Mini Meatball Stir fry,Pork Carnita Bowl,Classic Alphabet Soup,Old

Mini Meatball Stir fry
Meatball Stir Fry… is this even legal? Why yes, yes it is and
I believe they (whoever they are) like to call this Fusion
Food. You know, taking two things and putting them together to
create something so much better than the two things by
themselves. Yeah, Fusion Food people. Let’s all get on the
Fusion Food Train!
Truth be told, there is a restaurant by my house that I pass
often called Fusion Fire. They have a bunch of creepy statues
outside but I’ve heard the food is good. Another truth be
told, when you have kids you don’t get to go out to eat unless
you want to deal with someone peeing their pants at the table
or knocking a drink over on the waitress. I kid, I kid, those
things never happened but they could have if we were brave
enough to take our kids out to eat in the first place. Maybe
in about, I don’t know, 10 years or so we will get to Fusion
Fire, but for now I’m doin’ it homemaker style and it is kind
of awesome.
Can I just point out the fact that meatballs are ugly. Like
step-sister with a wart on her chin ugly. But come now, let’s
not get all judge-y and such. Let’s forget about those warts
and remember the truth. Meatballs are delish. And step-sisters
with warts are people too!
Now you may have taken notice… I’m using white rice. Yes, I’m
a person too (just like that steppy sis) and sometimes I bend
the rules. Brown rice is not bleached but it just isn’t the
same. If I’m eating a bunch of veggies with a few mini
homemade meatballs then I’m going to have my big mound of
white rice and drops of soy sauce on top. You know, Fusion
Food just isn’t the same without the white rice, right?
Precisely.
If you are feeling like you can resist the sticky white rice
and soy sauce drizzled on top, please do! Brown rice would
also go lovely with this. And just because I used white rice
once doesn’t mean I’m selling out and going all Dump Cake on
everyone. Don’t worry, the unbleached grains will be back
tomorrow!
No Dump Cakes, and no nasty breadcrumbs either. Believe it or
not those canned breadcrumbs (Progresso, Kraft, etc.) all
contain a slew of ridiculous ingredients that have nothing at
all to do with bread. Not even remotely! Progresso’s
“breadcrumbs” contain 59 ingredient. Why??????????? Is all I
have to say to that! Just so you can’t say I didn’t warn you….
buy the organic whole wheat version or make your own using 2
slices of whole wheat bread toasted and processed in a food
processor.
This is a two step recipe. Make the balls (oh the kitchen
jokes that come about when people are making meatballs,
especially in a room full of guys!), and then make the veggies
and sauce. Of course you can throw your rice on at any time
during this process as well. If you don’t want your balls to
be spicy, just omit the fennel and red pepper flakes.
Veggie Stir Fry
Ingredients:
1 tsp sesame oil or olive oil
1 bell pepper
1 cup sugar snap peas
1/2 cup corn kernels (I removed them from one of my nonGMO sweet corn cobs that I got at the market.)
2 Tbsp reduced sodium tamari soy sauce
2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp sweetener (I used molasses. You could also use
honey.)
1/2 tsp garlic powder
Directions: Heat large sauté pan with sesame or olive oil. Put
veggies in pan, and cook over medium heat until veggies are
beginning to get tender. Add tamari soy sauce, balsamic
vinegar, sweetener of choice, and garlic powder. Mix
everything well and allow to cook to desired tenderness (I
like crunchy veggies). Cook rice according to package
directions. When meatballs are finished toss in pan with the
stir fry and love on some Fusion Food!
Pork Carnita Bowl
Let’s just get real here…. these Pork Carnita Bowls are
ridiculous. Ridiculously good that is! So ridiculously good
that my husband took one bite and said “This is way better
than Chipotle.” EXACTLY what I was thinking all day when I was
eating it. Yes, I was chowing down on the meat all day because
I decided it would be a good idea to make it ahead of time.
That turned out to be a horrible idea!
Why is it a horrible idea you ask? Because you will want to
eat half of it before the rest of your family even knows it is
in existence. You might even think up some evil plot to hide
it from everyone and pretend it never happened just so you can
have it all to yourself. I’m not saying any evil plots went on
inside my kitchen today, but I definitely ate a good third of
the meat before anyone else even had the chance to taste it.
When my toddler caught wind of what was going on he was trying
to smuggle handfuls of meat into the living room without being
noticed. Not gonna happen on my watch, bebe, because I know
all about them smuggling tricks. I’m the master smuggler with
my expensive organic chocolate bars that I’m so NOT sharing
with any kiddos. I know all about hiding in a corner or closet
and quickly enjoying every delicious bite before someone
notices. At which point I pretend like I have no idea what
chocolate they are speaking of. Chocolate? Where?
Just incase anyone was wondering what exactly a carnita bowl
is, here is my super awesome step-by-step picture thingy for
your viewing pleasure. It is basically just like a bowl that
you would get a chipotle, minus the random ingredients they
use. Speaking of random ingredients I now present you with my
Chipotle public service announcement. If you don’t care please
pretend like I’m saying this really quickly just like the
person at the end of the pill commercial who tells you
your probably going to just drop dead as soon as you take it.
Here goes:
Chipotle is not healthy fast food.
Their wraps contain
partially hydrogenated oils (aka trans fats) and a bunch of
other crap. They use genetically engineered soybean oil in all
of their products. Just because they have cool bags and make
claims like “grass fed” and “better” doesn’t mean they aren’t
sneaking crap into your food. The End. Now please, look at my
cool picture thingy! And while your at it Pin the picture
thingy so other people can see how awesome it is.
