Beef

Apple Spice Meatballs

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Again: Broken computer = unedited pics, bare with me.

Fallfamily outings, football games, and festivities usually require warm food, especially if its going to be outside in crisp weather. I always turn to mini meatballs for these kind of events because they are super easy, warm, filling and even all the little kids love them.

Meatballs can be considered a blank canvas, since you can add whatever spices and sauce that you feel like. I love playing around with the recipes to come up with something new, and over time have made probably a dozen stellar recipes. Recently I came up with this one inspired by fall and brought them to a family event, where they were a hit!

This recipe is super simple which is a plus in my book, but you can always make it a little more challenging by making your own meatballs. Just follow my basic meatball recipe and make quarter sized meatballs instead of the large ones.

Apple Spice Meatballs

6 dozen frozen packaged frozen meatballs

1 can (14 oz) cranberry sauce

1 jar (12 oz) Apple butter, or jelly

1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

½ tsp crushed red pepper

¾ cups ketchup

¼ cup water

Cook meatballs according to package instructions. \

Meanwhile in a large Dutch oven or sauce pan combine remaining ingredients. Bring to a simmer and cook for 10 – 15 minutes, stirring regularly, until well combined and thickened.

Gently stir in the meatballs and serve warm.

May be refrigerated and warmed before serving, or placed in a crock pot on warm.

Herby Burger with Lemon Aioli

By Jessica

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My Garden is coming along despite the presence of a pesky
rabbit that seems to be in love with my kale, chard and kohlrabi. Those little
babies didn’t stand a chance. He doesn’t seem interested in my beans or
radishes though thank goodness, they acted as a barrier for the rest of the
garden.

Radishes are coming in hot, and Chuck is eating them as fast
as they are coming. Which is fine by me, not being a huge fan and all, he can
have them. He loves them just plain as a snack; I think he is crazy.

The lettuce is growing by leaps and bounds with all the
rain, so lately we have been having LOTS of fresh salads.

Unfortunately I started some late seasonal herbs, in pots on
the deck, but I think the mix of scorching sun most days and violent, drowning
storms in the evenings did them in, most of them started to come up and died
shortly thereafter. It’s ok though because I am learning a lot.

There is something so satisfying about stepping out of your
back door taking a few snippets of lettuce, or herbs and making a meal out of
them. Not only are you seeing the fruition of your own hard work, but you get
to experience each step of how your food gets to the table.

This particular meal began as just a lazy summer meal of
burgers that I dressed up with herbs, sprouts, lemon aioli and a side salad all
from the garden.

Herbed Burger

1.5 lb lean ground beef

1 tbsp chopped tarragon

1 tbsp chopped basil

1 tbsp chopped Italian parsley

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

In a large bowl combine all ingredients with dampened hands.
Once well mixed divide meat mixture into four equal pieces, and form patties. Place
patties on a preheated and greased grill and cook over high heat for roughly 5
minutes a side. Serve warm on grilled buns with your choice of toppings.

Lemon Aioli

½ cup mayonnaise

1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

1-2 tbsp fresh lemon juice

1 clove of garlic, minced

1 tsp pepper

Place all ingredients in a small bowl, and mix to combine.

Elsewhere & French Onion Burger

By Jessica

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Have you seen enough French Onion Flavors from me yet? I can’t get enough of it all lately, maybe I will actually post a traditional French Onion Soup Recipe one of these days.

Any-who, the other night I was craving a burger, and onions, so why not combine them right?

French Onion Burger

1 large onion, sliced thin

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp thyme

½ lb lean ground beef

Salt & Pepper

2 hamburger buns

In a small skillet heat oil and coat the bottom of the skillet with oil. Add onions, thyme, and cook them over medium heat for 15- 20 minutes, or until they begin to caramelize. Remove From heat and set aside. Using your hands form the ground beef into 2 patties, making the middle slightly thinner than the outer edge (This stops the burger from puffing up in the middle). Sprinkle liberally with salt & pepper, and place on a preheated grill over medium high heat. Cook for 4 minutes a side, for medium rare burgers and 5 minutes for medium. While the patties are cooking lightly butter both sides of the bun and place on the grill over low heat to toast (2-3 mintues). In the last 2-3 minutes of cooking top each patty with cheese and caramelized onions, continue to cook until the cheese has melted slightly. Layer a burger patty on each bun and serve warm.

