March Is National Craft Month

What will you be creating this month?

Spaghetti & Meatballs

Spaghetti and Meatballs are a favorite at my house and with good reason. They are soooo good! 

This is a mom's recipe that I ramped up. Derek and I are big spice people while my mom has a blander palate.

Meatballs, The Recipe: 

3 pounds 93% lean ground beef (I like to make a lot for leftovers)

1 cup whole wheat bread crumbs - I use plain, but Italian would be fine

1 cup parmesan cheese - I use the kind in the shake can

4-6 cloves of garlic minced - like I said, we are big on flavor and we love garlic

2 eggs (usually an egg per pound or pound and a half works well)

2 1/2 tablespoons worchester sauce

3 tablespoons Penzey's Breakfast Sausage Seasoning

2 tablespoons fennel

2 tablespoons basil

2 tablespoons italian seasoning

1 1/2 salt

1 1/2 tablespoons pepper

olive oil - first cold press

white wine or dry sherry optional

* I'm very heavy on seasoning and especially so with a large batch. Depending on your sensitivities, you may want to use less seasoning. Experiment and see what's best for you!

Take your ground beef and press out in the pan you will cook in. I prefer a non stick skillet as it keeps the meatballs from burning and you can use less oil. 

Add all mix-ins: spices, eggs, parm and bread crumbs. Yes, it's a lot, but you're using a good chunk of meat. You don't want to have under seasoned meatballs. Now with clean hands, mix it all up! After it's mixed, you should be able to take a hunk and see all sorts of seasoning on it and in it.

Keep your baby entertained and out of the way! You're dealing with raw meat so make sure you are washing your hands well and sanitizing anything that comes in contact with the meat and eggs. My husband and I are big sticklers on this!

After mixing, roll it up! I made some big meatballs here, but sometimes I do small too. If you are in a hurry it's better to make smaller meatballs. If you have time, make them larger. Larger meatballs are good to throw into a crock pot, which does all the work and they come out cooked through!

Next put your meatballs under cold running water one at a time, while pressing together the meatball - this plus the egg helps keep your meatballs from breaking apart. As you rinse, begin transferring to another container. I put foil in a baking pan so all I had to do was throw away the foil.

Heat up pan to medium high heat with a couple tablespoons olive oil. Once warm, add your meatballs. If you have a ton of meatballs use two pans or do in two batches.

I prefer to let them cook a few minutes covered and then add a cup of white wine or sherry and replace lid. The steam from the wine helps cook the meatball while adding a little extra flavor.

Here the meatballs are ready to be turned for the first time...they should be slightly brown. Turn to the other side and replace lid. Do add more wine if not enough liquid remains in the pan.

At this point get your sauce going. I use canned sauce and beef it up with spices. Bringing to a medium low heat. Don't forget to stir!

Turn the meatballs a second time. Add wine if needed and replace lid.

I turn my meatballs a good four to five times, basically until most of it is browned. Also check the internal temperature of the meatball with a thermometer. I want mine to get to 165 F. 

Once your meatballs are finished, they should ideally cook for 35 to 45 minutes depending on the size. Next plop into sauce to finishing cooking. I like mine to sit in the sauce an extra 30 minutes or till it's time to eat. Serve up your meatballs with your favorite pasta and bon appetite!

Guess what I did? Maybe I should say, "Guess what I didn't do?" I forgot to take a picture of my finished meatballs. Sorry, I was so hungry and we just ate them up before I remembered. Next time I make them, I'll try to take a picture and will post it back. Course, you don't need a finished picture to see it's a yummy recipe. Derek and I love, love, love these!

Oh and during dinner, Nolan threw a little fit. While trying to pull off his bib, he actually ripped his shirt. I hope he's not taking after Hulk Holgan. See the tear in his shirt?

A Little Help

Nolan has recently learned what mess means...he understands when he throws his food around on the table or spills milk/water that he has made a mess. (Please note that I'm not there telling him he's made a mess as if he is a bad child. I just say uh-oh! What a mess! We better do some cleaning!")

He acts shocked by the fact a mess exists and now likes to point them out to me. He even gives me a "we better clean this up look." A couple of weeks ago, I was wiping up the table and then handed him the washcloth and told him to help. Since then, when a mess occurs, he wants to help clean up. I keep forgetting to catch it on video, but's it's super sweet and he is so serious about his cleaning, even proud when he's done!

Today, his little water bottle was knocked over while he was playing. As soon as he noticed it, he was playing in it. When I saw what he was doing, I said, "What a mess! It's clean up time!' I handed him a towel and he got to work. He was on all fours making sure it was all cleaned up - mind you, he only turned 14 months today!

I was able to grab my camera in time to get one picture before he was done. What a little helper!

Veggie Mash

I'm working to get my 13.5 month old to enjoy feeding himself and using a spoon. He's real picky...not that  he's picky about what he will eat, but about how much. He's always been difficult getting him to eat...he even weaned himself from day time bottles at 9 months.

Anywho, I made a veggie mash last night with grilled chicken. The consistency is like mashed potatoes but has more veggies, and takes little time and prep to make.

Ingredients:
3/4 pound red potatoes chopped
3/4 head of cauliflower chopped
5 large carrots chopped
1/2 cup greek yogurt or sour cream, whatever your preference
salt and pepper to taste

Boil a large pot of water and add chopped vegetables. The water should just cover the vegetables.
Boil for 15 to 20 minutes. Drain. Place veggies back in pot, add yogurt and salt and pepper to taste. Use masher/hand mixer to bring veggies to the consistency you want and you are done!

See, that was easy! It's yummy too! Nolan went crazy for the stuff and even did well eating it with his spoon.

Cravings

You know when you see something fantastic, and all you can think is, "So pretty...I gotta have that!" That's what I thought when I saw the following two desserts. 

Sweetapolita

Just when you thought the outside looked good, take a bite of this surprise:

six (6!) chocolately layers of cake with pink icing between each!

Raspberri Cupcakes

Now that you have seen these lovely photographs, I'm sure you are hungering for some beautiful deliciousness...but how's a girl to decide which dessert to make first? Hmmm....

A Dream Come True

I used to be an Irish Line Dancer (think Riverdance or Lord of the Dance), and was really quite bad at it. I was consistently jealous of my fellow dancers who seemed to all have red/copper hair. At performances it would be in hundreds of ringlets and that only made me more envious of their locks. I just have always wanted red hair but have been terrified to take the plunge and color it. How scary a thing to do! 

A dream of mine has come true and I have copper hair! Thanks to my dear mother-in-law Rene who dyed my hair to this lovely hue. Oh, and it was all her idea too. Rene, your so smart!

Here's my copper head with hot-rolled curls! Wish my hair looked like this everyday! My hubby has even begun liking it!

First Art

I have been wanting to let Nolan finger paint but didn't want to use paint that wasn't edible. He still puts everything in his mouth. I didn't know what to do.

You probably are familiar with Meg at Sew Liberated. She has two dear boys and is a creative mom (wish I was more so!). She recently posted about Lachlan's first painting experience. He was having a wonderful time painting with a gloppy paint.

In the comment section of the post, Meg said she used First Art for the paint recipe and that it was full of art ideas. Needless to say, I immediately ordered the book and today it came! Next week Nolan will be having some fun art time, and the paint will be edible!

As cute as a button.

Look at my darling boy! All dressed up for church, bow tie and all! This is perhaps one of my most favorite outfits of Nolan's right now. These pictures came out great of him (minus the shadow of the flash - must learn how to fix that).

Looking at the pictures now, I think I saturated the color a little much. He always looks like he has an orange nose in pictures. I promise he doesn't eat a ton of carrots!