Currently Browsing: holiday foods
Apr 12, 2011
Posted by Jennifer on Apr 12, 2011 in Dinner Idea, holiday foods, kid friendly, pasta, sauces | 6 comments
I make pasta every week. I think I make it a lot because for one, it makes a bunch for a family of five and it is inexpensive to make. Because there are so many different shapes of pasta and I can vary the sauces I make, it doesn’t have to be repetitive. And of course I love pasta. I think when I was single and living on my own, I had pasta like 4 nights a week! 
Tonight I decided to make meatballs. I used half Italian sausage and 1/2 ground sirloin to make the meatballs. For this recipe, I made 30 meatballs. I made them smaller, about .5 ounce each.
I used:
2 links of Italian sausage, casing removed (6.5 ounces if you are using bulk sausage).
5.5 ounces ground sirloin (95% lean).
1/2 cup bread crumbs
4 cloves garlic minced
1/4 cup white onion, minced
1 tsp. dried oregano
pinch or 2 crushed red pepper flakes
1 tsp. dried basil
1 tsp. dried parsley
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1/2 tsp. salt
1 egg
Mix altogether in a bowl. Pinch off a little bit at a time and shape into a meatball. I then put a little olive oil into my cast iron skillet and browned the meatballs on all sides.
For tonights sauce, I used 1 28 oz. can diced tomatoes, 1 28 oz. can tomato sauce, chopped garlic, salt and pepper, oregano, basil a pinch of sugar and crushed red pepper flakes. Simmer on low while pasta is cooking.
Each meatball is 40 calories, 2.3 fat, 1.4 carbs, 3.2 grams of protein, 0 fiber.
There was a little of the sauce with a few meatballs leftover, I’m thinking there might be a meatball sammy in my future!
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Don’t forget Biggest Loser tonight!
Also check out this site for a rainbow of smoothies! His name is Nick from Macheesmo and I just found his site. He’s got some really great recipes, so check it out!
Have a super day – it’s salad club at work today so I am looking forward to that!
Mar 21, 2011
Posted by Jennifer on Mar 21, 2011 in bread, breakfast, holiday foods, Side dish | 9 comments
This was my first try making soda bread for St. Patrick’s day – and it is SUPER easy to make, even if you’ve never made any kind of bread before. There is no kneading involved and no yeast! My mother-in-law always made this for St. Patrick’s day growing up and since she recently passed away, I wanted to make a loaf in her honor. She had the daunting task of cooking for 11 kids and her husband every night, so I should never complain about cooking for my family of 5
This recipe isn’t her recipe – but it comes from a very good source – America’s Test Kitchen
Makes 1 loaf
4 cups all purpose flour
1.5 tsp. baking soda
1.5 tsp. cream of tartar
1.5 tsp. salt
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1.5 cups low-fat buttermilk
1. Heat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Place the flour, soda, cream of tartar, salt and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Add the butter and rub it into the flour using your fingers until it is completely incorporated and the mixture resembles course crumbs.
3. Make a well in the center and add the buttermilk. Work the liquid into the flour mixture using a fork until the dough comes together in large clumps. Turn the dough onto a work surface and knead briefly until the loose flour is just moistened. The dough will be scrappy and uneven.
4. Form the dough into a round about 6-7 inches in diameter and place in a cast iron skillet. (I put a little oil in the bottom of the skillet so the bread wouldn’t stick). Score a deep cross on top of the loaf and place in the pre-heated oven. Bake until nicely browned and a tester comes out clean inserted into the center of the loaf, about 40-45 minutes.
5. Remove from the oven and brush with melted butter, if desired. Let it cool for at least 15 minutes before cutting.
My whole family loved the bread! Of course since my husband always had it growing up, I was happy to make it for him. And it’s great the next day toasted in the toaster with a little drizzle of honey.
Have you made soda bread before?
And I huge thanks for all the birthday wishes – the party is still going, on Tuesday, my sister Biz, her daughter Hannah and my Mom are doing lunch and shopping – so still more celebrating to do (which I love!)
Have a super day everyone!
Feb 23, 2011
Posted by Jennifer on Feb 23, 2011 in dessert, holiday foods, kid friendly | 7 comments
This isn’t a usual healthy eating recipe that I normally post, but after seeing it on several blogs I couldn’t stop thinking about them and had to try it!
This recipe seems to be sweeping the blogosphere right now, so when I saw it, I knew I was going to make it. Last week I saw it on Year on The Grill. Also Gary from TV Food and Drink made them as well as Joanne from Eats Well With Others, who got the recipe from Annie at Annie’s Eats!!
