turkey meatballs

A few weeks ago at my local grocery store that I absolutely love, there was this meat sale.  And one of the items was ground turkey.  I admit, I'm not a big fan.  I bought it regularly when we were first married because my husband liked it but I didn't know how to cook with it.  Whenever I made anything, it tasted like a weird form of Thanksgiving dinner to me. ;)  So I stopped buying it.

 

But it was apart of this fun sale, so I couldn't resist.  Me and food sales...I just have to buy them.  I called my sister when I got home, remembering she had made turkey meatballs one time.  She referred me to the Food Network website and I found this recipe.  And holy cow....they were heaven!  My two year old ate 4 meatballs before I even sautéed them in the marinara sauce.  And we devoured the rest over noodles.

 

It's a really easy recipe.  Please try!

 

 

Turkey Meatballs

1 small onion, grated

 3 garlic cloves, minced

1 large egg

1/4 cup dried bread crumbs

3 tablespoons ketchup

1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves

1/4 cup grated Parmesan

1/4 cup grated Pecorino Romano

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 pound ground dark turkey meat

3 tablespoons olive oil

 

(This is a terrible secret of mine, but when I don't have certain ingredients and I'm already in the process of making something, I just leave it out.  I totally left out the Romano and I didn't have bread crumbs, so I used the panko crumbs I had.  AND I only used 2 garlic cloves which was plenty garlic enough for me.)

 

I just put everything into a large bowl and mixed it together.  Then I had two plates ready and rolled meat into the size of ping pong balls placing them onto the plates when finished. Have a pan with oil heated and drop in the meatballs.  Cook all sides of the meatballs and then place back onto a plate.   If you're going to have the meatballs over spaghetti do this:

 

Drain the oil and pour your choice of marinara sauce back into the pan.  Put the meatballs back in and stir.  Let simmer for about 15-20 minutes. 

 

 

Pour of spaghetti noodles and enjoy!!



Follower Friday: Taco Soup

My AMAZING cousin Candice sent me another one of her yummy recipes.  Candice, you're my first follower to have back to back Follower Friday posts.  You're awesome :)  Comment if you're interested in doing a Follower Friday (or doing another one!)

 

Taco soup

1 pound ground beef

1 15-ounce can black beans

1 15-ounce can chili beans with chili gravy

1 15-ounce can garbanzo beans

1 14-1/2-ounce can Mexican-style stewed tomatoes

1 11-ounce can whole-kernel corn with sweet peppers

1 1.25-ounce package taco seasoning mix

Dairy sour cream

Brown hamburger and drain and then add all ingredients without draining the cans and cook on high for 3-4 hours or low for 6-8 hours. 

 

 

YUM! Perfect the Fall weather!

what have you done with peaches?

Peach season has come and is almost gone.  I. Love. Peaches.  This is what I did with mine.

 

A local grocery store had a 22# box for 11.99 one Friday.  I went and bought a box, a case of jars, sugar and pectin.
1. I brought it all home and made 3 batches of jam.

Jam is super easy, I promise.  I follow the recipe exactly that's inside the pectin box.  I boil my lids and jars in cake/bread pans on the stove while my jam is boiling.  And instead of water bathing my jam, I turn my jars over after I tighten the lids.  After a few minutes, I flip them back over and listen to them pop which signified they're sealed :)


2. Then I canned one batch of peaches.

This was my first year canning peaches and I was nervous.  But guess what?  I totally thought it was easier than making jam.  I did have to borrow my friends canner.  How I canned my peaches:
I filled the canner with enough water so when I put my pint size jars in, the water would be about an inch over the jars.  Then while I waited for that to boil, I put my jars and lids in the bread/cake pans to boil as well.  Next, I washed and began peeling the skin off of the peaches.  If they're not ripe, blanch them for just a minute.  A pillow case works great!  Dip the whole case into the canner for about 60 seconds, then pull it out and the skin comes right off the peach.  I put the peaches facing down into the jar.  I made a syrup mixture: 1.5 c sugar and 5 cups of water in a saucepan and when the sugar dissolved I began pouring into the jars over the peaches.  Topped off the jars with extra warm water so it touched the bottom of the rim.  Tightened the lids and placed them into the boiling water in the canner.  I boiled for 30 minutes.  Pulled them out and set them out to dry and seal.  They all popped :)

3. I made this heavenly peach cream pie

 

I got the recipe from this blog.

 

 

4. We ate a bunch,
5. I sliced up two sandwich bags full of peaches and put them into the freezer for smoothies.

The End.

how we grill our chicken

(I should really call this post - How we grill our chicken when I'm lazy and have no ideas and it's 4:30)

I have hardly cooked this summer.  I'm sure you've all felt the same way. 

If I can't grill it or chop it up into some kind of salad, I won't make it.

So here is the NUMBER one thing we've been eating all summer.

 

Barbeque chicken with a little marinade James(the hubby) came up with himself.

 

What's even better, is this recipe has been tested and loved on steak and pork chops.  So mix it up and marinade whatever meat you love most.

It's the easiest recipe.  And when you read it, you'll laugh.  But I promise, it's a whole new flavor and it's delicious.

 

Marinade:

1/2 barbeque sauce

1/2 Italian Dressing

 

 

That's it.  Pour it into a bowl with your defrosted meat.  Let marinade for a few hours or just grill it.  And while you're grilling it, brush more sauce onto meat.  Enjoy!

*And a shout out to Crystal.  Thank for motivating me once again to have a go at my food blog :)