Greek meatballs

I am always trying to find new ways to add some whole grains into my families diet. Not to mention, vegetables. My girls are really good about eating their vegetables and the youngest is really good about eating her whole grains, but it's a battle to get the boys (and my husband) to follow suit. Really, I don't see what the issue is, but it's there. 

As I was looking though a diabetic cookbook for some inspiration one day, I came across this recipe. I thought that it looked pretty appetizing and had a feeling that my boys would eat it. It has at least two of their favorite things in it, cheese and meat. Hoping that a little cheese and meat would mask the fact that there was whole grains and vegetables in this dish, I decided to give it a try.

 It was going to be a challenge, but I was up for it. 

I was a little bummed that I didn't have any of my own marinara sauce for this already made and had to use the can stuff, but as far as canned stuff, this one was pretty tasty. 

The verdict? 

The men liked it. I did see a few pieces of the zucchini pushed over to the side, but they did eat a lot of it. So, in my eyes, it was a victory. I may not of won the war as of yet, but I did win this one little battle. I will take anything I can get. 

Greek Meatballs

2 c. cooked brown rice, cooled

3/4 c. dried oregano

4 tbsp. parmesan cheese

1 pound lean ground beef

2 medium zucchini, cut into thin slices

1 c. marinara sauce

Coat a large baking dish with olive oil spray.

Scatter the zucchini all along the bottom of the baking dish. 

In a mixing bowl, add the rice, oregano, half the cheese and the ground beef. Mix until well combined.

With a tablespoon, shape the meat mixture into a ball. 

Place the meatballs on top of the zucchini.

Spread the marinara sauce on top of the meatballs and the zucchini.

Cover with foil and bake in a preheated 450F oven for about 35 minutes, or until the meatballs are no longer pink in the middle. 

Uncover and put the rest of the cheese on top of the meatballs. Let them set for a few minutes to melt the cheese a little. 

Hummus

My youngest child and I are in love with hummus. We eat it all the time. We have it for a snack with some great veggies, or we will have it in a wrap for lunch. Sometimes we will just eat it by itself.

 All by it's self....with just our fingers.

 We are in love with hummus. 

Everyone else in the family? They all hate it and can't see how we eat it so much.

I always bought hummus for the two of us. I knew that it was a little pricey for such a little helping of it, but I always chalked it up to the fact that it was just for the two of us, and well really, there are worse things we could be spending our money on. $4 for a container of hummus or $4 for candy, or soda? I was not about to tell my little one that she couldn't have something that was good for her. 

Then, I started feeling guilty, and honestly, a little concerned. See, the youngest is severely allergic to tree nuts. She had allergy testing when she was 3 years old when we couldn't get her coughing under control and she had pneumonia in the fall and winter more than she didn't. We were desperate to make our little girl healthy again. So, when the allergist suggested allergy testing, we said sure. What did we have to lose? When tree nuts (along with maple and eggs and a long list of other things) came up, we have been very diligent about not letting them come close to her. The allergy was so severe that he prescribed us an epi pen. 

Let me tell you, the epi pen is scary stuff. 

Seriously scary stuff.

 I knew that she couldn't have the one with the pine nuts in them and in the back of mind I knew that the ones made with the pine nuts were also processed in the same facility with the ones without. I just didn't let it bother me, but slowly my mommy brain was winning the battle over my lazy brain. It would be NOTHING for a container to be cross contaminated. She hadn't had any allergic reactions to tree nuts, ever, but I didn't want to start. I knew that making this wonderful dip/spread would be easy to make. I also knew that it would be cheaper to make too. Plus, I could monitor what was going in it better. This stuff has replaced so many not-so-good-for-you dips/spreads for her, that I would be horrified if I knew that I caused a reaction in my daughter and she then would refuse to eat it ever again-not to mention-the scary thought of an anaphylaxis reaction. 

So, I took to the internets and decided to see just how hard this would be. You know what, it's not. It's super easy and I have to say, way better than anything you buy at the store. It takes all of 10 minutes to prepare. I'm not sure how long this will last in the refrigerator because my little one and I eat it all in about 2 days. 

