Meatballs!

We had spaghetti and meatballs last night for dinner (with homemade sauce, yum!) and I'll post my meatball recipe.   The best thing is that it makes leftovers, so that means meatball sandwiches!


Liz's Meatballs
3 pounds of ground beef (or turkey, I use either)
2 eggs
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons basil
2 teaspoons oregano
1 teaspoon thyme
bread crumbs to combine
salt/pepper

- First, add the eggs to the meat, and mix (I use my hands, but hey, you can use a spoon).  The mixture should feel moist, but not wet.
- Add cheese, garlic, basil, oregano and thyme. Mix to combine evenly through meat.
- Mixture should be moist and easily rolled into a ball that stays together. If not:
a) it's too dry, add another egg or b) it's too wet, add some bread crumbs.
- Form balls with your hands - I make mine about the size of baseballs, so when they cook down they become a decent size.  This makes about...20-24 meatballs.
-Spray a non-stick pan with olive oil/pam/whatever you use, and let heat at a medium, medium-low temperature.  Add meatballs and cook for 5-8 minutes on one side until a crispy crunchy golden brown appears on the outside. Flip over.  Cook another 5-8 minutes.  At this point, it truly depends on the size of your meatballs at how long you cook them.  I cooked mine for about 15 minutes or more - cook a few and split one open. Go from there.
- Remove meatballs from pan and place on a paper towel (in a bowl or on a plate) to allow extra grease to drain.

Eat :)

Yankees?!

Okay, we had leftover night for dinner. I made cheesecake, so I'll post w/ pics today or tomorrow.

HOWEVER.

WTF is going on with my Yankees?!  This is embarrassing.  I'm seriously devastated at their performance lately. It's disgusting. Now, don't get me wrong - I love them. Heart and soul and such. But come on.  It's a nightmare.

I was at the O's game when we left it at 15-3. EVERYBODY hit.  It was glorious. I really thought we might be on to something this year....


....I didn't realize it was a Red Sux (yes, on purpose) sweep.   Ugh. I am broken hearted.

Asiago Cheese Bread!

Sorry I've left you hanging - I tried to post this before, but the site was down for maintenance or something.  First, I'll give you the Asiago cheese bread (It takes like the Au Bon Pain Asiago cheese bagels, I've been told) and I'm trying something new for dinner, so tune in tomorrow for the break down of that.


Asiago Cheese Bread
As noted before, this bread dough was made in a bread machine, on the dough setting. Please contact me for the hand made recipe - it DOES differ.  That being said, here we go!

Ingredients: 
1 1/3 c. water 
4 c. bread flour
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp yeast (active rapid rise for bread machines)
1/2 lb asiago cheese, shredded

Directions: As stated before, my bread machine calls for wet ing. to be added first, followed by dry. Then you add a the yeast to a well in the middle - without touching the water. Add your ingredients the way that your machine stipulates.

Add water to bread pan, followed by all dry ingredients except yeast.  Make well in center (not touching water) and add yeast. Place pan in bread machine and start dough setting. Read a book until it's finished :)

Now, I don't have pictures, but, minus the pepperoni & etc, it's exactly the same as the pepperoni roll. So you can follow those pictures.

1) Shape dough into ball
2) Separate into two even sized loaves (there is enough dough to do three, but they are sad and small, I recommend two)
3) Roll out each ball to a rectangle, approx. 7x3.
4) Fold in half, and in half again. Press down. Let rest ( I do one ball, and it gets to rest while I roll the other.) Repeat twice.
5) Roll and stretch each piece to form an 11 inch loaf of bread. 
6) Place bread in a greased pan, cover with a damp towel and put in a warm place - let rise for 30-45 minutes or until doubled in size. (preheat oven: 450)
7) Lightly coat the top of each loaf with olive oil (LIGHTLY - seriously.)
8) Bake bread at 450 degrees for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown and hollow sounding when knocked on.  Allow to cool for 20 minutes.

Enjoy :)

Easy breakfast and then some...

First, the "and then some" -  I was FINALLY able to lose some of the weight I gained after Pappy died.  Seriously, in like, 3 weeks, I managed to gain like, 15 pounds. It's ridiculous. But, I'm down three pounds.  Seeing yourself in a bathing suit tends to motivate you into exercise.  Anyway, easy breakfast - and delicious too!

Next to the ingrediant, I've posted the approximate calorie count (thanks to iPhone app, Lose It!) and how much I paid, so you get the general idea of how much it costs!


