Turkey Meatballs

Ingredients

*1 cup plain panko * 1/4 cup chopped flat leaf parsley *2 large eggs, slightly beaten * 2 tbsp whole milk * 3/4 cup grated parmesan cheese * 1/2 tsp salt * 3/4 tsp ground pepper * 1lb group turkey * 1/4 cup olive oil * 5 cups marinara sauce

Directions

1. In a large bowl stir together the panko, parsley, eggs, milk, the cheese, salt and pepper. Add the turkey and stir to combine. Do not overwork the meat. Shape the meatballs into bite size balls.

2. If desired, heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Brown the meatballs 3 minutes a side. Add the marinara sauce after all sides are browned. Reduce heat and simmer the meatballs, making sure they get cooked all the way through.

3. Alternatively, heat the oven to 400. Place the meatballs into a glass baking dish spaced apart (about 15 meatballs in a 9 x 11 dish). Bake meatballs for 20 minutes.

Notes

We had these at Aunt Marge's house while on spring break a few years ago, and they have since become a family favorite! Sometimes we make the sauce from chicken parmesan meatball subs to use with these meatballs!

And, we do a mix of the methods described above! We brown them, and then pop them in the oven to finish cooking. Yum!

Saturday March 28, 2020

If you can believe it we have three new keeper recipes to post during these rocky times!  Owen celebrated his birthday right after we all started staying home and we made a new dessert that he had picked out weeks before.  It was VERY peanut-buttery and the kids loved it!  I am a sucker for hot fudge, so when I saw that on the ingredient list I was happy.  I enjoyed having it for a few nights as well.  Liam has already asked if he can have this same dessert for his birthday next year!

We have been using everything we have on hand before we head out to the store.  You should see the grocery list we've been working on as we run out of ingredients or think of things we'd like to have available.  One day the older kids looked at what we had in the pantry and then found a new ground beef rice dish that matched up.  We had to make a few alterations to the recipe to fit what we had in our home and in the end it was voted a keeper!  In fact, we've already had it twice!

As for the flat bread, we used our pizza dough recipe as the base and turn it into flat bread.  Yum!  Everyone devoured it; it's a keeper for sure!

This week I think we'll make some cookies, and I am sure we will be trying out some new dishes as we get creative in the kitchen.  Have you made anything new?  Let me know!

Happy cooking (and keep up social distancing)!

New Recipes
Italian Beef & Rice Skillet
Peanut Butter Ice Box Dessert
Flat Bread

Italian Beef & Rice Skillet

Ingredients
* 1 small onion, diced
* 1 lb ground beef
* 14.5 oz can petite diced tomatoes or crushed tomatoes
* 3/4 cup uncooked white rice
* 2 cups beef broth
* 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
* 1/4 tsp poultry seasoning
* 1 tsp garlic salt
* 1 tsp oregano
* 1/2 tsp pepper
* mozzarella cheese or parmesan cheese, for serving (optional)

Directions
1. Brown the ground beef and onion in a large skillet.  Drain the fat.
2. Add everything to the beef and rice except the cheese.  Stir to combine and bring to a light boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about 17-20 minutes (taste to see when your rice is finished cooking).
3. Serve, and pass with optional cheese if anyone wants to add it.

Notes
The kids were looking through the pantry and using the internet to see if we could make anything new.  The recipe they found had some seasonings and ingredients we didn't have on hand, so we did some improvising.  The kitchen smelled good while it was cooking, but to be honest I wasn't expecting much when I brought it over to the table.  I was so surprised - Ryan and the kids loved it, and I thought it was pretty good.  It was especially nice that it was a true one pot meal and didn't create too big of a mess in the kitchen.  We've actually had it twice during these times already, once with diced tomatoes and once with crushed.  The flavor was the same both ways, but we felt that when it had crushed tomatoes it was a little more soup like.

Peanut Butter Ice Box Cake

Ingredients

* 4 sleeves of graham crackers

* 1 bottle of hot fudge sauce (we used Smuckers, but any brand should work), heated in the microwave according the the bottle directions

* 1 cup whipping cream

* 10 oz of cream cheese (regular or Neufchatel) 

* 1/4 cup peanut butter

* 1/4 cup powdered sugar

* 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

* Reese's cups (full size or miniature), chopped, about 1/2 - 1 cup (optional)

* 1 cup graham cracker crumbs

* 2 tbsp melted butter

* 2 tbsp sugar

* 1 container of Cool Whip

Directions

1. Lay graham crackers to cover the bottom a 9x13 pan (we used a Pyrex).  Cut the graham crackers so you can cover the bottom as much as possible.

2. Pour half the bottle of fudge on the graham crackers, doing your best to smooth it all over the crackers.  (I used a small offset spatula to help with this). Set aside.

3. Using a mixer (stand or hand), whip the whipping cream until stiff peaks form.  Set aside.

4. In a separate bowl, beat the cream cheese for 2 -3 minutes on medium high speed until light and fluffy.  Add in the peanut butter and beat until combined.  Add in powdered sugar and vanilla and beat until well combined.  Add in the chopped candies and beat one last time.

5. Fold the whipped cream into the peanut butter cream cheese mix. 

6. Spread half the peanut butter whipped cream mixture on top of the fudge layer.  

7. Reheat the fudge.  Lay graham crackers all over the cream layer to cover as much as possible. Pour the remaining fudge on the graham crackers and spread again.  Set it aside to cool for 3-4 minutes.

