Planned Leftovers- Monica's Marinara

There are two chefs in his house, and therefore, two very different ideas on how to cook various dishes. The Chef is more of a wing-it kind of cook, whereas I am more of a detail oriented cook, especially when it comes to traditional recipes like marinara. I want my sauce to be reliable and as I remember. I'm not someone who wants a pot full of surprise sauce every time I make it. After my trip to the local Italian market in town yesterday I had loads of great ideas for dinner for the next few days, I just needed a big pot of red sauce to pull it all together. So while The Chef napped after his morning at work, I whipped up a nice pot of marinara using some of the items from the Italian market and some of the amazing Sinful Food gourmet olive oils. 

I start my sauce with minced fresh onion and minced fresh garlic. I absolutely cannot imagine sauce without them. Dried or powdered simply will not do in a sauce I am going to simmer for a few hours. I grab a small yellow onion and mince up into tiny pieces. A handful of fresh garlic cloves- 8 or 9 or so- also get a super fine mince. Using my big stockpot I add a good swirl of Sinful Food Basil Olive oil- and right here is where we are going to stop and talk about the oil. This was the first time I've used or tasted the basil oil. I've tried lots of different flavored oils over the years but honestly, Sinful Food has created a miracle here. The second the cork is out of the bottle the aroma of fresh basil surrounds you. Seriously. It has the fragrance of a bunch of freshly picked basil. Green and leafy and so beautiful. A little taste of the oil and I'd swear I was nibbling on a leaf. This stuff, guys, hands down the BEST flavored olive oil I have ever ever tried.

I heat the oil in the pot briefly and that fresh basil aroma just wafts around the kitchen. I added the onions and gave them a little stir for a minute or two to soften before adding the garlic. I'm ready to grab a fork at this point! In goes a good 3 tablespoons Garziano's Italian seasoning and a decent dose of crushed red pepper, stirred around to bring out all the flavors, then in go the roasted tomatoes and tomato paste. Enough water to reconstitute the tomato paste goes in the pot next and I let the sauce simmer for a couple hours. You can use red wine for up to one third of the quantity of water if you like. I didn't have any on hand so I skipped that. Here is the recipe for the sauce-

Monica's Marinara

1 small yellow onion
8 cloves fresh garlic
Sinful Food basil olive oil
3-4 tablespoons Italian seasoning
2 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes
Sinful Food Signature Seasoning
freshly ground black pepper
2 cups oven roasted tomatoes or crushed tomatoes(canned or fresh)
3  6 oz cans tomato paste

Finely mince the onion and garlic. Heat 3 tablespoons olive oil in large pot. Add the onion and cook, stirring often, over medium heat until onion is softened and translucent. Add the minced garlic and cook for about one minute. Sprinkle the Italian seasoning, crushed red pepper, Signature Seasoning and black pepper to taste. Stir over medium heat for a minute or two until the herbs and spices are fragrant. Add the tomatoes, and tomato paste. Gradually stir in water- general rule is 3 cans water for each can tomato paste. Stir well and raise the heat to bring to a soft boil, the reduce heat and simmer, with a cover ajar, two to three hours to meld the flavors and thicken the sauce.

So now we have a pot of sauce, and a fridge full of Italian groceries. For a household of two, this much sauce will make several meals for us so I will be dividing it up. For tonight we are having baked cavatelli with mini meatballs. The basil oil is going to make another appearance in this dish. I cook one pound of cavatelli pasta in boiling salted water just until al dente. Drained well, it gets tossed with a tablespoon of basil oil and enough sauce to cover. The meatballs get tossed in too and the whole thing goes into a buttered baking dish or individual dishes. A blanket of Provolone cheese goes on top and a drizzle of basil oil. The casserole goes in a 400 degree oven for 20-30 minutes until hot and bubbly and covered in melty browned cheese.

