Pleased as Punch

Laura Williams hosted a "Carnival of Home Preserving" event that has now published. Go take a look at some tasty instructions and very knowledgeable folks that have also participated in the event. Including me! Which makes me pleased as punch that my meatballs are being shown off over there.

Make meat balls! You know you wanna. And come back and tell me how it went. Comments are always welcome.

Meatball Mania! Followup

All of the meatballs were a success. We decided at the last minute to make a sesame ginger one as well which turned out great.

The favorite was the Caribbean Jerk. We decided all of the recipes needed about 1/4 of the marinade we put in instead of a couple of tablespoons. When we remade the Caribbean Jerk, we added a lot more of the marinade and it turned out just wonderfully. Needless to say, very few of them were left to freeze.

Better luck next time I guess.

It's been a real blast putting them together. I think the coolest thing is getting input from the kids who munched down more than we did.

Each recipe was easily made:

Caribbean Jerk Meatballs
2 pounds of ground beef
1/4 cup Caribbean Jerk Marinade
1/2 yellow onion diced
1/2 orange bell pepper diced
1/4 cup crushed pineapple, drained
1/2 cup of bread crumbs

Pre-heat oven to 375. Mix everything together but the crumbs. Mix thoroughly. Add the bread crumbs, mix until combined. Roll into balls. Bake for 25 minutes flipping the meatballs over half way through. Serve on a bed of jasmine rice with chunks of pineapple mixed in. We considered grilling the pineapple and adding it to the rice, but we weren't using the grill so we decided against it.

To freeze, simply place cooked meatballs in freezer bags or vacuum seal to extend their life. I prefer the vacuum seal personally.

Man these were good. It's a fairly easy recipe and it makes quite a bit depending on the size of the meatballs.

The recipe is basically the same for each one except for the sauces/liquids and minus the pineapple in the above recipe.

Sesame Ginger
Cilantro and red pepper (for the Fireball)
Peanut sauce and sesame seeds
Cheese (I used Colby jack) and garlic (4 large cloves)

Possibilities are endless. And each one can be served alone or on a bed of rice or noodles or in a sauce. We're still working on deciding how we want to serve them. Though, now that I think about it, pineapple in the sesame ginger sounds pretty good. Or perhaps making the meatball with watercress in the middle or chopped and mixed in.

The best thing about cooking your own meals from scratch is that you get to go through the fun of figuring out what the best way to serve them would be. Not to mention the family time. I know that when my children grow up they will look back on our time in the kitchen fondly.

Who could ask for more?

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.