Post-Thanksgiving and Spinach Balls

Matt's Green Bean Casserole & my Spinach Balls, ready & waiting for Thanksgiving

Delicious. That's about all I have to say about my Thanksgiving. I've been doing a TON of baking recently but nothing that is my own original recipe - you could call me the cookie queen right now. Oatmeal chocolate chip (they where ok), chocolate mint and a new chocolate chip cookie recipe. Once I perfect them, I'll share those recipes. I'm telling ya - the chocolate mint one (it's from King Arthur Flour) is freaking fantastic. We froze them as well and it's like having a thin mint you made yourself. Glorious.

Let's talk Thanksgiving for a moment. I"ll put it out there - I didn't do the cooking. I was charged with bringing a tasty appetizer. Matt was charged with his killer green bean casserole (pictured in the photo at the beginning of this blog post.) In my appetizer research, I wanted to come up with something that was easy to eat, not too terrible for you and did I say easy?

Enter Spinach Balls. Tiny balls of green leaves, made with stuffing. They where also a huge hit and very easy to make. Best part? You can make them AHEAD OF TIME, freeze them and bake them the day of your fiesta.

SPINACH BALLS APPETIZER
Makes a little over 2 dozen - 1 inch balls, smaller the ball, more the recipe will make.

Ingredients
1 package frozen, chopped spinach (around 10oz), thawed and drained
2 cups dry stuffing mix - I used StoveTop b/c the bread-bits are small
3 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
1/4 cup shredded Mozzarella cheese
1/2 onion, chopped finely
2 tablespoons melted butter

Steps
Prep the spinach, making sure it's drained and thawed and chopped up
Mix all the ingredients together well in a bowl and pop it into the fridge for about 30 minutes to let it set
Pre-heat oven at 350degrees F, if you're baking today
Prep a baking sheet or two with either cooking spray or parchment paper. Create balls, approx 1 inch or smaller in size

To Freeze for Later:
Pop the tray into the freezer (if you're going to freeze the balls for later) for at least an hour to let them freeze
After an hour, you can put them into a more space-friendly container and keep in freezer till ready to bake
To bake them - let them thaw for about 20-30 minutes prior to putting them in the oven

To Bake for Today:
Pop the trays into the oven and bake for about 20-25 minutes until they start to get a little brown

Lizzie Borden House Stove

On a totally side note, we went a few weeks ago to visit the Lizzie Borden House in Fall River, MA. Yeah, it's haunted and there are all kinds of ghost, I'll spare you the creepy details but the best part of the trip? The fantastic stove that I had to snap a photo of to share... Who doesn't want one of these for their house? It's been converted to gas also. LOVE IT!

My Grandma's Chicken Soup

It's getting colder outside and that means it's almost cold season. What cure's any common cold? Homemade Chicken soup. It's true. Well, it always has for me. Especially when cooking my grandma's recipe which I will share with you. This recipe not only makes you FEEL better but the smell of the soup cooking in the house is absolutely amazing. If one of those scented candle companies could bottle up this scent and make a candle, I would buy all of them. No joke. Anyways...

In my house, when my mom would make the soup, she always made a ton so we could eat some of it that day and then freeze the rest for consumption sometime during the winter. We always had a special process for eating it that day - make the stock and separate some out to freeze, remove the chicken and veggies, set aside, make some egg noodles, pour some soup into a bowl, add the veggies and chicken you want and microwave that sucker for 2-3 minutes, add your noodles and eat it!


My Grandma's Chicken Soup Recipe
Ingredients:

• Chicken - there are a few ways to add chicken, I hate touching chicken bones so I usually use 4 chicken breasts but it takes a bit longer for the stock to cook this way. The traditional recipe calls for 1 large chicken or 3-4 large chicken breasts with bone-in.
• Water - amount TBD
• 2 onions
• 3 celery stalks with tops on
• 2-3 large carrots
• 2 parsnips (optional)
• 1 bullion cube - make sure it's the Kosher kind, less salt and taste better
• sea or kosher salt
• egg noodles if you're eating it that day

Steps:

1. In a big pot, add in the chicken. Cover the chicken in water and then pour in any additional water for the amount of soup you'd like to make. Remember, the soup will reduce down by at least 1/4 during the cooking process. It's not an exact science. Cover the pot.
2. Bring the water up to a boil (takes approx 20 minutes). During this boiling process, you're going to need to keep an eye on it and skim off any of the foamy stuff that is created.
3. After the skimming is completed, cut the onions and celery in half and add them to the pot, add in the bullion cube and a pinch of salt (1/2 teaspoon)
4. Bring the mixture up to a boil again and then turn the heat down so its simmering. Let it simmer for 45 min. I alternate cover on, cover off at this point, checking in on the soup every 15 min or so, stirring occasionally as well.
5. Add in the carrots and parsnips and simmer again for another 40 minutes. Taste it as well to see if you need a bit more salt. 
6. At this point, snag one of the chickens and see if its cooked. You don't want to overcook the chicken and dry it out. If the chicken is done, grab them and save them for eating later. It's my favorite kind of chicken to use in a pot pie.
7. You can cook the soup for a few more minutes to reduce it down and bring out more of the chicken flavor if you want. 
8. Once it's done, let it cool and skim off the fat before serving or freezing.
9. Yum!

