat egg in a large bowl, then combine with chicken, 2 tablespoons tomato paste, pancetta mixture, bread, and parsley. Make 14 meatballs and arrange them in two 9 by 13 pans.
Stir together remaining tablespoons of tomato paste and oil and brush over meatballs then bake until meatballs are just cooked through, about 20 minutes.


Note: This was my first time using pancetta because I think it looks kinda yucky and smells even worse but it really helped with the moisture level in these. The chicken is so lean that you really need that extra fat content. If you can't find pancetta or it is too pricey, I am sure either canadian bacon or regular bacon could be substituted.

Breakfast + Pizza = AWESOME

So it is a well known fact that breakfast for dinner is a great idea. Whoever said eggs were made only for the morning?? I tend to make brinner (breakfast at dinner) quite often but my go tos were getting a little old. I decided to try something new and boy, am I glad I did! I decided to make a breakfast pizza and it turned out really good. Mark enjoyed it as well which means it will be worked into our normal dinner rotation. The recipe is not complicated and sometimes those are the best kind.

Breakfast Pizza

Ingredients:

½ recipe of Pizza Dough

1 T Melted Butter

1 t Parsley

1 t Oregano

1 T Garlic Salt

Shredded Mozzarella

Grated Parmesan

Bacon, baked and crumbled

2 eggs, 2 egg whites, scrambled dry

Directions:

Stretch pizza dough out on a large cookie sheet. Brush with melted butter. Sprinkle parsley, oregano and garlic salt evenly over the dough. Bake at 375 for 9 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle a small amount of shredded mozzarella on the dough. Add the bacon and eggs and as much additional mozzarella as you like. Finish with some grated parmesan and return to oven for 5 minutes.

My Addiction to Mexican Food, Part 2

Taquitos. For me this brings up memories of my baby sitting years when I needed to feed young children something for dinner and all I could find in the freezer was taquitos. I now cringe at the fact that this is what I was feeding these growing bodies. Well, as it turns out the gross, fried, not even remotely healthy tequitos I remember can be changed into something that even Alton Brown would call "Good Eats". I stumbled upon a recipe and with a few changes made it into one of Mark's favorites meals that I cook. They are best served right out of the oven with a little avocado.

Baked Chicken Taquitos

3 oz cream cheese
1/4 c green salsa
1T fresh lime juice
1/2 t cumin
1 t chili powder
1/2 t onion powder
1/4 t granulated garlic, or garlic powder
2 T sliced green onions
2 c shredded cooked chicken
1 c grated mexican cheese
flour tortillas
garlic salt
melted butter

Heat oven to 425. Line a baking sheet with foil. Heat cream cheese in the microwave for about 20-30 seconds so it's soft and easy to stir. Add green salsa, lime juice, cumin, chili powder, onion powder and granulated garlic. Stir to combine and then add green onions. Add chicken and cheese and combine well. Work with a few tortillas at a time and heat in the microwave until they are soft enough to roll without cracking. Place 2-3 T of chicken mixture on the lower third of a tortilla, keeping it about 1/2 inch from the edges.

Then roll it up as tight as you can.

Place seam side down on the baking sheet. Lay all of the taquitos on the baking sheet and make sure they are not touching each other. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle some garlic salt on top.Place pan in oven and bake for 15-20 minutes or until crisp and the ends start to get golden brown.
ENJOY!

My Addiction to Mexican Food, Part 1

Mark and I both have an amazing love for Mexican food. Whether it is from a restaurant, a fast food place or a kitchen, there is a place in our hearts for all Mexican food. That being said, one of our goals is to eat at home more so that means we must get our Mexican food fix at home. I have done a pretty good job of recreating some of our favorite meals from restaurants and the following recipe is one of my greatest accomplishments in this area...Mexican Rice! I am very picky about what kind of rices I like but this one is just so darn good. Please try it, and then make some extra because it is really good as left overs too.

Mexican Rice

(sorry, no photo yet)

Ingredients:
1 T Olive Oil
½ red onion, finely diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 t cumin
1 t chili powder
1 t oregano
1 t salt
1 t pepper
1 cup rice
1 t chicken bouillon
2 cups water
½ cup corn

Directions:
In a 3 quart saucepan over medium heat, sauté onions and garlic in olive oil until cooked through, about 5 minutes.
Add in spices and mix in rice.
Add in water and chicken bouillon. Bring to a boil and then turn down to a simmer, cover, and cook for 20 minutes.
Fluff with a fork and stir in corn.

Note: I highly suggest buying good quality spices. I like Penzy's spices but I realize that not everyone lives in Houston. They do have a website though and honestly...they are totally worth the extra price. Happy Eating!

