Meatballs

This weekend I began prepping for my annual cookie bake.  I started this about 10 years ago as a girls get together, to bake some cookies before the craziness of the holidays set in.  As new friends,  husbands and children began to enter the picture the party grew and the baking of cookies was no longer the focus.  We still call it a cookie bake, but we no longer bake cookies - which is a little confusing for first time invitees.  Instead of a cookie bake we do a cookie exchange and enjoy meatball subs.  We added the meatballs as a way to entice boyfriends, soon to be husbands, to join us for the day without getting in our way.  Early on the guys would hangout by the fire pit or watching football and we would bake.  Now we all hang out around the fire pit, chase kids, catch-up and eat, a great beginning to the holidays.  So this weekend I began prepping, not by baking cookies, but by making sauce and baking off a couple hundred meatballs. 

I am a fan of baking meatballs, frying is just too messy and time consuming.  If making them and eating them the same day I finish cooking them in the sauce, but when making meatballs and freezing I just bake them thoroughly in the oven then reheat them in the sauce.  This year I am also returning to the large sized meatballs.  For a few years I went with the mini slider size, which were fun and easy for the kids, but they just don't have the same feel and the messiness is part of the fun.  Here is the base recipe I use, obviously when making huge amounts I alter the quantities of the ingredients.

Meatballs

2 Eggs

1/4 cup Milk

2 lbs Ground Beef

2 Cloves Garlic - finely diced

1 Tbs. Onion powder

1 Tbs. Worcestershire Sauce

1 cup Grated Parmesan cheese

1 cup Bread Crumbs

Salt and Pepper

Bake at 375

In large bowl mix eggs and milk together, beat lightly.  Add remaining ingredients, mix until combined.  Shape into desired size.  Bake until done, time will be determined by size.

Cinnamon Pudding Cake

I attempted the Cinnamon pudding cake, the November cake for cake slice, but it was just not ment to be.  I began baking it late at night, without checking to make sure I had all the ingredients.  Of course I got about half way through the recipe when I realized I didn't have enough milk.  I had vanilla yogurt in the fridge so used that in combination with the milk.  That seemed fine so I went ahead and baked it off.  As I said I was baking late and it had been a long day, I set the timer, but then went downstairs - and fell asleep.  I over baked it by about 30 minutes, so it was just an ugly mess and it went straight in to the trash bin.   I am hoping to give it another try, but it won't be until after the Thanksgiving baking is done, so maybe next weekend. 

Summer Salsa Chicken

Every year I try to do some canning.  I have never done the same thing twice, I have had more failures than success and I rarely use the things that do come out successfully.  Every Spring I have visions of a beautiful garden producing massive amounts of wonderful vegetables that I will can and savor throughout the winter.  Well, for many reasons I am still waiting for this vision to come true, but that is another story.  Anyway this summer we had a couple of weeks where we were swimming in peaches and tomatoes so I decided to make these ingredients my canning experiments for the season.  I came across a reciepe for Summer Salsa, it sounded yummy and I had all the ingredients on hand.  It was a little spicy, but I was really happy with the results.  I made dozen jars, I have 11 in the pantry - I used one jar to make a quick dip, combined with cream cheese it was super yummy, but everything is better with a little cream cheese - and now that Fall is quickly turning into Winter I thought I would try to use another jar or two.   I didn't do anything fancy, I just dumped the salsa over chicken breasts, but the meal tasted so yummy.  Next year I am definitely going to do more canning, and I am definitely making this salsa. 

 

Summer Salsa (from "Complete Home Presererving")

4 c.  Tomateoes, peeled, chopped cored

2 c.   Peaches, peeled, chopped pitted

2 c.   Pears, peeled, seeded chopped

1      Red bell pepper, seeded and finely chopped

1 c.  Red onion, finely chopped

3-4  Jalapeno peppers, seeded and finely chopped

1/2 c.  loosely packed finely chopped cilantro

1/2 c.  Honey

Gated zest and juice 1 lemon

1/4 c.  Balsamic vinegar

1 Tbs.  Mint finely chopped

In large stainless steel saucepan combine tomatoes, peaches, pears, red pepper, onion, andjalapeno peppers.  Bring to a boil over medium high heat, stirring constantly.  Add cilantro, honely, lemon zest and juice, vinegar and mint.  Reduce heat boil gently stirring frequently, until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes. 

Ladle hot salsa into prepared canning jars, leaving 1/2 inch of head space.  Wipe rim, center lid on jar, screw band down.  Place jars in canner, process 8oz jars for 15 minutes, pint jars for 20 minutes. 

Menu Planning Monday

Monday - chicken breast with summer salsa
Tuesday - meatball subs
Wednesday - Fish Tacos
Thursday - Steak Salad
Friday - ??

