Meatball Mania!

My last meatballs intended for the freezer never made it out of the bowl in which they were cooling. Not an entirely sad thing as it struck a cord on what I want to do next.

The base recipe that I put together the first time I made meatballs was a huge success on the first run. I'd never made meatballs before then and I didn't look it up on the net. I just went with what felt right. So having talked about them with my husband who wanted to stuff them with cheese, it sparked a rather interesting brainstorming session. This is what we came up with:

Cheesy Meatballs will be the base recipe plus crushed garlic and Colby Jack cheese mixed into it.

Italian Meatballs of course will follow the base recipe but with Italian herbs and Parmesan.

Thai Meatballs will have a Thai peanut sauce and sesame seeds mixed in. This will be served with jasmine rice, snow peas and water chestnuts. I'm still working out how I'm going to make them.

Caribbean Jerk Meatballs will have the jerk and crushed pineapple mixed in. Served on a bed of short noodles, orange bell pepper, red bell pepper and ... well, I'm not sure yet.

Fireball Meatballs will have cilantro, yellow onion, allspice or nutmeg and honey mixed into the meat.

I'm kicking around glazing them, too. Orange, lemon, pear or apple. But I haven't worked that one out all the way just yet.

The idea here is to create. Get them made, taste them and then say "You know what would go well with this?" When that comes out, you've got the makings of whole dinners.

And who knows if half of these won't turn out to be just horrible! I doubt it, though. These are good flavor combinations.

Speaking of meals. I created a new dish today. I was inspired when I watched something on Food Network.

Seth said right after his first bite that it was fantastic! I was very pleased that I got that kind of praise from the picky one. Connor couldn't eat all of his, but daddy was there to scoop up the plate and inhale it for him.

It's very simple:

Dana's Open Omelet

Fry 8 pieces of bacon until crisp. Set aside. Dice a medium yellow onion and add to the bacon drippings. When they are soft, crush 4 large cloves of garlic into the pan. Allow this to cook for about 5 minutes. Crack open a can of Stewed tomatoes the basil oregano garlic one and add that to the mix. Add a sprinkling of red pepper flakes and dried thyme (if you force me to guess, I'd say 1/2 tablespoon on the pepper and 1/2 teaspoon of thyme) While that is heating, cut the bacon down to 1/2 inch to 1 inch slices. Add that to the tomato base and heat for 2 minutes. Set aside. Spray non-stick oil into a pan, beat the eggs, whirl around the pan to coat. When the egg is just getting done, add a sprinkling of shredded Colby jack (or whatever your preference). Slowly work a spatula around the edges if your egg sticks to the pan. Slip it out of the pan and onto a plate. Add some tomato mixture, top with more cheese. Serve immediately.

I came up with that this morning. My family loves it. My husband demanded I write it down so he can do it. It's big flavor. I'm thinking that a orange, banana, strawberry juice to go with it will make it even better. I'm also thinking of trying some sour cream on the egg after it is done to see how that goes.