Sweet & Sour Meatballs

Here's another great recipe from Melanie at Mels' Kitchen Cafe.  So quick & easy, and really tasty!

Sweet and Sour Meatballs

from www.melskitchencafe.com

*Serves 4-6

1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef

3/4 cup quick oats

2 eggs, slightly beaten

1/2 cup finely chopped onion

1/2 cup milk

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

Combine all of the ingredients and mix well. Form into about 12 balls, each about 2 inches in diameter. Place in a casserole dish. Cover with sauce (below). Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes. Serve over rice.

Sauce:

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

1 teaspoon mustard

1/4 cup barbeque sauce

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

Combine ingredients and blend thoroughly. Heat in a small saucepan until combined and sugar is dissolved and pour over meatballs. (This dish is not overly abundant on sauce so if you enjoy things a bit saucier, double the sauce ingredients- I did and we loved the extra sauce over our rice.)

Stuffed Bell Peppers {Updated}

My mom always made these growing up, but I think the recipe came from my grandma, Mimi. When the other colors of peppers are on sale, I sometimes use the orange, yellow, or red ones. Get nice big peppers for this recipe!

Stuffed Bell Peppers
3-4 large bell peppers
1 lb. ground beef or turkey
1/2 med. onion, chopped
1 can tomato sauce or diced tomatoes
salt & pepper
1 1/2 c. grated cheese
2 c. cooked rice
Cut peppers in half and remove membranes and seeds. Blanch in boiling water about 5 minutes, remove from water, drain on paper towels, and salt insides of peppers lightly. Meanwhile, brown meat and onions, drain. Mix in tomato sauce and season to taste w/ salt & pepper. Mix in rice and 1 c. cheese. Fill peppers with mixture, place in baking dish, and top w/ remaining cheese. (I always have extra filling, so I put it in a small dish to bake for the little ones who don't like peppers). Bake at 350 for about 25 minutes.

Glazed Bacon-Wrapped Meatloaf

I saw this recipe on the Our Best Bites blog, and just knew I had to try it. I have always liked meatloaf, but never considered wrapping it in bacon. The bacon, the spicy-sweet glaze, and cooking it on a cookie sheet instead of drowning in grease in a loaf pan really made this meatloaf. It was fabulous! I'm pretty sure I'll never go back to my old recipe again...
Glazed Bacon-Wrapped Meat Loaf

Glaze:
1/2 cup chili sauce (or substitute ketchup, but I liked chili sauce)
4 tablespoons brown sugar
4 teaspoons cider vinegar (or white vinegar in a pinch)

Meat Loaf:
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1 medium onion , chopped medium
2 medium cloves garlic , minced
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon table salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon hot sauce
1/2 cup plain yogurt (or whole milk)
1 pound ground beef chuck (I used ground turkey)
1 pound ground pork
1 1/3 cups fresh bread crumbs (or oats or almond meal for wheat-free)
1/3 cup minced fresh parsley leaves
6 – 8 ounces bacon , thin sliced (8 to 12 slices, depending on loaf shape)

INSTRUCTIONS
1. For the glaze: Mix all ingredients in small saucepan and bring to a simmer. Simmer for 2-3 minutes or until slightly thickened and set aside. Divide in half.
2. For the meat loaf: Heat oven to 350 degrees. Heat oil in medium skillet. Add onion and garlic; sauté until softened, about 5 minutes. Set aside to cool while preparing remaining ingredients.
3. Mix eggs with thyme, salt, pepper, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, pepper sauce, and milk or yogurt. Add egg mixture to meat in large bowl along with crackers, parsley, and cooked onion and garlic; mix with fork until evenly blended and meat mixture does not stick to bowl. (If mixture sticks, add additional milk or yogurt, a couple tablespoons at a time until mix no longer sticks.)
4. Turn meat mixture onto work surface. With wet hands, pat mixture into approximately 9-by-5-inch loaf shape. Place on foil-lined (for easy cleanup) shallow baking pan. Brush with half the glaze, then arrange bacon slices, crosswise, over loaf, overlapping slightly and tucking only bacon tip ends under loaf.
5. Bake loaf until bacon is crisp and loaf registers 160 degrees, about 1 hour. Cool 10-15 minutes. While meal loaf is cooling, re-heat remaining sauce and brush some over meat loaf if desired. Slice meat loaf and serve with extra glaze passed separately.

Caramelized Onion & Bleu Cheese Burgers

I found the recipe for this delicious burger on The Pioneer Woman Cooks and slightly adapted it for us. It's a nice change from your ordinary cheeseburger!