Meat Logs

Have you ever tried to eat a meatball sub and lost a ball? Or had a meatball sub and had the meatballs all sliced up so they aren't even close to being ball-shaped anymore? I have. It stinks. At this point, I had a great idea - meat logs! How come no one ever tried it before? I have no idea but I think it's pretty genius. Just shape the meat into a log that fits into the bun for your sandwich and you'll never lose a ball again!

HA! Way too many dirty jokes I could include in there but I'll steer clear... with that said, meat logs!

Meat Logs

Recipe makes 4 logs - serves 2 very hungry people

INGREDIENTS

• 1 package of ground meat (we used beef)
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp basil
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1/3 cup italian flavored breadcrumbs
• 1 good squirt of ketchup
• 1 good squirt of mustard (we used the grainy kind)
• Tomato sauce - about a cup or two depending on how much you like on your sandwich
• Franks Red Hot Sauce
• Bun - that can handle the meat log!
• Cheese (optional)
• 1 tablespoon oil for the pan to cook the logs

STEPS

Mix the spices, ketchup, mustard, bread crumbs and meat together in a bowl till well combined

Prep the buns - make sure they are sliced, and I add a little cheese to the bottom of the bun also

Form the meat into logs that will fit into your bun, we ended up doing two logs per bun since the longer logs wouldn't fit into the pan that we cooked them in

Add the oil into the pan and turn it on to medium

Add the logs one by one into the pan

Brown the outside of the logs by rolling them around in the pan

Add a few drops of Franks to each log at this point, this will sear the Franks to the outside of the log.

Cook the logs till they are cooked through

Cover with tomato sauce and let cook for about 1 minute to heat up the sauce

Plop the meat logs into the bun and top with a bit more cheese

Enjoy! Yum.

Roasted Butternut Squash

Image Credit: Whole Foods Market

Very very delicious and very very simple - Roasted Butter Nut Squash. I love squash, pumpkin and other gourd-like veggies. Matt does not. So I had a simple solution - I bought a pacakge of already cut-up squash and roasted that sucker so I could eat it at my leisure and he won't have to tolerate it as part of a meal. Very simple and easy recipe...

Roasted Butternut Squash

Ingredients

• 1 package of butter nut squash or one squash cut up into 2-bite size pieces
• Olive oil
• Sea salt
• Fresh cracked pepper
• Tin foil

Steps

1. Pre-heat oven to 375-400degrees F
2. Put the tinfoil down on a cookie sheet to cover the surface, this makes it much much easier to clean later. I promise.
3. Coat the squash in the olive oil. The amount of oil depends on the amount of squash - I use enough that all sides are coated but not dripping. Like a light salad dressing amount. 
4. Lay the squash on the cookie sheet and drizzle the salt and pepper lightly over top and toss again so it's coated. 
5. Pop the tray into the oven for 45 minutes. The oil will bubble but if you touch the squash, it should be close to done - taste test it. I usually end up popping it back in the oven for another 15 minutes. I like my squash almost mashable - it gets nice and caramelized.
6. Yum!

Easy and Quick Potato, Broccoli & Cheese Soup

I'm a little bit of a recipe hoarder and was rifling through a BIG binder of recipes I've collected over the years looking for an apple crisp recipe. I'm sure you all have a folder, drawer or box that you keep recipes in also, one you've been meaning to organize and throw out recipes you don't like. yeah, I've been meaning to do that also. I didn't find the one I was looking for but I did find this one for a tasty potato, broccoli and cheddar soup that, with a few tweaks, is not that bad for you. Also - the ingredient amounts are suggestions, based on your preference, feel free to tweak. Making soup is not an exact science.

Easy (and quick) Potato, Broccoli, Cheese Soup
4 servings worth (feeds 4 very hungry people)

Ingredients:

• 4 cups chicken stock (low sodium)
• OR
• 1 bullion cube of chicken stock and 4 cups water
• 4 cups broccoli - diced
• 1 cup carrots - diced
• 1 cup celery - diced
• 2 - 2 1/2 cups frozen potato hash/homefries
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 2 tablespoons whole wheat flour
• 1 cup milk
• 7 oz of cheese (I used low-fat cheddar chunks)

Steps:

1. Get a nice big pot, put the sucker on the stove and add in your liquid (chicken stock or water and bullion cube)
2. Add in the broccoli, carrots, celery, potatoes, salt and pepper
3. Cook for about 15-20 minutes at a nice slow but steady boil
4. Combine the milk and flour so they are nicely mixed together - this makes it nice and creamy. Add to the soup, stirring the entire time to thicken the soup.
5. Add in the chunks of cheese - so they melt as you add them, keep on mixing.
6. Let that sit for another 5-7 minutes
7. You can either eat it at this point, or I used my new immersion blender to mix it up just a bit, still leaving a few good chunks of veggies.
8. This would be very tasty served with some crusty bread.