The cookie dough part I kept the same the only thing I did differently was use a candy chocolate called Almond Bark instead of dipping them in melted chocolate chips.
You can buy this next to the chocolate chips
Ingredients:
8 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 1/2 lb semisweet (or bittersweet) chocolate (I just used Almond bark instead)
1/2 cup white chocolate chips (I didn’t use that)
Combine butter and sugar in a mixing bowl and cream until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes on high speed. Add flour, sweetened condensed milk, and vanilla. Incorporate until smooth. Stir in the chocolate chips. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm enough to form balls, about 30 minutes.
Take the dough out of the refrigerator and roll into balls. This makes a bunch! I ended up using half the dough and I made 32 balls! I placed them on a cookie sheet covered with foil for easy clean up.
Melt the almond bark in the microwave in a big plastic bowl. Dip the cookie dough ball in the chocolate and swish it around to cover the whole thing. Lift up with a fork and shake off any excess chocolate.
These turned out so great! And the best part is that they are so rich, you can’t keep eating a ton, just one is perfect!
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On a separate note – please take a moment to vote for Mara @ I Made Dinner – she’s entered a cupcake contest with POM Wonderful and the voting is open. CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR MARA!
Dec 14, 2010
Posted by Jennifer on Dec 14, 2010 in a day in the life of me!, dessert, holiday foods | 7 comments
I’ve been making these for many years now, and its one of my favorite things to make during the holidays. The best part is all you need are 3 ingredients: graham crackers, peanut butter, and almond bark in chocolate flavor (a candy coating chocolate).
One tip: Do NOT use an off brand or cheap-o kind of graham crackers, they will fall apart when you try to break them apart and it makes a huge mess and not so pretty bars!
Take a graham cracker sheet and break it into 4 parts. Take 1 part and spread with peanut butter (creamy is best). Top together to make a sandwich. In a microwave safe bowl melt the chocolate in 20 second intervals until it’s smooth. It hardens fast, so you may have to warm it up again before you are done.
The almond bark is found in regular grocery stores, even Walmart and Target with the baking stuff.
Dip the graham crackers in the chocolate:
Dry on waxed paper
These dry in less than a minute. Then you can package them up for teachers or friends or just for your own family!
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I got a SUPER deluxe gift basket from a company who is in the same building as me. I help them out through out the year and I was shocked when my friend from the upstairs company came down with this HUGE basket for me!
It had wine, cheese, a brie baking dish, deluxe cutting board with cheese knives, organic honey, jam, crackers, etc..
My sister Biz loves goat cheese, and I got 2 different kinds!
I guess it pays to be nice to people! What a great gift that was! So excited to break open and taste those cheeses!
Nov 26, 2010
Posted by Jennifer on Nov 26, 2010 in appetizer, holiday foods, party food! | 10 comments
About a month ago, I was on www.tastespotting.com and I came across a recipe this blogger made for homemade mozzarella sticks. I knew I was going to try them on Thanksgiving as an appetizer. I’ve tried making them before, I’ve fried them, baked them, but they never turned out right. Either the cheese oozed all over the place, or the outside got cooked before the inside. After reading this bloggers step by step process I realized a few things I never tried before. One was freezing them for a few hours so the coating sticks, and the other was dredging the cheese sticks in flour first.
Ingredients
Cheese sticks
flour
bread crumbs, seasoned
eggs
Canola oil for frying
First step
In 3 bowls, I placed flour in one, 2 eggs in the other, and bread crumbs in the third. I would have used panko, but I didn’t have those on hand. If you use plain bread crumbs, you can add garlic salt, pepper, oregano, or whatever you like. You can also buy the Italian seasoned bread crumbs instead.
Cheese sticks!
Unwrap the cheese sticks and one at a time, dip in flour, shake off excess flour, dip in the egg mixture, roll in the bread crumbs, then dip in the egg mixture again, and roll in the bread crumbs. Repeat as necessary for as many cheese sticks as you are making.
Place on a cookie sheet and freeze for 2 hours.
In a medium pot, place enough oil in the pot so it will cover the cheese sticks when placed in the pan. Heat the oil for a few minutes, then drop 2 cheese sticks at a time and cook for 3-4 minutes.
The first batch I think the oil was too hot, because the outside got browned, but the cheese wasn’t melty on the inside. So I turned the heat to medium and the rest of them turned out great.
Serve with your favorite dipping sauce.
Have you ever made your own cheese sticks before?
