Merlot meatballs

May 9, 2013 by

Merlotmeatballs (2)

Did you ever just crave a really good, hearty meatball with an ooey gooey sauce? I know I am not the only one. This recipe will be sure to take care of those cravings, no problem. I usually only make meatballs for holidays but one rainy day I just had a hankering for some comfort food and my husband is crazy for meatballs, especially mine :) –So I whipped these up with some roasted red potatoes, steamed broccoli and they went over really well, even with one picky little 2 year old.

Merlotmeatballs (3)

There is something so comforting and homey about a juicy meatball with the right sauce, I’m not quite sure why.  These meatballs are made using Tastefully Simple’s Merlot Sauce, which has always been a favorite of mine and I think they really make the flavor of this sauce stand out. I love using Merlot Sauce as a steak sauce alone but it is great in my meatloaf recipe and delicious in these savory meatballs. If you need some Merlot Sauce you can find it here.

Merlotmeatballs (4)

Print
 

Ingredients

Instructions
  1. In a large mixing bowl combine ground beef, garlic, seasoned salt, merlot sauce, salt, pepper, onion, breadcrumbs, and beaten eggs.
  2. Mix ingredients with your hands and roll into ½inch-1inch balls, depending on your preference.
  3. Place on a baking stone or greased baking pan.
  4. Heat meatballs at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. Be sure not to over cook or the meatballs with get tough.
  5. Remove meatballs from oven and use tongs to place them in a slow cooker.
  6. Whisk together maple syrup, ketchup, honey and grape jelly in small bowl.
  7. Pour sauce mixture over meatballs and heat on low-medium for at least 10 minutes or until you are ready to serve.

 

Merlotmeatballs (5) Merlotmeatballs

We have been out all week enjoying the sunshine-y, summery weather, doin’ summer things! I even have a slight tan! Thanking God for this beautiful week! Although it is supposed to cool down for this Mother’s Day weekend, we have some fun things planned! I hope all you mothers out there have a lovely weekend and I tip my hat off to you all. Being a mother is the hardest job ever with the most rewarding results. We all deserve a day totally devoted to us mommys!

 

signature

Filed Under: appetizers, crockpot, gluten-free, It's What's For Dinner, meals, sauces Tagged With: ,

Cilantro lime quinoa salad

April 25, 2013 by

quinoa salad mexican (1)

This salad completes me. It is everything I love about mexican food with an added boost of protein and that guilt about eating a flour tortilla, GONE. This will surly take care of those mexican cravings of yours without all that extra calorie and gluten nonsense. Oh and the dressing. Don’t get me started on the dressing. Tangy and fresh with a little kick.

quinoa salad mexicanAlong with my quinoa veggie salad with lemon basil dressing, this salad will definitely be on repeat throughout the warmer months. It keeps in the fridge for a good week, you may just have to add a little squeeze of fresh lime to moisten it up a bit. I added a little extra cumin myself because I like it spicy. I also added a bit of extra cilantro to my individual serving because I am the only heavy cilantro lover in my family.

Print
Cilantro lime quinoa salad
 

Ingredients
  • 1 cup uncooked quinoa
  • 1 (15oz) can black beans, drained and rinsed
  • 1½ cups frozen corn, thawed
  • 1½ cups cherry tomatoes, quartered
  • 1 red bell pepper, diced
  • 5 green onions, diced
  • ¾ cup chopped cilantro
  • ⅓ cup olive oil
  • 1 tsp. cumin
  • 1 garlic clove, minced
  • Juice from 1 lime
  • ¼ tsp. salt

Instructions
  1. Cooke quinoa according to package.(add 2 cups of water per 1 cup of quinoa, bring to a boil, and simmer until quinoa is tender or about 20 minutes)
  2. While quinoa is cooking make your dressing.
  3. In a bowl whisk together olive oil, cumin, garlic, lime juice and salt. Store in fridge.
  4. In a large mixing bowl combine the cooked quinoa, peppers, green onions, cilantro, cherry tomatoes, corn and black beans.
  5. Pour dressing over ingredients and stir to coat.
  6. Store in fridge for at least an hour and serve cold for best results.

 

And the sun is still hanging on over in our neck of the woods! Yesterday we played outside all day with some friends–boy do I appreciate the days we get to play outside, bedtime is such a breeze! Tonight we are heading to a cook out and this weekend is supposed to be sunny and in the high 60′s….we’ll take it! I like to really get excited about little victories, being a stay at home mom of 3, and right now the weather is one of them! Happy weekend to you all!

signature

Filed Under: appetizers, gluten-free, It's What's For Dinner, meals, sauces Tagged With: , ,

Spiced honey glazed pork chops

April 17, 2013 by

pork chops

You know I feel like I never got pork right until I tried this recipe. Do you know what I mean? I always stray away from pork because it just never turns out moist and tender enough for my liking. The only other way I have cooked pork and really liked it was in the crock pot for shredded pork sandwiches or crock pot pork chops. But me cooking pork in the oven is always a catastrophe, until this recipe. I really think the marinating makes all the difference and heating them at such a high temp, for a short amount of time. These are so tender and flavorful, a great recipe to impress dinner guests. My advice: turn on your broiler and broil these for a few extra minutes because let me tell you, a little burnt honey on top is super tasty. The pork serves beautifully over cooked red quinoa with a dash of fresh squeezed orange juice.