My First Attempt at Re-finishing Furniture

I have a horrible habit of starting a hobby and then dropping it half way into it. I have scrapbook supplies, knitting yarn and needles, a sewing box, paint and canvasas and so many other items cluttering up my spare closet. It is rather sad to look at all of that supplies and think about how much money was spent on something I didn't truely love to do (with the exception of scrapbooking...that will resume when I have the space to do it). So, in order to prove to myself that I don't quit all things, I decided to pick a project and stick to it. Mark and I will hopefully be moving in the next couple of months to a bigger apartment and because of that, we need a few more pieces of furniture. I could have gone to Pottery Barn or Crate and Barrel (two of my current addictions) but instead of spending WAY too much money, I decided to peruse Craigslist and Kaanga for something used that I could refinish. I found lots of junk but finally stumbled upon a man that buys furniture at estate sales and garage sales and then sells them out of a storage facility near my parents' house. I bought this gem from him...

It started out in very good shape which was nice because there wasn't much repair needed. It only needed some sanding and a few coats of paint to make it look like something fun!

First, I sanded down all the varnished surfaces. This was actually very easy because my wonderful father let me borrow his electric sander.

I then applied a base layer of primer mixed with a little bit of lime green paint. Yes, you heard me correctly, lime green. You see, my goal is to have a black chest with a tiny bit of green showing through like it has been around for a while and had a long life.

I then did an all lime green layer. The piece looked SO ugly at this point. It is a good thing I was painting at my parents' house because Mark would have told me to give up at this point.

I then had to paint three layers of black paint. Normally, this wouldn't be a big deal, but seeing that I was doing all my work at my parents house in very hot weather in a very humid Houston, it made it a month long process.

Finally, I sanded the black some so the green would show through. It looked so good at this point but I knew I needed a top coat. Here is where I made my biggest mistake. I went for the cheap, aerosol can of top coat. What I didn't know at the time of purchase was that spray paint and very hot weather do not mix well. The incredible heat causes the paint to dry before even making it to the furniture. This caused a gross white dust that had to be sanded off. After finally getting all of that off, without sanding through the black layers, I did a paint on top coat and it looked great. I added the awesome knobs I bought at Anthropologie and viola....awesome new chest!

Don't you love how Bacon wanted to be in the picture??? I love that little girl.

So, although it was a very exciting project that had a great end result, I do not think I will be doing much refinishing any time soon. I think I will wait until I have my own garage to work in and the weather isn't so misserable.

Baked Southwest Egg Rolls

So, sometimes when I try new things they are a bust, like my baked french toast this weekend. It was gross. I hate soggy food and it was soggy and groos. But then, sometimes, I try something new and it is awesome! Today was like the later scenerio. I made these bakes southwest egg rolls and they were so good! I highly suggest them to anyone!


Baked Southwest Egg Rolls

Ingredients:
1 cup chopped grilled chicken (leftovers work great!)
2 cups canned corn
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
2 cups shredded Mexican cheese
1 (4 oz.) can diced green chiles, drained
4 green onions, chopped
1 t ground cumin
½ t chili powder
1 t salt
½ t pepper
¼ t cayenne pepper
1 package egg roll wrappers (about 18 total needed)

Directions:In a large bowl, combine everything except the egg roll wrappers. Mix well. Lay an egg roll wrapper out on a work surface so that one of the corners is pointing toward you and place a heaping ¼ cup of the filling in the center. Fold the tip closest to you up over the filling, roll a bit, then take the points pointing outward and fold them in toward the center. Continue rolling into an egg roll shape until a small part of the remaining point is still free. Dip a finger in water and lightly brush on the edges of the free corner. Finish rolling and press to seal closed. Repeat with the remaining wrappers and filling.
Preheat the oven to 425˚ F. Lightly oil a baking sheet with cooking spray. Place the sealed egg rolls on the baking sheet seam side down and spray the tops of the egg rolls with cooking spray. Bake for about 15 minutes, or until lightly brown, turning halfway through baking. Serve with avocado!
Happy Eating!

Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

YES PLEASE!!!!

After almost a year of wanting to purchase real vanilla beans I decided to take the plunge. I ordered 7 beans from Amazon and actually forgot about them. Mark and I make a daily trip to the mail box together and the day these arrived the whole mail area knew it! They smelled wonderful even in a plastic bag in an envelope in the mail box. The first thing I wanted to make was vanilla bean ice cream. Nothing says yummy like freshly churned, homemade vanilla ice cream. It was divine. I am posting the recipe but I warn you...if you eat half of this recipe in a week you will gain 4 pounds. I did and I am paying for it, big time. Extra elliptical time here I come!

Vanilla Bean Ice Cream
1 Vanilla Bean, Split And Scraped
3 cups 1/2 & 1/2
2 cups Sugar
8 Large Egg Yolks
3 cups Heavy Cream

Heat 1/2 & 1/2 and 2 cups sugar in a saucepan over low heat, adding the vanilla bean insides to the mixture. Also, throw in the bean for extra flavor. (Remove before next step.) Turn off heat when mixture is totally heated.

Beat egg yolks with an electric mixer until yolks are pale yellow and slightly thick. Temper the egg yolks into the pan containing the half-and-half mixture. Cook over low to medium-low heat until quite thick, stirring constantly. The mixture should coat the back of a wooden spoon. Drain the mixture using a fine mesh strainer, then pour into a bowl with the heavy cream. Stir to combine.

Chill mixture completely, then freeze in an ice cream maker until desired consistency. Place container in freezer to harden for at least eight hours.