Paula Deen's Spaghetti and Meatballs

Casey loves spaghetti and meatballs, but I've never been a big fan of meatballs. I decided to try this recipe from the Jan/Feb edition of Cooking with Paula Deen magazine a few weeks ago, and it was delicious! This is a new favorite of ours. The recipe below makes 2 servings plus leftovers. We used 1 pound of ground chuck and left out the ground pork.

Spaghetti and Meatballs
1/2 pound ground chuck
1/2 pound ground pork
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup panko (Japanese bread crumbs)
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
Spaghetti sauce
1 (8-ounce) package spaghetti, cooked

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil. Place a rack inside baking sheet. Spray rack with nonstick cooking spray.
In a large bowl, combine ground chuck, ground pork, onion, bread crumbs, cheese, parsley, oil, garlic, salt, and egg; stir gently to combine. Form mixture into 3-inch meatballs. Place meatballs on prepared rack in baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes.
Add meatballs to spaghetti sauce; simmer for 20 minutes. Serve over hot cooked pasta.

Spaghetti Sauce
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup dry red wine
1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes
1 (15-ounce) can tomato sauce
2 teaspoons Italian seasoning

In a large saucepan, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic; cook for 4 to 5 minutes, or until tender. Add wine, and cook until wine is reduced by half. Stir in crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, and Italian seasoning; bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 20 minutes.

Menu Plan Monday...2010

I went back to work today, and tomorrow my precious kindergarten students will be back. I am refreshed and looking forward to seeing them!
I am excited about using my slow cooker a lot this week. It will be nice to not have to come home and do all the work to cook a big meal while I'm settling back into my routine. See lots more menus at orgjunkie.

Breakfasts - Chocolate Chip mini muffins, Amish Baked Oatmeal, Simple Baked Apples
Lunches - Sandwiches on homemade honey wheat oatmeal bread, left-overs

Dinners:
Sunday - Chicken pot pie (This is my new favorite chicken pot pie recipe. Delicious!)
Monday - Pizza
Tuesday - Slow cooker green pepper chicken
Wednesday - Baked potato soup (I'm making this again this week b/c it's SO good, and my vegetarian friend is coming over. I think she will love it too!)
Thursday - Salsa chicken and black bean soup
Friday - Date Night
Saturday - Shredded beef tacos (Chipotle has yummy shredded beef as an option for burritos, so we to try this at home. We'll see how it turns out.)

Homemade White Bread

Homemade White Bread (from The Best of Cooking Light)
-1 package dry yeast (about 2 1/4 tsp)
-1 Tbsp. sugar
-1 2/3 cups warm fat free milk (100 to 110 degrees)
-2 Tbsp. butter or stick margarine, melted
-4 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, divided
-1 1/2 tsp. salt
-Cooking spray

1. Dissolve yeast and sugar in warm milk in a large bowl; let stand 5 minutes. Stir in butter. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Add 4 1/4 cups flour and salt to yeast mixture; stir until blended. Turn dough out onto a floured surface. Knead until smooth and elastic (about 10 minutes); add enough of remaining flour, 1 tablespoon at a time to prevent dough from sticking to hands (dough will feel sticky).
2. Place dough in a large bowl coated with cooking spray, turning to coat top. Cover and let rise in a warm place (85 degrees), free from drafts, 1 hour or until doubled in size. (Press two fingers into dough. If indentation remains, dough has risen enough.) Punch dough down, and let rest for 5 minutes. Roll into a 14 x 7-inch rectangle on a floured surface. Roll up rectangle tightly, starting with a short edge, pressing firmly to eliminate air pockets; pinch seam and ends to seal. Place roll, seam side down, in a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Cover and let rise 1 hour or until doubled in size.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
4. Uncover dough. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until loaf is browned on the bottom and sounds hollow when tapped. Remove loaf from pan, and cool on a wire rack. Yield :1 loaf, 16 servings (serving size: 1 slice)

Nutritional Info for 1 slice of bread
162 calories
1.9 g fat (0.4 g sat.)
4.9 g protein
30.5 g carbs
1.1 g fiber
1 mg chol.
1.8 mg iron
219 mg sodium
38 mg calc.

This bread was quite good. I was surprised by how easy it was. I was expecting it to be a really daunting task. It does take some time to make but most of it is just waiting on the dough to rise. It's definitely worth the effort to make yourself. My hubby said this was much better than any store-bought bread.

Pumpkin bread and chocolate chip pumpkin muffins

I love pumpkin bread but have never made it before, until now. I was eager to use my new KitchenAid artisan mixer the day we got it, so I found these recipes that I could make with ingredients I already had in the pantry.

Pumpkin Bread

• 3 cups canned pumpkin puree
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
• 4 cups white sugar
• 6 eggs
• 4 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour three 9x5 inch loaf pans.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the pumpkin, oil, sugar, and eggs. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves; stir into the pumpkin mixture until well blended. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour. The top of the loaf should spring back when lightly pressed.

**I cut this recipe and used 1/3 of all ingredients. It made 1 mini loaf and 6 muffins.

I was so ready to taste it that I forgot to take a pic before cutting...and eating a slice.

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins (This recipe is for bread, but I made muffins instead of a loaf.)