8. Spread the remaining whipped cream mixture on the fudge, then a final layer of graham crackers.

9. Combine the butter, graham cracker crumbs and sugar in a small bowl until it is a sand like consistency.

10.  Spread the container of Cool Whip on the top layer of graham crackers.  Sprinkle the graham cracker crumbs on the top.  Refrigerate for 6-8 hours.

11. Serve and enjoy!  Keep leftovers in the fridge.

Notes

Owen LOVES peanuts and peanut butter.  For his birthday this year he sent me a link to a peanut butter ice box cake.  We altered it a little and the final dessert was a huge hit!  It made a 9 x 13 pan and we would have definitely shared it with some friends and family, but given the circumstances we had to eat it ourselves over 4 nights.  Must say that the kids did not complain about that! The picture above doesn't do it justice; it was much better looking in person. We can assure you, if you like peanut butter you will like this dessert!  Liam thinks he wants to have it in January for his birthday!

Flat Bread

Use this recipe for pizza dough to make the flat bread.

Additional ingredients needed
* flour for dusting
* olive oil
* garlic salt
* Italian seasoning
* parmesan cheese
* corn meal

Directions
1. When you are ready to make the flat bread, heat up your oven to 500 F.  If you have a pizza stone, place that in the oven to heat up at the same time.  Try to heat the stone for about 45 minutes.
2. Tear off about 1/3 of the dough and place it on a lightly floured cutting board or pizza paddle.  Roll it out using a rolling pin to make it into a rough circle.
3. Lightly brush on a little olive oil.  Sprinkle on some Italian seasoning, garlic salt and parmesan cheese.
4. Open the oven door and pull out the rack with the pizza stone.  Sprinkle on a little corn meal.  Carefully move the flat bread onto the pizza stone.
5. Close the door and let the bread cook for about 5-8 minutes.  Keep an eye on it so it doesn't burn. It is ready when it has some color and you think it looks good!
6. Cut it with a pizza cutter or large knife.

Saturday March 14, 2020

Hello!  We've had Hannah home on her Spring Break which is why we missed posting last week!  We thought she was heading back tomorrow, but now, as with nearly all universities, she will begin on-line classes and will be staying here.  She is excited about the dining hall here at home!  Ha!  I should be happy that she likes my cooking, but having eaten at her actual dining hall I can't even tell you how nice it is!  Compared to what I had when I was in college it is outstanding.  But I digress...

While she was home she requested so many of her favorite dishes that we only made one new dinner.  But it was fabulous and easily earned keeper status.  As you know I am not a red meat lover.  However, flank steak, if sliced paper thin, is delicious.  Ryan found a great marinade and when we tasted the steak at dinner we were absolutely blown away. (We loved it so much and ate it so quickly we forgot to take a picture! Whoops!)  It will be requested often, I am sure.  We tried a few new side dishes that were okay, but didn't earn keeper status.   I personally loved a spicy cucumber vegetable salad, but Ryan and the kids only thought it was fine and did not think they would suggest we have it again.  I got to enjoy the leftovers with my lunch for a few days!

We will be working and learning from home for the next couple of weeks.  I will be curious to see how teaching science to my students will go as we move to the e-learning environment. Wish me luck that I can keep it lively and engaging for my students! I am so curious to see how the experience is at all levels of education.  Under our roof we have a preschool student, 4th grader, high school sophomore and a college freshmen.  We have a teacher and 4 students. Such a unique situation we have and I am excited and interested to see how it goes and what we all think about it!

We have a stocked pantry and garage freezer, so for the next few weeks while we are home we are expecting to use what we've got on hand!  I might post a bit more often to remind you about some of the keepers from the archives.  I am not anticipating that we will try too many new recipes since I don't plan on heading out to the market. We might get creative as the pantry ingredients dwindle!

Happy cooking, and best of luck to all these next few weeks!

New Recipes
Garlic Chile Flank Steak

Tried & True
Bacon Pepper Mac & Cheese with Chicken
Swiss Chicken
Crispix Chicken

Just for fun since it is almost St. Patrick's Day
Leprechaun Trap Cake

Garlic Chile Flank Steak

Ingredients
* 1 flank steak (2 to 2 1/2 pounds)
* 1 tsp kosher salt
* 6 tbsp vegetable oil
* 2 scallions, minced

* 6 cloves of garlic, minced
* 1 tbsp minced canned chipotle chile in adobo sauce
* 1 jalapeno chile, stemmed, seeded and minced

Directions
1. Process the vegetable oil, scallions, chipotle, garlic and jalapeno in a blender or food processor until smooth.  This should be about 30 seconds.  Scrape down the sides of the blenders as needed.
2. Pat the flank steak dry with paper towels and prick each side about 20 times with a fork.  Rub both sides of the steak with the kosher salt and then rub it with the paste.
3.  Seal the steak in with the marinade (I use plastic wrap) and put it in the fridge for a minimum of one hour and up to 24 hours to marinate.
4. After marinading, wipe the past off the steak and season with pepper.
5. Cook the steak on a grill until it matches the desired level of doneness.  We typically cook it about 6 minutes per side, but will go higher for a thicker steak.
6. Transfer the steak to a carving board and cover it loosely with tented aluminum foil and let it rest for 10 minutes.
7.  Thinly slice the steak against the grain prior to serving.

Notes
This is UNBELIEVABLY DELICIOUS!!!!!!  I am not a red meat fan, and I absolutely loved this.  It got rave reviews and unanimous keeper votes from all of us.  Do make sure you slice the meat very thin - but that is my advice for all flank steak recipes.  The thinner the better, in my book.

The canned chipotle in adobo sauce typically comes with whole chipotle chiles in the can.  A good estimate is using one chile.  Mince the chile and add a little sauce to it when you put it into the blender.