Caramelized Onion & Bleu Cheese Burgers
1 lb. ground turkey (or beef)
salt & pepper
Tabasco sauce
2 tb. butter
1 onion, thinly sliced (she uses red, I used white b/c that's what I had)
2 tb. brown sugar
1/2 c. bleu cheese, crumbled
mayonnaise
4 hearty, crusty buns (no pansy soft ones!)
Fresh salad greens

First, melt butter in a skillet. Stir onions and brown sugar in, saute on low heat for about 15 minutes, until soft and caramelized. Next, mix your meat with 1 tsp. salt, 1/2 tsp. black pepper, and a few shakes of Tabasco. Form into 4 patties (Pioneer Woman makes one huge burger, but that's a bit much for me, so I made 4 normal-sized ones). Grill or fry in skillet on both sides for several minutes, until no longer pink in center. Meanwhile, brush some more butter on a skillet and brown cut sides of buns for a few minutes. Mix about 1/2 c. mayo with a few shakes Tabasco, spread thinly on both sides of buns. Top burgers with a pile of onions and a sprinkle of bleu cheese. Place on bottom bun, top with greens and top bun, and enjoy!

Glazed Italian Meatloaf

My mom taught me how to make meatloaf, and I have changed some things over the years to suit my tastes, but the glaze is still all hers. It is SO good! I serve it with either baked or mashed potatoes and green beans.

Glazed Italian Meatloaf

2 lbs. ground turkey (or beef if you prefer)

1 can (14 oz) diced tomatoes

1 large egg

1/2 medium onion, chopped

1 tsp basil

1/2 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp parsley

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/2 c. Italian breadcrumbs, oats or almond meal

Mix all ingredients together. Pat into a large loaf pan. Bake in a pre-heated 400 degree oven for about 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes (depending on your oven). Mix glaze ingredients in a bowl: 1/2 c. ketchup and 1/3 c. brown sugar. Pour grease out of pan, pour glaze over meatloaf and bake an additional 15-20 minutes. Slice and enjoy!

Ropa Vieja & Sofrito

A while back I started watching the new PBS channel Create late at night, when lots of cooking shows are on. The lady who makes this, Daisy Martinez, is a riot. The catch phrase of her show and cookbook, Daisy Cooks, is "Latin flavors that will rock your world". She is lots of fun to watch, and at least this dish really does rock our world. It is so good, we've decided we don't need any other way to cook a roast. The name of the dish, by the way, means "old clothes", which references the falling-apart tenderness of the meat, NOT the way it tastes!

Ropa Vieja

One 2 1/4 to 2 1/2 lb. chuck roast

Salt & pepper

Onion powder

3 tb. canola oil

1/2 c. sofrito (see recipe below)

1/4 tsp. ground cumin

Two 8 oz. cans spanish-style tomato sauce (I used regular)

1 1/2 c. water

3 tb. chopped green olives w/ pimentos (I hate green olives, so I left these out)

2 bay leaves

4 celery stalks, diced

3 medium carrots, peeled and diced

1 c. fresh or frozen peas (we hate peas so I leave these out & up the other veggies)

Pound roast between 2 sheets of plastic wrap with meat mallet until 1/2" thick (I only got it down to about 1" thick, and it turned out great, the idea is to tenderize it). Season both sides generously with salt, pepper, and onion powder. Heat oil in a large, heavy, ovenproof skillet. Add roast and brown on both sides, about 10 minutes. Preheat oven to 350. Meanwhile, stir in sofrito and cumin. Stir in tomato sauce, water, chopped olives, and bay leaves. Cover (if your lid isn't ovenproof use foil) and put in oven. Bake for about 2 1/2 hours, until meat is tender. Remove from oven and take meat out of pan to cool enough to handle. Remove bay leaves. Add celery and carrots to pan, place over medium heat on stove, and bring to simmer. Shred meat and add back to pot. Stir in peas after 15 minutes, cook about 5 minutes more, adding water if drying out. Serve and enjoy!

Sofrito

2 medium Spanish onions, cut into large chunks

3 to 4 Italian frying peppers or cubanelle peppers

16 to 20 cloves garlic, peeled

1 large bunch cilantro, washed

7 to 10 ajices dulces (see note below), optional

4 leaves of culantro (see note below), or another handful cilantro

3 to 4 ripe plum tomatoes, cored and cut into chunks

1 large red bell pepper, cored, seeded and cut into large chunks

Chop the onion and cubanelle or Italian peppers in the work bowl of a food processor until coarsely chopped. With the motor running, add the remaining ingredients one at a time and process until smooth. The sofrito will keep in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. It also freezes beautifully. Freeze sofrito in ½ cup batches in sealable plastic bags. They come in extremely handy in a pinch. You can even add sofrito straight from the freezer to the pan in any recipe that calls for it.

Makes about 4 cups.

*If you can't find ajices dulces or culantro, don't sweat. Up the amount of cilantro to 1 ½ bunches. I did this and also used regular onions and Anaheim peppers instead of the Italian ones.

Allspice Meatball Stew

This is a recipe my mom made for us when we were visiting last winter. It is so easy and delicious!

Allspice Meatball Stew

1 lb. frozen meatballs

2 cans green beans, drained (the Italian ones are good)

1/2 lb. baby carrots, cut in half

1 can diced tomatoes

2 cans (about 4 cups) beef broth

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. allspice

cooked rice

Mix all ingredients except rice in large pot. Bring to boil. Reduce heat and cover, simmer for 25-30 minutes, or until carrots are tender. Serve over rice.