This is a very basic hummus that you can change and add into. A very, very building block of a recipe. Experiment with it, try on different things. Eat it just the way it is too.

Hummus

1 can, drained, chick peas (or garbanzo beans-they are the same thing)

1/4 c. olive oil

1/4 c. water

1/4 c. sunflower butter (you can use tahini instead, but we like this better)

1 tbsp. minced garlic

3 tbsp. lemon juice 

salt to taste

Add everything together in your food processor or blender and mix until smooth....presto, it's done! 

I usually put it in my fridge for about 30 minutes before eating.

******* If your processor or blender leaks, you can adjust how you add the ingredients in. First, the chick peas with the garlic and the olive oil. Blend for a few and then add the sunflower butter and the water. Blend for a few and then add everything else. Sometimes, it's a little to much liquid for your appliance all at once. Especially if there isn't a great seal. ******* 

Stuffed Chicken Breast

My family has an obsession with bacon. I don't know where it came from or how it even got started. I get that boys like bacon, its meat. Most boys like meat, and a lot of it. Where my 5 year old daughter gets it from? I don't know, maybe it's because she is her dad's mini me?

 I have never really been fond of bacon. It's greasy, it's fatty, it's salty, and honestly, it's pork. Pork and I don't get along. 

Another thing that may surprise everyone, or maybe not, I don't like sausage or waffles or even pancakes.  I am kinda an anti breakfast person. I know, the horror of it all. 

So, with that, I had some left over bacon from making breakfast for my family one morning and not wanting to waste it, I decided that I would put it in my dinner that evening. I knew that I would have to make one without the bacon for my kinda-sorta-vegetarian 15 year old.....she only eats chicken. 

Nothing else, only chicken. 

She calls herself a vegetarian. I call her picky :) 

She has been this way for 5 years, and I don't see it changing, and really, I am ok with that. 

I served this stuffed chicken breast with the lemon and rosemary crescent rolls and a giant salad. I got so many yums from the family. Also, our usual loud and rowdy bunch were quietly eating away. They even helped clear the table and no arguments about dishes either!!!

Stuffed Chicken Breast

4 Chicken Breast

3 strips of bacon, cut into small pieces

 1 c. (or so) shredded cheese (I like swiss or mozzarella) 

1 rosemary twig

Juice from two lemons

Juice from 1/2 an orange

salt and pepper to taste

olive oil

toothpicks

I sliced the chicken breast in half, length wise and stopped cutting right before I got all the way though.

I chopped my bacon up right afterwards. 

Then, I cooked my bacon until it was all the way cooked and drained the fat from it. 

After I let the bacon cool down, I added the cheese, salt and pepper and stirred with a fork.

Then, stuffed the chicken breast as full as possible, but still able to pull it closed.

I put about 5 or so toothpicks into each breast, just so that it would stay closed. Also, try to keep all the stuffings inside the chicken breast. 

Put chicken in a baking pan

Then, in a bowl (I used the same bowl that my stuffing was in), I added a swirl of olive oil and the juices from the lemon and the orange. Added it to the top of the chicken breast. 

Finally, I added salt and pepper to the top of the chicken breast and added the rosemary as well.

Place in a preheated oven at 350F and baked until cooked all the way though, about 30 minutes. 

Very easy salted caramels

There is nothing better than something that is sweet and salty all in a very small, manageable bite. Maybe that's why the pretzel M&M's are so popular?

 Maybe. Who knows. 

I was getting ready for a catering job on New Years Day with lots and lots of cooking to do when my husband asked me to make some salted caramels. I was making some for this catering job already, and well, it shouldn't be that much more work....right??? 

Yeah, ok buddy!

Something you need to know about making caramels, it takes 5 1/2 hours to make...from scratch!!! It's very labor intensive and you have to be hovering over the stove with water the ENTIRE time. Not letting the sugar crystallize or getting above the desired temperature. If it does, all your work is down the drain. Well, in the trash actually.

