Meatballs

Sometimes I choose to make a meal based on just one ingredient. I know that can be a funny way to make a decision but sometimes it’s the best way to use some of the items in my pantry. IKEA sells a yummy cream sauce packet that is perfect for Swedish meatballs. Instead of buying premade meatballs I like to make my own. For half the price and half the fat I can make delicious meatballs in no time.

I found this recipe for meatballs that are very child friendly. These meatballs are relatively light so you don’t have that heavy feeling after your meal. They paired wonderfully with the cream sauce but they would be great on their own. I haven’t tried them in marinara sauce yet since we are trying not to use tomatoes in meals right now. Jazz these up any way you wish. Add a few finely chopped veggies or raid the spice cabinet. The beauty of these meatballs is the versatility. I’m planning on picking up a few pounds of turkey and making a few batches of the meatballs. They will be great thrown in the freezer and used when I need a quick toddler meal.

Enjoy!

The packet is that amazing IKEA cream sauce.

1 tablespoons olive oil

20 oz. ground turkey

1 egg

1/3 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13 inch baking dish with the olive oil, and place it in the oven while preheating.

In a medium bowl, mix together the ground turkey, egg, and bread crumbs using your hands. Using an ice cream scoop if possible, form the meat into golf ball sized meatballs. Place about one inch apart in the hot baking dish.

Bake for 15 minutes, then turn them over, and continue baking for about 5 more minutes, or until somewhat crispy on the outside.

Adapted from allrecipes.com/recipe/fast-and-friendly-meatballs/

Salmon with Hoisin Glaze

Not many new dishes have been coming out of my kitchen lately. The snow has fallen and my fingers started itching to get on yarn. I’ve been spending my free time, what little of it there is, creating little odds and ends. It has felt amazing to watch a fiber project come together. Because my fingers have been busy with yarn and hooks I have been looking to my old standby recipes for meals.

Each time I make my meal plan I ask husband if there is anything he would like in the plan. Husband has been bringing up fish a lot more lately. Since fish can either be high fat or low fat depending upon how it’s prepared I started exploring the Cooking Light web site. I’ve been very happy with Cooking Light for years so I knew I would be able to find something yummy there.

Good fish can be a bit more expensive that lean chicken. Luckily, fish only needs a few items to make it delicious. While scouring the recipes I looked for ones that only needed additional items that I could find in my pantry. I know not everyone has hoisin sauce in their fridge or pantry. I usually have some for Lo Mein. Hoisin is found in the Asian foods section of grocery stores.  Dynasty is my favorite brand.

I toasted the sesame seeds before topping the salmon with them. At the bottom of the recipe on the Cooking Light web site is a recipe for Garlicky-spicy snow peas. I highly recommend pairing the fish with the snow peas. They cook up in less than five minutes and are so good. Rice would be a great additional side. I made baked barley instead since I’m such a barley lover.

Enjoy!

2 tablespoons hoisin sauce

2 teaspoons soy sauce

½ teaspoon dark sesame oil

4 - 6 oz skinless wild salmon fillets

Cooking spray

1 teaspoon sesame seeds, toasted

Lemon rind strips

Preheat oven to 400°.

Combine hoisin sauce, soy sauce and sesame oil in a shallow dish. Add fish to dish, turning to coat. Marinate at room temperature eight minutes, turning occasionally.

Remove fish from marinade. Place fish on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle fish evenly with sesame seeds. Bake at 400° for eight minutes or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork. Garnish with rind, if desired.

Adapted from Cooking Light August 2009 or www.myrecipes.com/recipe/salmon-with-hoisin-glaze-10000001911346/

Chicken Bacon Alfredo Pizza

I have been presented with an interesting kitchen challenge. Until little one has been potty trained I will be doing what I can to avoid high acid foods in our meals. Without going into too much detail, foods like tomatoes and citrus hurt his bottom. Avoiding these foods has been a very big challenge for me. Many of my favorite meals include some type of tomato. One of husband’s favorite snacks is clementines and they are finally in season but I feel guilty buying them. I hate eating things in front of little one that he can’t eat.

As difficult as it has been to avoid these foods (and some of my favorite recipes) I have looked at it as a way to branch out and try new recipes or recipes I haven’t tried for a while. This recipe fits into this challenge of mine perfectly. I love love love pizza. Pizza sauce isn’t a good fit in our house right now. I’ve used pesto as our sauce but I needed more variety. I remembered that I had this recipe sitting in the binder and that husband and I enjoyed it years ago. While I am not the biggest fan of Alfredo sauce I remember this pizza being very tasty.

In the interest of time (and serving sizes) I have been keeping personal sized premade pizza crusts in the freezer. My pizza crust recipe makes eight personal sized pizzas. When I make a full sized pizza I make four personal sized pizza crusts as well and pop them in the freezer. Eventually I have enough to make mini pizzas and I haven’t spent additional time making crust again. At dinner time each person gets one pizza and I can adjust toppings if needed.

