recipe: meatless (mushroom) meatballs

taken from: allrecipes.com (Chef John)

changes: none - made exactly as written.

ingredients list:
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 lb fresh white or baby bella mushrooms, finely chopped or zipped through a food processor
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 cup quick-cooking oats
- 1 oz finely shredded parmesian-reggiano cheese
- 1/2 cup bread crumbs
- 1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf (italian) parsley
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp salt
- finely ground black pepper
- 1 pinch cayenne pepper
- 1 pinch dried oregano

recipe: Italian wedding soup

this is another recipe i've made a bunch of times but somehow never made its way onto this blog. it's not necessarily "traditional" wedding soup since i like mine with shredded chicken and the teeny tiny meatballs, and pastina... so it becomes a very thick, heavy soup. the more the merrier in the soup pot... and it is SO good! definitely a great winter recipe, or to make as a lead in to a big Italian meal. perfection.

i've always used Giada De Laurentiis' recipe from foodnetwork.com as my base recipe, adding in all the little extras i like and a few substitutions here and there. it makes a pretty large pot of soup which is great because it's freezes well (just make sure you freeze it WITHOUT the pastina and egg in it - these are always to better to add in at the time you're heating the soup to eat).

ingredients list: (makes about 6-8 large servings)
- 1 recipe for Italian meatballs, scaled down to 1/2 inch diameter meatballs (*about 30-40 mini meatballs. i used this recipe while making a larger batch of meatballs)
- 12 cups low-sodium chicken broth (i used homemade broth from a rotisserie chicken)
- 1 large chicken breast
- 2 tbsp freshly grated parmesan, plus extra for garnish
- 1 lb spinach, coarsely chopped
- 1 cup carrots, sliced into small matchsticks 
- 1 small onion, diced
- 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
- salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 1-1&1/2 cups pastina pasta
- 2 large eggs

recipes: marinara sauce & italian meatballs I

while the hubs was out of down recently i decided to be a good wifey and made a huge batch of meatballs, sauce, and soup. some good home cooking for our new fridge. although i've made both a few times, i was surprised i didn't have any stock recipes for marinara or meatballs on my blog. and didn't have a go-to recipe saved either. so i quested out for the best of the net for new recipes to try. i went with Best Marinara Sauce Yet and Chef John's Italian Meatballs, both from allrecipes.com which is pretty trusty for good/solid classic recipes based on the reviews. i adapted both recipes slightly, but both came out really good - especially with some delish bakery bread and crispy cab sav on the side. mmmmm!

ingredients list: marinara sauce: (makes enough for 3-4 dinners for 2 people)
- 2 (14.5 oz) cans diced tomatoes
- 2 (6 oz) can tomato paste
- 4-5 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 bay leaf
- 3-4 tbsp olive oil
- 1/3 cup finely diced onion
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 cup red wine (i used a cab)

recipe: ithailain meatballs (thaitalian?)

love thai. love meatballs. lovin up on some thai meatballs seems only natural. i couldn't find a great looking recipe from my normal go-to sights, but a google roulette drew up 2 lovely-sounding recipes: one from Can You Stay for Dinner and Sarah Laurence. i fused a little bit of them both - end result was so yumz. they had a touch of kick but it didn't drown out the ginger zing - fun lil din. (you just can't think of meatball meatballs (italian) while you eat them b/c it will severely trip you up. thinking of thai wonderfulness, they are little balls of heaven : )

ingredients list:
- 1 lb lean ground turkey (99%. if you use anything less add more breadcrumbs)
- 3/4 cup plain breadcrumbs
- 1 green onion, finely chopped (plus more for garnish)
- 2 tbsp fresh chopped basil
- 2 tbsp red curry paste
- 2 tsp fresh grated ginger
- 2 tsp garlic, minced
- 2 tsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp fish sauce
- 1 tsp asian 5 spice
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1 egg
- salt & pepper to taste
- oil for pan frying (i used vegetable oil with a touch of ginger oil)

to make: add all ingredients EXCEPT oil in a large bowl and mix together until incorporated. roll mixture into 1-inch balls.

in a large pan, heat about 2 tbsp vegetable oil and fry meatballs until fully cooked through, about 7-8 minutes, flipping at least once during cooking process (note: adding a splash of ginger oil to the frying oil gives the balls a BIG hit of ginger - perfect fit if you have it on hand. sesame oil would also be a nice add)

i served this with a thai peanut sauce, though sweet chili sauce or other sweet-spicy sauces would also work well.

recipe: bleu cheese stuffed buffalo chicken meatballs

i had to make an app for a party, and actually got the idea for these walking past the prepared apps in BJs. i used the Cheesy Chicken Meatballs recipe from allrecipes.com as the base, stuffing them with a small ball of blue cheese and covering them in wing sauce.

ingredients list:

- 1 lb ground chicken

- 1 egg

- 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

- 1/4 cup bread crumbs

- 1 tsp red pepper flakes

- 1 tbsp parsley

- 3 cloves garlic, minced

- 1/4 cup onion, finely diced

- 1 tsp salt

- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 tsp white pepper
- 4 oz bleu cheese
- 1/2 cup buffalo sauce / hot sauce

to make: preheat oven to 400 degrees. line baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. combine all ingredients EXCEPT bleu cheese and buffalo sauce. mixture will be a bit wet... if it's too wet to work with (that's what she said...), add a little more breadcrumbs. form into about 25-27 balls and place on the prepared pan (i ran out of space and ended up using 2 pans).

roll 27-27 balls of blue cheese out into about 1cm-wide balls. using your thumb, poke a small hole into each meatball, place bleu cheese ball inside, and reroll until the bleu cheese is completely hidden in the meatball.

bake in oven for about 20 minutes, turning once (they will be done when center is at least 165 degrees). add to oven-safe serving dish, and mix with buffalo sauce. return to oven until sauce is fully heated (about 2-3 minutes), and serve!
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as far as ratings... i actually never even tried em! i ate a healthy sandwich before leaving so i didn't pig out, but then wasn't hungry at all and only had room for booze. people who liked bleu cheese loved these, people who are into into bleu... well HATED them haha. the glory of these lil effers is that the cheese is a little surprise - so hence the love or hate based on the bleu pop.  i like the idea of them since they're easy & a lil meatball with a twist... next time i'll actually try one so i can review it. and i will definitely be stashing some provalone into my next regular batch of meatballs... mmmmm.