Mini Meatball Stir fry,Classic Alphabet Soup,Old World Spaghetti

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!
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
little less
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.
Whole Wheat Greek Pasta Salad
I have been eyeing the beautiful packs of multi-colored cherry
tomatoes at the grocery store ALL summer long. Each time I go,
I put the pack into my cart and walk away. My kids scream, we
grab a few other things, and inevitably I always end up back
in the produce section talking my little self out of my way
kewl pack of multi-colored tomatoes. Until today… when I put
them in my cart and told my colorful produce loving self that
today was the day I was taking these babies home! *yessss*
Little did those colorful cherry tomatoes know they were going
home with a Greek Pasta Salad loving food blogger, and in
their near future they would be slathered with an amazingly
delicious homemade vinaigrette and made to mingle with some
feta cheese. After that they would be gobbled up for lunch,
then again for an after school snack, and again for dinner.
Yes, I ate this 3 times today! I shamelessly pulled that bowl
out of the refrigerator and devoured those cherry tomatoes and
all of their friends like it was going out of style… FAST! So
fast I left 4 noodles for my son’s lunchbox tomorrow. *SMH* So
now, due to my shameless lack of self control, I will be
up earlier tomorrow to prepare something else for him. Might
be time to break into that freezer stash of hot lunches… on
the 2nd day of school.
The pasta I use in this recipe is whole wheat, because if
you’ve been following along you know we don’t mess with that
refined stuff. I used a pasta that I could not find a link to
on Amazon, Whole Wheat Gobbetti made by Bionaturae. I love
their products, and highly recommend any of their varieties if
you can’t find the Gobbetti. And seriously.. what the heck is
Gobbetti anyways!?!?!