It really isn't for the novice baker. It really isn't for the mediocre baker either. It really isn't for the time crunched mother of 4 trying to get this catering job completed and keep her family happy either!

I did something that I have never done before, but plan on doing more and more of. 

I cheated! 

Boy oh boy did I ever cheat.

It has become one of my most favorite cheats in history. 

Now, with that being said, I still plan on making the real deal for clients and for those days when I have 5 1/2 hours to stand over the stove and painstakingly make caramels. There is something to be said about real caramels. The taste can't be beat....PERIOD!

While I was at the grocery store, I found these nifty little things called caramel bites. They are about 1/4 size of the commercial caramels. I had never seen them before and, at the time, had no idea what I was going to use them for. I was intrigued to say the least. Now I have a plan of action. I already had the parchment paper and the sea salt. BAM!!! About 15 minutes (plus cooling time) I had salted caramels for the family to enjoy and to leave me alone while I finished up the rest of my catering!

Salted Caramels

2 bags of caramel bites

parchment paper

course sea salt

Line a cookie sheet or brownie pan with parchment paper

Melt caramel in a non stick pot on medium, stirring constantly. *Now, the caramel will melt, but not become a total liquid. Also, do NOT let it start boiling-the whole crystallizing thing again.

Pour melted caramel in the lined cookie sheet or the brownie pan, and smooth top out.

Sprinkle sea salt all over the top and pat down, with your hand, to make sure that the salt gets into the caramel (I think it makes it better that way)

Put in fridge for 45 minutes or so, or you can put it in the freezer for about 5 minutes. The trick here is to have it cooled but NOT frozen or totally solid. It will be horrible to cut into.

Once cooled, pull the caramel out by the parchment paper, lay flat and using a sharp knife dipped in HOT water cut the caramels first into strips then into cubes. Dipping your knife into the HOT water after each slice.

Arrange on a nice tray and serve!! Trust me, people will be BEGGING you to make more or for the recipe.

Enjoy! 

Lemon Crescent Rolls

One evening as I was getting our dinner prepared my husband came in from work and was so excited. A sweet lady had given him some homemade lemon curd that she had made. She had him try a little on a sugar cookie and he loved it. He asked me to add it to the menu for dinner. 

No further instructions were given to me.

I was looking at the chicken breast that I was in the middle of stuffing and knew that since I was going to be adding some citrus and rosemary to that, that maybe I could add some of this curd to the dinner as well.....somewhere. 

The dinner rolls perhaps? 

Sure why not?

Not really knowing a thing about lemon curd, or any curd for that matter, I gave everyone a warning.

Mom is trying something new with the dinner rolls. 

They all know that means that this little adventure will either be the best thing on earth ,OR OMGosh, what on earth were you thinking mother?? I was either going to be praised as a cooking genus or my kids were going to be looking up on how to sign me up for the next installment of the Worst Cooks in America. I was hoping not the latter.  

As it turned out, they were an OMGosh sensation and everyone that eats dinner rolls gobbled them up.

I still know nothing about curd, but I do plan on learning about them as soon as everyone is back to school and my life has become somewhat normal and manageable again. The rolls (or crescents what ever you want to call them) are very, very simple. I'm talking even my 5 year old can make them and I feel a little silly for even blogging about this. 

Lemon Rosemary C resent Rolls

1 pkg. crescent rolls

2-3 tsp. lemon curd

2 sprigs fresh rosemary

Preheat the oven to 350F. 

Roll out the entire package of crescent rolls.

Slather the crescent rolls with the lemon curd and sprinkle the rosemary all over them.

Tear them apart and roll like any other crescent rolls.

Place on UNgreased cookie sheet.

Bake for 12-15 minutes or until beautifully golden brown.

Enjoy!!!

See, I told you that was super simple. Trust me, your family will be amazed at how good these are. I hope to find that lemon curd is fairly easy to make and good for you, although, I am sure the good for you part isn't going to be true.