• 3 cups white sugar
• 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 2/3 cup water
• 4 eggs
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon ground nutmeg
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour three 1 pound size coffee cans, or three 9x5 inch loaf pans.
2. In a large bowl, combine sugar, pumpkin, oil, water, and eggs. Beat until smooth. Blend in flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt. Fold in chocolate chips and nuts. Fill cans 1/2 to 3/4 full.
3. Bake for 1 hour, or until an inserted knife comes out clean. Cool on wire racks before removing from cans or pans.

**I cut this recipe and used 1/2 the specified measurement of all ingredients. I did not use nuts.
With the recipe halved, I made 36 mini muffins and 6 regular muffins.

Both recipes were really yummy. I will definitely make them again soon.

Homemade Pizza

This was our our first attempt at making homemade pizza dough. We opted for an easy version because we weren't sure what we were doing and because we were really hungry. :)
I found this recipe. We followed it exactly. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't great either. Casey thought it was similar to frozen pizza. A plus was that we already had all the ingredients in the house. Next time, I will definitely add more seasoning. I will also follow some of the suggestions and proof the dough first. It was fun making pizza together. We will be doing this again soon with our nephew. I'll post how it turns out with our modifications.

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 1 cup warm water

1. Combine flour, salt, sugar, and yeast in a large bowl. Mix in oil and warm water. Spread out on a large pizza pan. Top as desired.
2. Bake at 375 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes.

We used about half a jar of marinara sauce. I don't like my pizza too saucy.


We topped it with mozzarella cheese. On my half, we added black olives and jalapenos. We both agreed that it tasted better with the toppings.

The finished product

Baked potato soup - in the crock-pot

I love Stephanie O'Dea's blog that is all about crock-pot cooking. I was a little late finding it but I'm so glad I did. Stephanie cooked in her crock-pot EVERY DAY in 2008. I am seriously inspired and want to start using my slow cooker at least twice a week. In fact, we just bought the new stay or go slow cooker with Christmas money, and we love it! We used it to make this soup, which was absolutely delicious. I pretty much followed Stephanie's recipe, with these minor changes...We did not have an onion, so I used onion powder. I also added a splash of heavy cream at the end...because the cream cheese just wasn't fatty and caloric enough for me! Haha! We also halved the recipe since it was just for the 2 of us. This is our version of the recipe below.
I took lots of pics as my hubby and I were making the soup together.

Baked Potato Soup
-4 cups peeled & diced potatoes
-2 cloves garlic, minced
-a little onion powder (I didn't measure.)
-1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt
-1/4 teaspoon black pepper
-1/4 teaspoon red (cayenne) pepper
-4 cups chicken broth
-1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, to add at the end
-Splash or a few splashes :) of heavy cream
-Assorted toppings: shredded cheddar cheese, sour cream, bacon, chives, jalapenos...anything you like on your baked potato!

Use a 6 quart or larger slow cooker. Peel and dice the potatoes, and put them into the stoneware. Add onion and garlic. Sprinkle in the seasonings, and pour in the broth. Cover and cook on low for 7 or 8 hours, or on high for 3 or 4. **We cooked on high, and the potatoes were very tender in 3 hours.
The potatoes should be fork-tender.

This pic is from the very beginning before the potatoes were cooked.

Use a hand-held immersible blender or a potato masher to mash the potatoes in the soup. We used our new immersion blender and left some potato chunks in the soup.

After smashing the potatoes, add the package of cream cheese, and put the lid back on. Cook on high for about 30 minutes, or until the cream cheese is completely dissolved. Stir a few times during the 30 minutes.

Add whatever toppings you like. We had cheddar cheese and sour cream. I really wanted bacon, but we didn't have any and I wanted to use only what we had on hand...no trips to the store. I will be sure to have bacon next time we make this soup, which I think will be very soon. It was so very yummy...it was a hot, creamy, comforting bowl of goodness!

Yes, I know I could've served the soup right out of the crock-pot, especially since it was just the 2 of us, but I really wanted to use my lovely new soup tureen, as well as the tapas bowls which I used for our toppings. It was worth washing a few extra dishes because it made me smile. :)

Menu Plan Monday - Feelin Soupy

Where did 2009 go?? Seriously it has flown by! We will be visiting family this week and finishing up late Christmas celebrations as well as my mom's birthday. Happy 57th birthday to my magnificent mom!

I really enjoy seeing pics of recipes, so I made sure to add pics to all my links this week. Apparently, I'm feeling very soupy this week. I love curling up with a bowl of soup when it's cold outside. Be sure to check out lots of great menus this week at orgjunkie.

Breakfasts - Pumpkin bread, chocolate chip pumpkin muffins

Lunches - Sandwiches on homemade white bread and leftover soup

Sunday - Loaded baked potato soup

Monday - Dinner with family

Tuesday - Christmas dinner/ Mom's birthday dinner with family

Wednesday - Homemade pizza

Thursday - Dinner with family...maybe southwest 3 bean chicken chili and cornbread muffins. A friend made both of these for us to enjoy a few weeks ago, and they were so good.

Friday - Black-eyed pea soup
Black eyed peas are a New Year's day tradition. I really love them, and I think I will love this soup too. I'm noticing I say "love" a lot when referring to food, but I really do love good food.

Saturday - Stuffed peppers