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.

Donut Pillows in under 5 Minutes

I've mentioned before (too many times to link to) that we live on the outskirts of Phoenix. Way outskirts. And when we bought this house, there wasn't much out here. But a Dunkin Donuts did open up just down the street. And my, over the past two years, it's been so easy to just stop in and grab a box of donut holes. But seriously, the last few times we did that, the donuts were not so desirable. They were HARD-ish.

Today marks Day 1 of our Vacation (maybe Staycation?! We will see) - and I decided to get up and make the kids a treat for breakfast.  Take note - these babies are EASY PEASY!

Here's what you will need. Brand does not matter. ;)

Here's what you do:

We are so still under our five minute mark, people!

My momma taught me how to make these... and the kids LOVE them. You can't official call them donut holes, because 1) they aren't round and 2) they didn't come from the center of a donut. So we settled on Donut Pillows.

Soft. Airy. Perfect.
Don't rest your head on these babies, though... The Cinnamon/Sugar mix is probably great for exfoliating, but is a bugger to get out of your hair. ;)

Pumpkin Bread / Birthday Cake

For Alex's birthday party this past Saturday, we had a fall-ish theme.
Chili, corn bread, you name it.
So, for his birthday "cake" I wanted to do something a little different.
He's a guy, so he could really care less... so he tells me.
I took him up on it.

I decided to pull out a recipe I tried for the first time last year - and loved. I found the recipe on a fellow blogger's site. Let's just say, it was my first taste of Connie's blog, and I am still reading it - everyday - a year later.

The recipe is for Chocolate Chip Pumpkin bread.
I decided to make Chocolate Chip Pumpkin muffins. Little mini ones. Bite-sized, if you will.

Never in my life did I think that chocolate chips and pumpkin would go together.
But, trust me, dear reader, they do.

THINGS OF IMPORTANCE:

• 3 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp pumpkin spice (not in original recipe, but I love it added in)
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 cups canned pumpkin
• 1 cup canola oil
• 2/3 cup water
• 4 eggs
• 3 cups sugar

THAT’S AN ORDER:

• Gently mix (by hand) all dry ingredients.
• Combine all liquids and slowly add to dry ingredients. Stir the entire time, until smooth.
• Add 1 bag of Toll-House Chocolate Chips. {I guess you could add nuts or raisins in lieu of the chips, but why bother?!}
• Grease pans.  
• Oven should be at 350*.
• Bake for 25-38 minutes (depending on pan, oven, etc).
• Do not over bake. That would be bad.
• Use a toothpick or thin knife to check doneness.

TOP IT WITH LOVE:

The original recipe (and one I use when making the bread) is a crumb topping:

• 1 tbls flour
• 5 tbls brown sugar
• 1 tbls melted butter
• 1 tsp cinnamon

Add crumb mixture to top of batter and bake per instructions above.

For Alex’s Party Muffin’s, I used the following glaze:

• 1 pound Powdered Sugar
• 1 pinch of salt
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 egg white
• 1 cup of milk (add more later to create appropriate consistency)

Mix, mix, mix, drizzle, drizzle, drizzle.

The recipe can make about 6-8 mini loafs.
I was able to make 48 mini muffins and 6 extra large muffins from my batter on Saturday afternoon.

The only issue is, once you put the plate out - they disappear.
Seriously.

They are that good.

Click here to view the original recipe by the ever-so-clever Connie.

If you try these babies, let me know how you like them!

Hello, Pumpkin!

I stumbled across a blog the other day... and now the writer and I are super close friends. I know so much about her [and not because I've stalked her blog from beginning to end - or end to beginning]. She just doesn't know ME yet.

Don't you love finding really GOOD, local blogs? I do.

Anyway - back to Connie.  She is adorable. She has an adorable little boy. She is very pregnant with baby # 2. And she has some fantastic recipes that I am ready to try. So very ready.

Connie completely inspired me to bake today. During my LUNCH HOUR from work. Who does that?!

Take a look at this post...
Go ahead. I'll wait for you to come back...

Oooh! Back already?!

Now do you see why I wanted to get all Betty Crocker-like? 

Thankfully, due to the Holiday's coming around the corner, I had everything on hand. It didn't take long at all to whip that batter up. The hardest part was greasing the pans... I wonder if Connie hasn't heard of cooking spray. Eh. I wanted to follow it to the letter - so I greased my first set of pans today. A standing ovation?! You shouldn't have. Thanks! ;)

Here are a few pics to show my process...


The husband and Nic were out and about - so they had no idea of my mischievousness... but the moment they walked thru the day - they knew their dreams had been answered... Alice from the Brady Bunch finally decided to come out of retirement (Or is it permanent retirement? How awkward; I should really Google that).

Nope. It's just me.

Look at that...

Mmmm, mmmm, tasty!

You need to try Connie's recipe.
Like she says.... You're welcome!