Soccer Cupcakes

Liam's soccer season ended last weekend and this week the team celebrated with a pizza party.  There were only six boys on the team - in the U6 league they play 3 on 3, so cute - but with the noise and chaos the boys and their siblings created one would have thought there were 30 boys on the team.  Always looking for an opportunity to bake and then get the baked goods out of my house I volunteered to make the cupcakes.  I had wanted to make chocolate soccer balls, but ran out of time, so I was very happy when I found these guys at Michael's.  It was my first time using the grass tip, oh what fun!  I now want to make people just so I can pipe hair with this fun tip.  For the cupcakes I was craving chocolate, so I went to my old stand-by, the Martha Stewart "One Bowl Chocolate Cupcakes."  This is a great recipe, very moist and super yummy.  I highly recommend them when you feel the craving for a classic chocolate cupcake.

Chocolate Cupcakes
2 1/2 c. AP Flour
1 1/4 c. Cocoa Powder
2 1/2 c. Sugar
2 1/2 tsp. Baking Soda
1 1/4 tsp. Baking Powder
1 1/4 tsp. Salt
2 Large Eggs
1 Egg yolk
1 1/4 c. Milk
1/2 c. plus 2 Tbs. Vegetable Oil
1 1/4 tsp. Vanilla extract
1 1/4 c. Warm Water

Bake at 350
Sift together dry ingredients, place in bowl of electric mixer.  Add remaining ingredients, with paddle attachment beat on low until combined, about 3 minutes.  Fill cupcake tins about 2/3 full, bake for 20 minutes or until tester comes out clean. 

Setting the Table

Even before I had kids I knew that I wanted us to sit down, as a family, for dinner.  I grew up having family dinners almost every night, that time was always special to me and I wanted to give my kids the same opportunity.  I knew it would be tough as the kids got older, schedules and everyday events would get in the way.  What I didn't fully prepare for was the work involved, with little kids,  in getting these dinners to actually happen.  I don't mean the dinner prep, most nights I like making dinner, cooking relaxes me so it usually doesn't feel like work.  What I am talking about is actually getting three little bodies to sit in their chairs and put food in their mouths.  It sounds so easy, dinner is cooked, put on the table, everybody sits down and enjoys.  Yet this rarely happen in our house and dinner time is becoming one of the most stressful times in our day, so I am on a mission to make dinner time fun.

It all starts when I ask for the table to be set.  Either no one is willing to help or Liam and Aggie both want to help resulting in a small scale cage match as they fight about which utensils to use and the proper placement of each item.  First we decided to alternate nights who gets to set the table.  If the person responsible decides not to do the job they loose a PP (our family money) and the other person can then help out and earn a PP.  The person setting the table gets to choose which utensils, plates and napkins we use, but must put the items in the proper place, and the rest of the family cannot change or complain about the items chosen.  To help get everything the proper spots we each made our own place mat. 

I made templates of a fork, knife, spoon,  plate and napkin, the kids traced them in the color of their choice then we glued each item in the proper place.  The kids decorated the plates and then drew a picture on the back.  When they  were done I covered the place mats in clear contact paper, some day I will have laminating machine.  We have been using them for a couple of weeks, the kids love using them.  They have helped Liam remember which side everything goes on and he likes being able to set the table without any help - he is my independent perfectionist.  They definitely help when Aggie is setting the table, she tends to be much more creative in her approach to, well pretty much everything and having the visual cue reminds her there is a proper way to set the table.  The table setter also gets to choose our centerpiece.  As long as it fits on the center place mat it can be used, pumpkins have been the favorite so far, but we have also had a LEGO centerpiece and a few other random toys.  It has been a good start, but it is relatively new and still exciting.  We will keep focusing on this for another week or so then I will begin making more of a focused effort to work on another aspect and hopefully it won't be long before our dinner time blues are a thing of the past. 

ICE

Has anybody ever been to ICE?  I think last year was the first year it was in the area.  I really wanted to go, but we never got it on the schedule, so I am hoping we can make it this year, it sounds like an amazing event.  The combination of The Grinch and massive amounts of ice is just perfect.  Last year we went over to the Gaylord at the holidays, it was beautiful and the kids love walking around the hotel and National Harbor any time of year, so I can only imagine how excited they would be at seeing ICE.  We do have grandparents coming to town and having them stay at the Gaylord might be a good option, maybe we can even convince them to bring the kids for a sleepover one night.  Is it wrong to give a gift that would benifit Marshall and I?  Something to think about.  Anyway right now our holiday outing traditions includ zoo lights, the National tree and our favorite the Botanical gardens - if you haven't had the opportunity to visit this event and are in the area it is a wonderful outing for all ages.   I'll post about the Botanical gardens another time, but this picture is just a small example of all the amazing things made entirely out of natual elements.  Our Kids is giving away tickets and it would be wonderful to win, but even if I don't,  I think this year we will have to add one more outing to the list. 

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