If you are catching a glimpse of that beautiful looking, and super healthy salad on the don’t fret you can catch the recipe for it over on Fitness and Feta, where I am featured as this month’s Reader Recipe.

Sneaking in the Vegetables; Mushroom & Onion Gravy

By Jessica

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This week at the grocery store there were so many vegetables
that were on sale, and actually looked good! I was so excited I way over spent
on our budget, but for veggies I’m ok with it.

Having so much on hand made taking a classic and vegetizing
it a snap (your starting to like my made up words aren’t you?). Along with my
classic beef tip recipe I simply added onion, and mushroom, which also gave it
so much more flavor, and texture than just plain gravy.

Beef tips with
Mushroom & Onion Gravy

1 tbs oil

1 lb stew meat

1 medium onion, halved & sliced

8 oz cremini mushrooms

1 tsp dried thyme

½1 tsp black pepper

1 tbs flour

2 cups beef broth

Salt to taste

In a large skillet heat oil over medium high heat; add stew
meat and brown lightly. Add in onions and mushrooms and saut until the onions
begin to carmelize, roughly 4-5 minutes. Stir in thyme, pepper and flour, until
well blended. Deglaze with beef broth. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer
until the sauce has thickened, and serve. (Serves 4)

If you have a family that enjoys mushrooms slicing is
probably the best way to prepare them, however Chuck still needs some
convincing so I made sure to chop them up small, and I’m pretty sure he didn’t
even notice that they were in there. Also those that prefer thicker gravy can
just add another tablespoon of flour. That is something that is a constant
debate; should gravy be more like jello or thick soup broth? What do you think?

For the mashed potatoes I actually used another recipe from my irish cook bookd for champ, with the slight alteration of addin in a couple cloves of garlic while the potatoes boiled, and then mashing them up right along with the potatoes. You can find a similar recipe here.

Steak & Soba Stir Fry

By Jessica

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Part of my most resent quest to make vegetables the
spotlight means trying new things. I saw this recipe in my Bon Appétit magazine recently and knew I had to try it. I’ve eaten bok
choy plenty of times in the average Chinese food take out, but I’ve never
cooked with it. Besides the picture is so pretty isn’t it? It makes me want to
dive right in and gobble it all up.

This recipe is my own take on that one. I wanted to include
more vegetables, and avoid purchasing oyster sauce which I would rarely use,
and I wanted it a little more liquidy (yeah I made up my own word there). It
being my first foray with soba noodles I don’t know whether I over cooked them
or if they are naturally just sticky, but the extra liquid I tossed them in
really helped. I also wanted to clean it up a bit, not that there is a whole
lot in need on cleaning on this one. It’s pretty darn healthy already.

The result was amazing. I loved this recipe; the mixture of
textures and flavors is really awesome. Beware it’s much more filling that you
would think, so start with a small portion.

Steak & Soba Stir
Fry

6 oz soba noodles
16oz flank steak
Salt & pepper to taste
Olive oil cooking spray
1 tbs extra virgin olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
4 cloves of garlic, sliced
1 tablespoon ginger, peeled and grated
2 heads baby bok choy, cut into 8th’s
2-3 carrots cut into match sticks
4 tbs soy sauce
3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1tbs toasted sesame oil
½ cup vegetable or beef broth
1 bunch scallions, greens cut into 2 inch strips
1 handful roasted almonds

Cook soba noodles according to package instructions and set
aside. Generously season steak with salt and pepper, and placed in a greased
skillet over medium high heat. Cook 4-6 minutes per side, or until medium rare,
remove from heat and let rest for at least 10 minutes, while the stir fry is
prepared. Wipe out the skillet and heat oil over medium heat. Sauté onion,
garlic, and ginger until softened, roughly 1-2 minutes. Add bok choy and carrot
and cook for 4-5 minutes, tossing occasionally. In a small bowl mix together
soy, sesame oil, vinegar, and broth. Add to pan, tossing lightly. Stir in
scallions and almonds cooking for an additional minute or two. Remove
vegetables from heat, leaving remaining liquid in pan, then add soba to pan and
toss to coat. Add to stir fry mixture. Slice Steak into ½ to ½ inch ling slices
and serve. (serves 4)

Beef

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