Wow, that was awesome sauce, wasn’t it?
Now, let’s talk more
about making the meat because I have a serious
confession.
You may have noticed, I don’t really do slow
cooker meals. I know, I know, the new moms need slow cooker
meals! But I’m over that phase right now (phew!) and slow
cookers are just too boring for me. I need to be able to see
the food and play with it while it is cooking because I’m just
ADHD like that. I can’t bear the thought of putting my
beautiful pork roast in a lonely, not to mention ugly (my mom
got it for a wedding gift like 100 years ago and it is that
baby poop green color. Anyone from that time want to explain
that color to me?) slow cooker and leaving it all by it’s
lonesome for a few hours. I mean, come on people, pork roasts
need some lovin’ too and my ugly slow cooker isn’t doing the
job. I just can’t. This is my officially official apology to
all the slow cooker lovers. I’m sorry!
*This recipe would work wonderfully in a slow cooker though,
so if your not as ADHD about food as me, give it a try!
So what did I do if I didn’t use a slow cooker? I simply used
my stovetop on low heat for about 90 minutes. Yes, 90 minutes
to all of this awesomeness. That potentially means you could
throw this on the stove when you get home from work along with
the rice, go do a bunch of crap that you didn’t really want to
do, and come back to some wonderful carnitas. If you are more
of a nacho, taco, or burrito person this meat would be amazing
served in any of those ways as well.
Carnita Bowl Seasoned Rice
Ingredients:
2 cups rice
1/4 tsp kosher salt
generous sprinkle adobo seasoning
1 sweet bell pepper (red, orange, or yellow preferred)
1/4 cup fresh cilantro
Directions: Put rice, seasoning, pepper, and water needed to
cook rice into a pot and cook according to package directions.
When rice is cooked, fluff with a fork and add chopped
cilantro.
Classic Alphabet Soup
Is Alphabet Soup awesome or is Alphabet Soup awesome?
I think it’s pretty awesome if I do say so myself! You know
what is even better? 100% from scratch Alphabet Soup. Yes,
this amazingly comforting and delicious soup is 100% real! No
fake stuff, no gimmicks, no MSG, no Campbell’s crap. Just the
good stuff. You know, like my favorite Kenny Chesney song all
wrapped up in veggie goodness and served in a cutesy bowl from
Pier 1.
You know your life is pretty simple when your bowl from Pier 1
makes you smile!
But hey, it’s the little things in life
people, like Alphabet soup and Kenny Chesney songs.
Speaking of the little things in life, I’m about to get all
sentimental up in here so bear with me folks… this is THAT
soup! The soup that your kids will remember momma making
forever. The soup that I will teach my kids to make so that
one day they will be able to make it for their own kids.
*tears!* The soup that is nostalgic, comforting, nutritious,
and just all around lovely. The soup that is simple in the
simplest form, and food in the most loving and comforting
form. It is THAT soup that will leave memories of dirty hands
and little feet running around in my mind. I will remember the
days of my kids loving my Alphabet soup forever! One day my 80
year old self will make this for my husband and we will talk
about the good old days when our kids were little and we
couldn’t even pee alone. I mean really… *tears* Ok, ok I’m
stopping with the sappy stuff now!
Ok now that we’ve got the tears and warm fuzzies out of the
ways let’s talk soup. I made this soup in 25 minutes the other
night with a baby sitting at my feet and a toddler crying
nearby. It was that time of night. You know, that time when
everyone is spent, hungry, and hasn’t napped all day. It can
be done that quickly, so why not? Here are the steps to making
this soup:
1. Dice onion and carrots and throw them in large stock
pot. Add beef, brown, and drain.
2. Add tomatoes, stock, green beans, peas, and seasonings.
3. THAT’S IT! Sigh of relief because dinner is made and
everyone is looking for the letters of their name in
their bowl!
I should also mention that I use no salt added, glass jarred
tomatoes. I also use a homemade stock. If you are using
tomatoes or stock with salt added you might have to adjust my
recommended amount of salt accordingly.
*If you are
I use. I’m
can’t find
measurement
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more then 1
looking for Alphabet Shaped pasta here is the one
also including the tomato product I use, if you
this product look for something of a similar
and get as close as you can. A little more or a
won’t ruin the recipe! Both of these links include
of the item, hence the price.
Old World Spaghetti and Meat
Sauce
This Old World Spaghetti and Meat Sauce recipe is truly a
classic! It combines the best of both worlds, an oil based
pasta sauce and a tomato based pasta sauce. This is also a
really quick and easy way to make a homemade sauce, without
spending hours letting it simmer and cooking down a bunch of
vegetables. This is a great “beginner” homemade sauce, so if
you haven’t made your own sauce in the past, don’t worry…
you’ve got this!
The really unique thing about this sauce is it is actually
made in a food processor instead of on the stove. Of course
the meat portion of this sauce is cooked on the stove but the
sauce itself is just a whole lot of flavor blended together
and combined with the cooked beef and onions. After you
combine the meat and sauce, just toss in pasta and top with
fresh asiago cheese (or parmesan) and that is it! It doesn’t
stop there people… this pasta is also amazing cold! I was
actually inspired to create this after I created a cold pasta
salad using the same flavor combination a few weeks ago. Not
only is this a great dinner, you can throw it in your lunch
the next day and you have an amazing pasta that would be great
over a bed of spinach or by itself.