Veggie Egg White Omelet

--> 1/2 c. egg whites (approx. 60 calories) - I use Weis brand, and it costs 1.99 for 16 oz, so 32oz (2 containers) is about 50 cents less than a 32oz carton of the egg beaters variety.
--> 1/2 c. chopped fresh broccoli  (approx. 15 calories) - .99 cents a crown @ Weis.
--> 1/4 c. chopped green bell pepper (approx 7 calories) - 10 for $10 at Weis (I got mine @ Foodland, but they were 10 for $10 there, too. I bought 2, so $2.)
-->1/4 c. chopped white onion (approx 16 calories) - I paid $1.89 for two onions, I refuse to do the math, so we'll just say, $1.89.
--> 1 piece of swiss cheese (approx 106 calories - OUCH.) We like swiss cheese and I get GOOD swiss, because it's delicious.  For one pound I paid $8.56 (YAY SALES!).
--> 1/8c. roasted chicken, no skin (approx 20 calories) - I had chicken legs in my freezer, and we had chicken/avocado sandwiches last night, so we had leftovers.  Honestly, I think the legs were free from mom, but they usually run about $5.00 for two HUGE legs at Weis.

I add salt, pepper and ground red pepper flakes - capsicum revs up your metabolism and makes it really WORK to digest - google it. I promise.  You can also use any meat or veggies you wish, I just so happen to like these and had some chicken.

Directions:
1) Add 1 Tbs EVOO (extra virgin olive oil) to a pan and heat - add onions, broccoli and pepper, saute until cooked half way.

2) pour in egg whites and cover with lid, cook until solid (unless you LIKE runny eggs. Whatever, but ew.)
3) Flip omelet (I like to let both sides cook. The concept of uncooked eggs makes me sick. So I cook both sides)
4) Add swiss and chicken, cover for 1-2 minutes.
5) Fold omelet, put on plate and eat :)

  I had already started eating. Sorry its messy. But it's delicious.

Oh!  Breakfast calorie count: 244 calories
Breakfast price (now, remember this is for EVERYTHING purchased, not just what I used, so you'll have extra broccoli, chicken, onion, pepper, etc - that's lunch and dinner! We'll call this the price for THREE meals):  $22.44 (that's about 7.50, which you can't beat for fresh veggies!)

----> If you take out the POUND of swiss cheese, the price goes down to $13.88, which is $4.60 for breakfast (three meals, remember?)  however, that swiss can be used for ANYTHING. So, do the math as you please.

Plate note: I also eat a banana with mine, as you can see. I eat half. Kona gets the other half. She realllllly likes bananas.....

Ok! We're off to the rail trail today (a trail near our house) for a good long walk. Have a beautiful day!

I'm back, baby!

Ugh, long time no post - what an epic fail.  After December, with the holidays, wedding, deaths, etc - I couldn't find the time to sleep let alone post.

Finally got Kona on her new work out deal, she was getting far too lazy and destructive, all at the same time. We do 4 miles a day, M-F and then 10 miles on the weekends.  That burns approximately 3,000 calories.  Give it a go :)

In exciting news, purchased new books today! Jeffery Deaver, "The Burning Wire" and Michael Connelly, "The Poet", check back for my reviews :)

Spent my day trying to master a recipe that I can find NO WHERE, that a cute shop near Mike's family has (www.Delallo.com).  It's a pepperoni roll. It's basically bread with cheese and pepperoni inside. DELIGHTFUL!  I have a bread machine, so here is the bread machine recipe:

For French Bread  (place ingredients in bread machine in order that YOUR machine specifies, mine is wet then dry, yeast last)
 
Ingredients:
-1 1/3 c. water
- 4 c. bread flour
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 tsp rapid rise yeast for bread machines

Directions:
1) Add wet ingred., followed by dry (should cover wet) to bread machine pan.
2) Make a well in the flour, add yeast (should not touch water)
3) Place pan in bread machine, set to french bread setting (or dough setting. If you do not have a dough setting, set to French bread baking, and remove dough before final rising stage.)
4)When cycle is complete, remove bread from pan and place on lightly floured surface and punch down.
5) Divide into 3 equal portions and roll into a ball. As shown below.

 6) Roll out to rectangle measuring approx 7x3 inches.

 7) Fold in half, and in half again. Press to flatten.  Let rest for 1 minute. Re-roll as above. Repeat twice.

 8) After final roll, use basting brush to spread a light layer of olive oil (I use Delallo brand, EVOO) and garlic directly on the dough.  Then add about a 3/4 c. mozzarella cheese (I use skim) and pepperoni (my # deviated with the size I was able to safely get the dough).

9) Fold top and bottom to meet in the middle.

 10) Fold ends in.

 11) Brings folded sides together and press dough to form a seam along the bottom.

 12) It should look like this.  Make it as long as you'd like (make sure you have some room in your bread pan to allow for rising) by rolling it into a long loaf.

 13) Place in floured pan, cover with olive oil coated plastic wrap or a warm kitchen towel. Place in a warm place and allow to rise for 30-45 minutes.  Begin preheating oven to 450 degrees.

14)  Dough should be fluffy and warm, place in 450 degree oven for 25-30 minutes.

Delicious!  (Mine are cooking. I'll post a picture as soon as they decide to be finished :))

Edit:

Here's the look when finished, plus the inside!

Enjoy :)