For the next meal, I portion out enough sauce for The Chef and I to have fusilli with sauce, a salad and maybe some garlic bread. I can only imagine how delicious this basil oil will be in salad dressing or drizzled over a fresh Caprese salad. This can go in the freezer so we can have it a week or so later. His half of the sauce will get a can of baby clams for his favorite- pasta vongole, while mine will either have a handful of mushrooms added or just as is for a great vegetarian dinner. I don't do clams. Yucky.

The last portion of sauce will be used for tomorrow's dinner- Italian sausage sandwiches on tomato focaccia. I'll patty up some Graziano's Italian sausage, cook until done then slather with heated marinara sauce, cover with Provolone and serve on grilled focaccia that's been brushed with Sinful Food basil olive oil and toasted. So good, so simple.

Get YOUR Sinful Food oils and seasoning by clicking HERE.

Disclosure of Material Connection: This is a "sponsored post." As a Brand Ambassador, the company who sponsored it compensated me via a cash payment, gift or something of value. Regardless,  I only recommend products or services I believe are of good quality and safe. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

Roasted Meatballs and Polenta

I love going through piles of old photos. Seeing pics of the family over the years is hilarious. The fashions, the hairstyles, the eye glasses. So many laughs. Of all the pictures in the box, baby pictures have to be the best. I don't mean just the pretty posed Olan Mills photo package snaps, I mean the photos of my kids in their daily lives. Playing in the yard. Running on the beach. Sitting on someones lap. Opening presents on their birthday or Christmas. Digging in the sand and dirt. Fighting. Laughing. Crying.

Eating.

Who doesn't love a pic of a little kiddo who hasn't quite mastered the art of self-feeding struggling with a spoon filled with something bright and colorful, guaranteed to stain everything it comes in contact with? Everyone has them. We take a ton of pics of our kids on their first birthday as they are digging into that first birthday cake, stuffing cake in their mouth, packing frosting up their nose and creating amazing new hairstyles with the sticky combination or cake, ice cream and frosting. So. Much. Fun. I have loads of those fun pics. One of my very favorites is a pic of my son Nick sitting on a neighbors lap manhandling a chicken wing drummette that's been grilled and is coated in sticky barbeque sauce. He was such a teeny tiny guy, the chicken drummy looks like a big chicken leg in his tiny hand.

Pupcake, aka Patryk, before and after spaghetti

Dig through your own photos. I'm willing to bet you have a pic or two or twelve of your own kids indulging in one of the favorite foods of young kids all over the country- spaghetti. You're experiencing mental time travel as we speak aren't you? Remember the first time you placed a bowl of carefully cut up spaghetti noodles and red sauce, cooled down to lukewarm, with or without a spoon, on your child's highchair tray for them to eat? Never mind the mess or the stains or the scrubbing you had to do afterwards to return the kitchen, the highchair and your child to their pre-dinner state, I'd be willing to bet my paycheck you grabbed a camera at least once and snapped a pic or two. I know I did!

My kiddos really loved spaghetti. They loved meat sauce and meat balls and even sauce with no meat at all. They loved to twirl the long noodles with a spoon and fork, and of course they would slurp up the long wiggly sauce-coated noodles with as much sloppy noise as possible and giggle insanely after. They loved spaghetti with the traditional marinara sauce and they also loved spaghetti when I made with a brown gravy instead. That was a big favorite around our house back then, and it still is with me today, even though the kiddos are long grown and on their own.

Meatloaf is one of my favorite comfort foods. I have such wonderful memories of my mom's meatloaf and the gooey sticky ketchup baked on top. It would get a little burned and caramelized on the edges, just so so insanely good. I often crave that comfort after a crummy day in the office but who has time to waste on something that needs to bake for an hour or more? Not most busy families. The answer is easy- meatballs! Meatballs go from raw burger to plate in a snap, just mix it up, roll into balls, bake and bam-done. No waiting for an hour or two for the meat to cook through, it's done in 30 minutes. All you have to worry about is getting your sauce together and how you want to serve them. We have shared meatball recipes here before. It's not that complicated really, any meatloaf recipe works just as well in meatball size. Sauce or not, make meatball subs, cut up and use for pizza topping or drizzle with barbeque sauce and serve as a football snack, meatballs are easy and awesome.