I didn’t need to make adjustments to this recipe other than brands. I used bacon bits because I had them left over from salads. I would have used turkey bacon if I had it on hand. The chicken was left over from chicken souvlaki so it had an extra punch of flavor.

Enjoy!

1 12 inch ready-to-use baked pizza crust

½ cup Alfredo sauce

8 slices bacon, cooked and cut into one inch pieces

6 oz. roasted chicken breast

1 cup mozzarella, shredded

¼ cup Parmesan

½ tsp. Italian seasoning

Heat oven to 400ºF. Place pizza crust on baking sheet and spread with sauce to within one inch of edge. Top with remaining ingredients. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes until cheese is melted and pizza is heated through.

Adapted from http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/bacon-chicken-alfredo-pizza-54493.aspx

Pumpkin Bread

Nothing like a little pumpkin treat to make the house smell amazing on the last day of November. According to the calendar winter doesn’t begin until mid-December but in my heart it feels as if winter starts on December first. Since fall always makes me think of pumpkins I decided to make a loaf of pumpkin bread. I’m not in the mood for anything sweet so I didn’t want to make any cookies. A loaf of hearty pumpkin bread with tangy cream cheese spread on it sounds like heaven.

I found this recipe in a cookbook given to me by one of husband’s former coworkers. The cookbook is circa 1973. The pictures are dated and there is still a price sticker on it that says $2.95. Dated or not, a good bread recipe never goes out of style. I’ve made several bread recipes from this cookbook and I have yet to be disappointed.

For a yeast bread this bread cooks up rather quickly. I mixed the dough together with little one before lunch. He loves watching the stand mixer in action. While the dough was rising we had lunch and little one went down for a nap. I was able to let it rise a second time and bake before little even woke up from his nap.

I still have canned pumpkin that needs to be used and I know that I won’t be able to use it all before tomorrow morning. The nice thing about pumpkin is that it freezes beautifully. I’m looking forward to using this remaining pumpkin for soup, pancakes or perhaps another loaf of this yummy bread.

Enjoy!

The ginger is missing - I used it all in a failed pin.

3 ¼ - 3 ½ cups flour

2 packages yeast

½ tsp. ginger

¼ tsp. nutmeg

¼ tsp. cloves

¾ cup milk

¼ cup packed brown sugar

2 tablespoons butter or coconut oil

1 ½ tsp. salt

½ cup canned pumpkin

In a large mixing bowl combine 1 ½ cups flour, yeast and spices.

In a saucepan heat milk, brown sugar, butter and salt until just warm (115 degrees) stirring constantly to melt the butter. Add to the dry mixture in the mixing bowl. Add pumpkin and beat on a low speed for 30 seconds, scraping the sides. Beat for three minutes on high. Stir in enough of the remaining flour to make the dough moderately stiff.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about five minutes. Shape dough into a ball. Place dough in a lightly greased bowl, turning once. Cover and let rise in a warm place until double, about one hour. Punch down then cover and let rest for ten minutes. Shape into a loaf and place into a greased bread pan. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes. Bake at 375 for 35 – 40 mints. Remove from pan and cool.

Adapted from Better Homes and Gardens Homemade Bread Cook Book

Barbeque Chicken Crescents

I’m making an effort to start a new tradition in our house: Fun Food Friday! Family meals are very important to me and I want to do what I can to make them as fun as possible. During meal planning I have been plugging “fun” meals into Fridays. While I do what I can to making all meals child friendly so that little one can always eat what we eat, I am making Friday dinners SUPER kid friendly. My goal is to make little one feel that I am making a meal just for him.

The nice thing about kid friendly meals is they are usually quick and easy. The ingredients are usually easy and few. They aren’t always the healthiest meals but I strive to make all of our other meals healthy so I figure a not so healthy meal once a week will be fine. Also, I’m convinced that whatever I make at home is way better than a fast food meal.

I saw this recipe on a commercial at the gym. Yes, the gym. A little counterproductive but eh.  I didn’t go find this recipe the first time I saw the commercial. It took multiple times before I finally looked up the recipe. The ingredients are easy especially if you use a rotisserie chicken. I balance out the fat content of the crescent rolls by pairing these with a fruit, a veggie and a salad. Adjust the flavors to meet your needs by changing up the flavors of your barbecue sauce and the type of cheese you use. Quick, easy, child friendly and yummy!

Enjoy!

Yes, Devil's Spit. Little one can handle a little spice.

1 can refrigerated crescent dinner rolls

1 cup shredded cooked chicken

¼ cup barbecue sauce

1/3 cup shredded Cheddar

1 egg, beaten

Preheat oven to 375°F

Separate dough into 8 triangles.

In bowl, mix chicken and barbecue sauce. Spoon chicken mixture onto short end of each triangle. Sprinkle each triangle with one teaspoon cheese. Roll up loosely as directed on can. Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Brush with egg and sprinkle with remaining cheese.

Bake for 12 to 15 minutes.

Adapted from http://www.pillsbury.com/recipes/bbq-chicken-crescents/0429b068-1d32-45f8-a375-be567e889244#