My Meatball Recipe

I love meatballs. I do. I prefer them made out of ground turkey with spinach mixed in. But every once in a while, I make them from ground beef. I only buy ground beef from Costco. That's my first secret. My second secret?

French's Fried Onions. They help with adding taste & texture. In the past, I've used bread crumbs and Saltine Crackers, but I've found the fried onions taste the best.

In a large bowl, I mix the ground beef (about a pound), seasonings (Salt, Pepper, Garlic, Oregano, Parmesan Cheese and Worcestershire sauce), and one large egg (helps to bind). If you don't have fried onions, use a real onion, diced - and either bread crumbs or crackers. For me, the fried onions cuts down on an ingredient. Love that! ;)

I then combine all of the ingredients and mold my mixture into decent sized (not too large) balls. (No, I did not type that with a straight face.) I add them to a heated pan, with Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

I then brown them, cover and cook them until they are done. About 10 minutes or so. And that's it! Super easy and super tasty!

This time I paired the meatballs with pasta and red sauce. A quick dinner that everyone loves.

Mouthwatering

Have you looked at a calendar lately? Do you know what day it is? My mind is scrambling. My Thanksgiving to-do lists are doing the mattress mambo and making little babies. Most of the time I can't even find a pen to write an idea down.

I almost forgot olives. I did. How can we possibly have a real Thanksgiving dinner without black olives?
Don't worry, mom! I wrote it down on one of those little munchkins my original lists just procreated.

We generally have the same type of food each Thanksgiving. This year, I am adding a few more items.

All pictures via Google.

Can you guess which ones? If you were at my house last year, you probably can. For those of you that weren't, I won't keep you in suspense. Brussel sprouts, Sweet Potatoes and I am changing up my green beans. Lo' chilllld, something has come over meh.

We will also have dinner rolls and I have a plan to make an apple pie. Just in case the two pumpkin pies aren't enough. For eight people.

If you don't see me around a minute, it's because I am up to my elbows in getting the house ready, the food prepped and working. The real job.

There's a good chance I will also be sampling some food. In the name of hosting, of course.

Speaking of "host" - what in the world are we going to do when Hostess has finally and completely shut down? Get skinnier?!?!

A Sample For Our Sweet Teeth

The Mister all but begged me to bake cookies this weekend. And with him, it's never simple. Take, for example, his wants for Saturday breakfast. Where I am good with making pancakes. He wants pancakes, bacon, eggs with veggies, potatoes... I could go on. I could!

So, why should cookies wants be any different? But, I was ready for his request. Isabel and I pulled out three mixing bowls, pre-measured our dry ingredients and then one-by-one, mixed the wet ingredients in my Kitchen Aid, combined the dry and put everything back into the mixing bowl to add the good stuff. That was a total run on sentence. I couldn't stop myself.

Isa and I were quick and stealth-like. We were able to mix three cookie doughs in under 30 minutes. And then, everyone left me as I baked over eight dozen cookies. What the heck was I thinking? Oh yeah, I guess I should mention that Marcos was in the guest bath finishing up the new back splash tile (which looks AWESOME), so I guess I kind of owed him.

Eight dozen cookies?!
So not what you think. I gave at least a dozen to my neighbor, Jen. And Marcos took five dozen into work for his guys on Sunday. That left us with a mere two dozen to enjoy.

We made Chocolate Chip with walnuts, Mini Chocolate Chip with Christmas M&Ms and Peanut Butter Kisses (which some people may refer them to Peanut Butter Blossoms. I think Kisses sounds better. And sounds more delish at that!).

So these three are definitely on our Christmas Cookie list of this holiday season. I also want to try my hand at Gingerbread Men and Butter Pecan Balls. I've never made either before.

What's on your Christmas Cookie list?! Still looking for some ideas!