Tonight we are roasting the meatballs in the oven, like I always do. No more turning meatballs in a skillet for me- that's too messy and labor intensive. Roll and roast. Easy peasy. After roasting they will get a short simmer in a quick brown gravy made with beef broth and thickened. You can add mushrooms if you like, I didn't have any on hand so we went without. I made a pot of pasta for the Chef and a pot of polenta for myself. I love the combination of hearty polenta and sharp cheddar cheese and a rich brown gravy. I had plenty of leftovers too which was great for workday lunches.

Roasted Meatballs with Polenta

2 lbs ground beef

2 eggs

1/2 cup dry bread crumbs

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 small onion, minced

1 teaspoon Sinful Food Signature Seasoning, plus more

small handful parsley, chopped, plus more for serving

2 cups rich beef broth

cornstarch slurry for thickening

2 cups cold water

1/2 cup cornmeal

2 tbs butter

3/4 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Set oven to 350 degrees. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

Crumble the ground beef into a large bowl. Sprinkle the bread crumbs over and the seasoning. 

Add the minced garlic, onion, chopped parsley and the egg. Mix everything together using your hands to make it easier. Roll into ping pong ball sized meatballs and place on parchment lined pan. Sprinkle with additional Signature Seasoning.

Bake at 350 degrees until completely cooked. This takes about 30 minutes. 

In a Dutch oven or braiser, heat the broth. Add enough cornstarch slurry to thicken to a thin gravy. Add the meatballs and simmer for about 15-20 minutes.

While meatballs are simmering, place the cold water in a medium saucepan. Whisk in the corn meal and a half teaspoon of Signature Seasoning. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until thickened and cornmeal is cooked, usually about 15-20 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in the butter and the cheese.

Serve the meatballs and gravy over the polenta. Sprinkle with additional chopped fresh parsley.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one or more of the products or services mentioned above for free as part of a random drawing. There was no requirement of using the products and then providing written promotion. This post is entirely of my own writing. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I believe are of good quality and safe. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

Asianish, Zoodles and Meatballs- it actually works!

Are you part of the spiralizer revolution yet? You should be! This fun new way to serve veggies is bringing a smile to cooks everywhere. I have been seeing so many creative uses for spiralized veggies. The obvious curly fries, of course, but spiralized potatoes made into hash browns and latkes, long swirls of cucumber and carrot made into salads and slaws and so much more can add some fun to mealtime. What exactly is a spiralizer? It's a tool used to cut vegetables into long curling cuts, spirals, like long springs of food. They can be as simple as the inexpensive As Seen On TV Vegetti to spiralizing attachments to power appliances, with something in every price range. Ever since the spiralizer hit the culinary scene veggie "noodles" have been the new low carb option.  

Naturally I had to play with this fun vegetable noodle and what better recipe to play with than Drunken Noodles? Legend says that this noodle dish was dreamed up by a hungry drunkard looking for something quick to fix after a night of drinking, as there is no alcohol in the dish. Modern theories tend to be that the dish is so spicy you need to have a beer on the side to tame it.

My version of Drunken Noodles is a very similar recipe to Dragon Noodles. The sauce is very similar but adds quite a spicy kick to the tender zucchini noodles and juicy meatballs. As for veggies, I went with mushrooms, onions, garlic, sugar snap peas, red bell pepper, and asparagus. You can use any veggies you have on hand but stick with the peanuts. They add a necessary salty crunch element. 