Print
 

Ingredients
  • 2 lbs. pork tenderloin or pork chops
  • ½ cup of French Dressing, divided
  • 2 tsp. chili powder
  • 2 tsp. garlic powder or 1 tablespoon Tastefully Simple Garlic Garlic
  • 1tsp. dry mustard
  • 1tsp. paprika
  • ½tsp. dried thyme leaves
  • 2Tbsp. honey

Instructions
  1. Brush pork with 2 tablespoons of french dressing and store covered in fridge for at least 2 hours to marinate but up to 6.
  2. Mix dry seasonings together and rub onto both sides of pork.
  3. Mix together remainiing french dressing and honey.
  4. Brush dressing mixture over pork.
  5. Place pork in a greased baking dish.
  6. Bake at 450 degrees for 20 minutes or until meat thermometer reads 145 degrees F.
  7. Heat oven to 450ºF. Brush meat with 2 Tbsp. dressing. Mix dry seasonings; rub onto meat. Place in shallow pan. Mix remaining dressing and honey; set aside. Bake 20 to 22 min. or until meat is done (145ºF), brushing with dressing mixture after 10 min. Transfer to cutting board; cover. Let stand 3 min. before slicing.

 

IMG_3375

In totally unrelated news: My sister-in-law had her baby and we have ourselves a new nephew! Oliver Hebron is so perfect and makes 5 BOY grandchildren in our family! Boys are just the best aren’t they? As much as it pains me to take back all the cute outfits I bought for my new niece (I really thought it was a girl!) we are looking forward to all the memories that will be made with all of the boy cousins! My boys are really excited to have a new cousin named “Oliber” and they say they never want any girls in our family! In fact Jack has told me that he would like 2 more brothers, and wants to know when he can get them. And to that I say, how about we get you a new 3DS game and call it a day? Well Jack, I think you will get your wish because I don’t think anyone in this family is capable of making any girls and you know, we are ok with that! Bring on the bug hunting, never ending energy, mud tracking, lego building, and most importantly, MOMMY LOVING boys for life!

 

signature

Filed Under: It's What's For Dinner, meals, sauces Tagged With: , ,

{Wolfgang Puck’s} cheddar burgers with remoulade

April 3, 2013 by

burger (4)burger (3)Did you ever just get a hankering for the perfect burger with a special sauce that can’t be beat? I have a theory that a good sauce can make anything taste good. I am such a “dipper” as my son Jack would say. This remoulade is perfection for a good burger and topping this off on a pretzel bun is mouth watering. I love the crisp, bold taste of arugula along with the crunch of a good pickle. You have to try this burger! Really puts a delicious twist on your typical cheese burger. I have a feeling we will be making these A LOT in the summer on the grill. Speaking of grill’s, it’s going to be 50 degrees here tomorrow!! A big change for us seeing as we have been at a high of 15-30 degrees for the last few months, happy spring! We are just a little excited about it…

Print
 

Ingredients
  • 1 lb prime ground beef
  • Pinch of kosher salt & freshly ground black pepper
  • 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • sliced cheddar cheese
  • pretzel hamburger buns
  • Arugula leaves
  • cherry tomatoes, sliced
  • 3 cornichons, sliced
  • ¾ cup thousand island dressing
  • 2 tablespoons BBQ sauce
  • ½ diced red onion
  • ½ sliced red onion
  • *use organic ingredients whenever possible

Instructions
  1. Put the ground beef in a bowl and season with a generous pinch of salt and pepper.Mix together with your hands to combine.
  2. Make your burger patties and set on a large plate.
  3. Drizzle the burgers with oil and season the tops with salt and pepper.
  4. Turn the burgers over and season the other side
  5. Make your remoulade by mixing together BBQ, thousand island and chopped onions. Set aside.
  6. Place the burgers on a preheated griddle or pan.
  7. Cook for 3 minutes then flip and cooke for another 3 minutes or to your liking.
  8. Place slices of cheddar cheese on top of the burgers allowing it to melt.
  9. Toast the buns on the griddle if you’d like.
  10. Assemble burgers.
  11. Spread remoulade on each side of the bun.
  12. Place cooked burger on bun, top with tomatoes, red onions, arugula leaves and sliced cornichons.

burger (1)

signature

Filed Under: It's What's For Dinner, meals, sauces Tagged With: , , ,

Creamy pesto over lemon pepper pappardelle

March 5, 2013 by

pasta (2) pasta (3)

Love this vegetarian dish and I make it often because I can throw it together in a few minutes. We added some warm rotisserie chicken to the leftovers the next day and it was really yummy too. The pesto mix from Tastefully Simple is one of my favorite products, it is my go-to pesto and I have been using it for years. The directions on the bottle of the pesto mix say to prepare it in the microwave, but you all know I have big time issues with using the microwave :so I promise you it turns out just as good on the stove. The lemon pepper noodles give this dish a little extra kick but I have served this over regular noodles and it is still the yummiest.

Print
Creamy chicken pesto over lemon pepper pappardelle
 

Ingredients

Instructions
  1. Heat olive oil, water, and pesto mix over medium heat for 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
  2. Add soup, milk, and cheese.
  3. Stir until all ingredients are combined.
  4. Continue to heat on low for 20 minutes, adding more milk for a thiner consistency.
  5. Throw in clean spinach a minute before serving, giving it time to wilt and mix into the sauce.
  6. Serve over prepared noodles.

 

*ps : thank you so much for all the comments, emails, and feedback I have received since my post about cutting back on my blog. It really means the world to me and it certainly helps to have support from people who understand!

**pps I have a really exciting collaboration coming soon to The Holzmanns! Gah! I can barley contain my excitement about it, and wish I could share! Soon! Stay tuned!

 

signature

Filed Under: It's What's For Dinner, meals, sauces Tagged With: , ,
«Older Posts