Apple Picking, Apple Sauce, Apple Crisp and Piggies!

A little late in the season, but better late than never! I was able to hit up Honey Pot Hill Orchards in Stow, MA for a little apple-picking trip with my good friend Rach (giving her a little plug here since she's a yoga teacher and I'm always trying to recruit her a few more clients... check out her website.) The trip was uneventful except that for the piggies!

Aren't they cute?

ANYWAYS... after returning home, it was time to get down to business. Having a full bag of apples, I decided on 3 recipes. 1. Apple Crisp, 2. Apple Bread, 3. Apple Sauce. This post will include the recipes for the Apple Sauce and the Apple Crisp. I'll do a post later this week with the apple bread recipe.

I also have to say I finally purchased an immersion blender and I'm pretty excited about it!!! Would love to hear from you on any good recipes you may have using the immersion blender.

APPLE SAUCE
# of apples determines the serving - I'd say about 2-3 good sized apples equals about a meals worth of apple sauce

Ingredients:

• Apples - peeled and cut up into large chunks, or quarters is fine
• 1/2 cup apple cider
• Pinch of cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar (optional - you could also use honey)

Steps:

1. In a sauce pan, add the apples, cider and spices
2. Heat till the apples start to breakdown, and become mushy
3. Use your immersion blender to cream a little (depending on the consistency you want)
4. Let cool a bit and eat!

APPLE CRISP
This recipe is a bit watery - next time I'm going to add a bit of flour to the apples before putting the topping on - to help with the juicy-ness.

• 5-6 Large apples (I used macoun's)
• 1 stick of very cold butter
• 2/3 cup rolled oats
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon (or pumpkin pie spice)
• 1 tbsp white sugar
• Lemon juice to coat apples so they don't turn while prepping

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 350degrees
2. Slice the apples thinly and cover with a pinch of the cinnamon and the white sugar.
3. Apples tend to shrink when cooked, meaning they get mushy and sink into the vessel you're prepping them in so lay them in the pan (I used a deep pyrex bowl) so there aren't any spaces. 
4. Mix together the remaining dry ingredients and dice in the butter. The cooler it is the better since it will spread more evenly throughout the topping mixture. I diced it up then used my hands to smush it together. It should be a bit grainy feeling when done - a little dry and not like a dough at all. 
5. Spread the topping around over the apples.
6. Bake for 30 minutes - or until the topping is hard to the touch and you see the juices bubbling.
7. Let is cool for about 15-20 minutes before serving since the juices from the apples will be hot.

Chilaquiles

When we where in Cancun, we had this dish called Chilaquiles that we both fell in love with. It's traditionally served for breakfast, made from leftovers from the dinner before consisting of corn tortillas, sauce and chicken. I had to know how to make it. We've been talking about it for months and finally had the time and energy to tackle figuring this sucker out. This photo isn't the best but this recipe is now in our permanent rotation so I'll take a better one and repost.

It's really not that hard, I just had to remember to pick up the right ingredients at the store. We added our own little twist but I'm not sure we'd do it again - added refried beans to the mixture makes it way to thick although Matt liked it, I think I prefer them on the side.

I also watched this video from Saveur on technique tips along with using this recipe as influence from The Reluctant Gourmet. I promise to make these again - and show more photos for the steps.

Chilaquiles
this recipe is for 2 people who are very hungry

INGREDIENTS
3 small breasts of Chicken - shredded
1 onion, 1/2 to put in the water with the chicken, 1/2 finely diced
2 cloves finely chopped garlic
1 can enchilada sauce
1-2 cups mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup chopped queso blanco
salt and pepper
refried beans (side dish)
corn tortillas - about 2-3 per person
oil for frying - we used vegetable oil but you could use corn or canola
Sour cream (optional)
Salsa (optional)

STEPS
Cook Chicken
- fill a pot of water to cook the chicken in, add a bit of salt and half the onion to season the water, set it to a rapid boil
- plop the chicken into the water until it's cooked
- take it out and shred with a fork or chop it up into small bites
- discard the water and onion

Fry the Tortillas
- fill up a frying pan with about an inch of oil
- heat that up! you can tell if the oil is ready by putting the butt-end of a spoon into the oil, if there are bubbles around the edge of the spoon, it's ready
- Take the tortillas and cut them into quarters - like chips
- drop the tortillas into the oil, one at a time, don't over crowd the pan and fry till crispy
- take out the fried tortilla and place on a paper-towel to let the excess oil drain off

Finish the Dish
- In another pan, sauté the garlic and onions a little bit (about 2 minutes)
- add in the enchilada sauce - i used a small can of the sauce from the store
- OPTIONAL - I also added a few big tablespoons of salsa
- add in your chopped chicken and sauté the mixture till combined and the chicken is cooked thoroughly
- OPTIONAL - I also added our refried beans to the mixture, I would not recommend doing this in the future
- add in the fried tortillas till they are well coated and mixed in
- plop them on a plate and top with the mozzarella cheese and chopped queso blanco (or sour cream)

Yay!