Drunken Zoodles with Spicy Turkey Meatballs

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup sriracha

vegetables for stir frying
1 lb ground turkey
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1 egg
2 tablespoons minced onion
2-3 cloves, minced garlic
several dashes soy sauce
1-2 teaspoons sriracha
2 tablespoons chopped parsley

2 medium zucchini, spiralized

1/4 chopped roasted peanuts

cooking oil or coconut oil

additional flat leaf parsley for serving

In a bowl combine the sauce ingredients. Set aside for now.

As usual, I was out of Sriracha- so I substituted a hot sauce
I made myself from red rocket chilies. Worked great!

In a bowl combine the turkey, breadcrumbs, egg, minced onion, minced garlic, several dashes of soy sauce, the 1-2 teaspoons sriracha and a good tablespoon of chopped parsley. Mix lightly and form into small meatballs. 

Place meatballs onto greased baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees 25-30 minutes until cooked completely. Remove from oven and set aside.

Prepare the vegetables for stir frying while the meatballs are baking. Cut vegetables into equal sized pieces. Set aside.

Use a spiralizer to cut the zucchini into zoodles. 

Preheat a large skillet or wok. Add a couple tablespoons oil to the skillet. Add the vegetables and stir fry for 2-3 minutes until crisp tender. Remove from wok to a big bowl to toss. Add a little more oil if necessary and add zoodles. Stir fry for about one minute until heated through but barely cooked. Remove and place in the bowl with the vegetables.

Add the sauce to the wok with the meatballs. 

Cook and stir until meatballs are heated through. Pour over the vegetables in the bowl. Add the peanuts and toss to coat. Sprinkle with torn parsley and serve immediately.

Now this dish is complete just like this, and very low carb. Sometimes I like to serve with a little bit of steamed rice on the side as well, for me that makes it more Asianish. Either way, it's healthy and delicious and I hope you try it!

Food Culture- The Office Food Day

It's as American as apple pie. The pot luck. The pitch in. The food day. It's obvious that food is the center of many social events in our lives, and the workplace is no different. Whether it's holiday or theme, a big announcement or a farewell lunch for a departing co-worker, offices all over the U.S. hold food days as a way to socialize, and EAT.

The last few years I worked in an office of just three people. Not a lot of opportunity for food days there. Most days  I was in the office alone anyway. That's all changed, and now I worked for a major insurance company with lots of coworkers and lots of social activities and that often includes food days. This time around we are saying goodbye to a team member and enjoying a variety of delicious goodies. As a relatively new employee at my company I haven't been able to get to know many of the other employees very well yet, but that doesn't mean I won't miss our team analyst after his last day today. During training he was so patient and helpful, and encouraged me to think through the problems and questions myself when I got stuck. I swear he knows everything there is to know about annuities!

Our fearless leader Darla checks out the spread

Lots of yummy choices!

I came home all excited about Food Day. The Chef has graciously offered to take over the preparation of my contribution to the party. What's going on in our kitchen? Mini Meatball Subs with The Chef's famous marinara sauce. I didn't even have to ask, I just mentioned we were having a food day and he volunteered to make his famous meatballs and sauce.

The Chef's meatballs are super delicious- starting with good ground beef, not the super lean grind. You have to have some fat for tender juicy meatballs. Chopped onion and garlic go in the mix, along with seasonings, herbs, and Parmesan cheese. The meatballs are baked and then simmered in his homemade marinara sauce.

A crockpot full of meatballs becomes mini meatball subs with sliced mozzarella cheese and soft dinner rolls. These little sandwiches are a snap to put together at lunchtime and make a great party food too. They are a clever alternative to the typical potluck foods.

So as we give our coworker and friend a fine send off, loaded with food, there were lots of words of congratulations and well wishes. Of course, loads of food- from donuts to crackers and dips to crockpots full of smoky links, Buffalo chicken dip, a variety of chips and salsa and taco dip, fresh fruit, and bagels.

