(meat)BALLS.



Appetizer sized all cooked up!

I like meatballs, I haven't made them excessively but I made them by way of (you guessed it) Jamie Oliver and have had great success.  I tried this recipe with ground chicken (don't) and just beef (great but not the greatest) I have found, and as suggested in the recipe, a combination of ground pork and ground beef give a great meatball, and it's true.  It is an excellent flavour profile.   Meatballs are for more than pasta!  Soup, sandwiches, and hors d'ouvres are all excellent ideas for these.

These are great fresh, or make ahead.  I did both!  See notes below.

This is the original and inspiration:

http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/pasta-recipes/meatballs-pasta

I made a triple batch.  This is what I did:

INGREDIENTS:

Several sprigs of fresh rosemary (5 or 6 will do)

2 lbs of lean ground beef

1 lb of lean ground pork

2 eggs

2 heaped tablespoons of italian seasoning

2 tablespoons of dijon mustard

salt and pepper

30 saltine crackers, pulverized (smash them up yourself or place in a food proccessor)

Olive oil (if you like)



Get your hands in and mash!

CHARIZO! (Chard, Chorizo, Orzo)



At the end, colourful and just lovely!

Chard Chorizo Orzo.

Ever think of doing these three together? YOU SHOULD!  This was good and an homage to 'use what you have in the fridge' kind of cooking.  The names of the ingredients had a slight influence on being included in the dish, I must admit.   I was going to make risotto, and this is actually very much like risotto, except more straightforward and I dare say easier.  Actually Risotto was my backup plan in case I didn't have enough Orzo, but I had exactly the right amount of Orzo (I mean, to the gram - it was meant to be).

Orzo is not rice! It's pasta shaped like rice.  It's something I forget I have when I have it....and that's too bad, because it's really good.  Great for cold salads as well.

One pot meals people!  They make the world go 'round and dinner easy and delicious.

Very much inspired by the ingredients (and the looks) of this recipe:  http://jillianskitchen.com/2011/05/04/sausage-orzo/

CHARIZO! -or- Orzo with Chard and Chorizo

Here is what I did



The main star of the dish! Nice chard.

INGREDIENTS:

- 8oz Orzo (about 1 1/4 C)
- 1 bunch of white swiss chard, leaves separated from stems.  Stems chopped into 1cm pieces, leaves chopped.
- 1/4C fine diced onion (about 1 small)
- 2 cloves of garlic fine dice
- 2t olive oil
- 2t butter
- 2T fresh sliced sage
- 4 oz chorizo sausage, casing removed, thinly sliced
-1 C of white kidney beans (drained, rinsed)
- 1/4C fresh grated parmesan
- 2c chicken broth
- 1-1.5C of water (as needed)
- Fresh ground pepper

gimme five, on the side...

Alright, more like 3 on the side.

You know, there actually has been quite a bit of cooking going on, and several items I make that are
good haven't made it into the blog.  Right now I'm going to share a few recipes for side dishes that
were easy, tasty, and overall enjoyable.

RECIPE 1:
PASTA SIDE SALAD (made over!)
This is from Kraft Canada, this is great pasta salad.  If you've ever seen the Simpson's episode where
Homer is having a BBQ and Lisa is a new vegetarian and she suggested veggies to eat and Homer and
Bart sing "you don't make friends with sal-ad! you don't make friends with sal-ad!" well, you WILL
make friends with THIS salad.  I guarantee it.  I have :) LOL.  It's a salad you can use what you
want for pasta (small is best, like mini penne, shells, ditali) and veg, I've done corn, celery,
green pep, blanched broccoli, whatever.

Original Recipe here:http://www.kraftcanada.com/en/recipes/pasta-side-salad-makeover-92145.aspx

Goes great with pork chops and
grilled veg

What I did:
INGREDIENTS:
1 cup elbow macaroni, uncooked
1/3 cup Miracle Whip Calorie-Wise Dressing
2T cup Kraft Calorie-Wise Zesty Italian Dressing, 2T roasted red pepper Parmesan dressing
80 g of old cheddar, cut in tiny little squares
3/4 cup matchstick-cut carrots (julienne)
1/2 cup chopped fresh snow peas
1/2 cup of julienne celery
1/2 medium red pepper fine chopped
2T of cilantro finely chopped
Salt and pepper to taste.

Sarah Salutes Savoy!

This post contains one of the best casseroles I have ever made - bar none!

When I was growing up, I did not like cabbage.  No offence Mom, but boiled green cabbage holds little flair for most palettes.  The solution of sopping it in butter and salt and pepper sucked the nutrition right out of it.   Actually i was a bit too old before I realized there were actually different kinds of cabbage.  I made a recipe using purple cabbage braised with a touch of butter and mustard and it was a wonderful accompaniment.  I figured out something - I actually like cabbage, it can actually taste good. I didn't even discover Savoy cabbage until a recipe I read called for it about 2 years ago.

Savoy cabbage is my (now) favoured cabbage due to it's lighter leafier texture and it's not too strong cabbagey flavour.  I like using it in slaw as well as braised as well as incorporated into casseroles.  The thing is, cabbages are BIG so you need to get creative in using it since one cabbage can potentially make enough slaw to feed 30 people.

Ready to serve - curried slaw!



SATURDAY night we were feeling 'summery' and chicken was on sale.  I would never in the several years we've been together buy 'bone in' chicken because Adam told me he didn't like it years ago (with an icky face and all).  We had a discussion a couple of days ago, and I basically figured from this that he did like chicken with bones in it as long as it was cooked appropriately.  Perfect.  Legs and thighs were on sale and we had a BBQ!

What I learned:  Chicken burns easily, at least the fattier ones do.  The drumsticks however, were perfect, but this is not about the chicken, this is about the CABBAGE!  The curried savoy coleslaw I  made can be found below:



An experiment in pasta for one - sorta

Shrimpy pasta, good but never again

It's one of those evenings where A and I ended up making separate suppers, with family day A and his buddies went indoor golfing and by the time he got home (late) my gradiose ideas of a steak dinner seemed a bit less appetizing, mostly because I had only a modest appetite and A mentioned some serious nachos he ate recently.

A short while ago I made an awesome pasta and cheese with Swiss Chard - boy, was it good!  Me, trying to up my greens and meats (I'm low on iron, so my doctor says) am looking for new ways to enjoy bitter green things.