Sunday Funday ?? More like Sunday Work Our Butts Off Day

Most Sundays around the lake house are our lazy days- lounging around, playing in the kitchen, maybe some football games..... today however, for some reason we were up early and hard at it all day. We started off with a quick assessment of our garden veggies and discovered yet another tomato hornworm had decimated one of our cherry tomato plants. ^%$#@!  We plucked him off and drowned him in a bucket of water (thankfully we had almost an entire day of rain yesterday so our rain buckets were full !!)

The Chef has thawed a 2 lb package of ground venison given to him by the other chef he works with and decided, perhaps as a welcome to the newborn Meatball Baby Lorenzo LaValle, that venison meatballs were on the agenda. Since I was going to finish up the canning of veggies already in the house, including a case of tomatoes from the Amish farm, some wax beans, and the last of the carrots, he decided on his famous red sauce and snagged a nice potful of the blanched, peeled and seeded tomatoes I had been working on.

While the Chef worked on his amazing meatball recipe, I prepped veggies for the canner, picked herbs, and set up the dehydrator with thyme, rosemary and sage as well as 3 trays of the tomato skins, which will be dried and then ground into tomato powder, which adds a real flavor punch to soups and sauces.

We were working away when inspiration struck us- HOMEMADE BREAD !! I searched online and found a basic white bread recipe and then made some additions and alterations to come up with Italian Herb and Cheese Bread, but the recipe called for a little too much yeast- the loaf fell, but even though it's a little dense, it still has pretty good flavor and we're gonna eat it anyway.

Now, let's talk meatballs. The Chef and I are not hunters but we do love game meats so we often trade what we grow/can/bake with folks who do hunt, so we have this amazing venison.  Since the Chef had never worked with venison before, it was a total experiment for him, but one of the most successful to date.

Joe's Venison Meatballs

2 lbs ground venison

4 beaten eggs

1 large onion, chopped

1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper

1 1/2-2 cups dry breadcrumbs

4-5 cloves garlic, minced

freshly cracked black pepper

salt

pinch red pepper flakes (to taste)

2 tb minced Italian parsley

1-2 tsp finely minced oregano

Mix all ingredients will well combined. Set aside, covered, to allow meat to rest, crumbs to soften and flavors to meld, for at least 1 hour.

Roll into meatballs using about 1/3 cup mixture for each ball. Place on baking sheet.

Joe drizzled the meatballs with garlic infused olive oil and bake at 375 degrees about 25-30 minutes until meat is completely cooked (we always make a "test meatball"). Remove from baking sheet and add to pot of red sauce. Allow to simmer at least an hour, or if you're an all day sauce person, let em simmer in deliciousness. Serve with pasta of choice.

Disaster Bread

I've decided to go ahead and give the ingredients I used for the bread since it DID taste pretty good, next time I am going to use less yeast, so if you want to give this a try, make that adjustment.

3 1/2 to 4 cups flour

1 package active dry yeast (remember, one package was too much and likely caused my fall)

1 1/2 cups warm water

1 tb butter

3 tb sugar

2 tb mixed dried Italian herbs (I used Penzey's Tuscan blend)

2 cloves fresh garlic FINELY minced

small palmfull parmesan cheese

In the bread machine I added the ingredients in this order: flour, sugar, herbs, garlic, butter, cheese, made a well in the center, added the yeast, poured the warm water around. I set the machine for classic white bread (3 hour cycle) and let it do it's thing, adding a couple extra Tb flour to help the dough form a ball. When the baking cycle started I drizzled with melted butter and more parm cheese.

It looks totally fine at this point, rose well, punched down, rose again but when the baking cycle kicked on, my bread fell,

but after we got it out of the machine, we cut it and sampled and while it was a little dense, it still had good flavor and was ok to eat. I'll try it again with about 2/3 of a package of yeast.

Now we're both sacked out on the couch, FULL of our delicious dinner, tired from all work, watching, what else ?? Food shows on tv .....gotta love life with a chef........