Grape Jelly Meatballs

Well, I'm going to try this again. I really am going to put more of an effort into staying up and current on the blog. I've at least started taking photos of what I've actually cooked. If, say, I've actually cooked. So yes, more of an effort coming your way.

So how was your week? My week was interesting. And it flew by. Last weekend I was up in Michigan doing a four mile race walk with my mom. I came in third in my age group and she came in fourth in hers. Mom and I have done a couple of these type of races. I'm not supposed to run and Mom hates to exercise. It was a beautiful sunny day and we were going along pretty good until about 20 yards from the finish when a 90 year old man started to pick up speed and gain on us. I put in a final burst of speed and Mom wanted the guy to feel good about himself. I crossed the line seconds before him and then waited for Mom to cross seconds later.

The race drama was then followed by a nasty bought of bubonic plague, or the cold that just won't die. Fevers were abounding in the Shazam household. But I'm tired of being sick so I didn't call the doctor. Instead I substitute taught some very dull English classes and attended my university classes at night. I make a really bad English teacher. I just don't know how to make a class interesting when the lesson plan is read pages 160-176. hmmmm.

I also discovered that I'm turning into a fast food junkie. I have a funny feeling that maybe stopping at Taco Bell twice in one week might be contributing to not feeling so well (but those silly beef meximelts are so yummy.) Just a thought. I've decided Wendy's needs a rest because they keep screwing up my order. Who eats a baked potato with nothing at all on it? I did. After I asked the girl to make sure there was a fork in the bag and she didn't check to see if there was any butter or sour cream or anything in there too.

The Brain had a poker night since the last time I blogged. Centuries ago. And poker night always means fun food. This time I sent him over with a crock pot full of Grape Jelly Meatballs. They sound weird, I know. But really they are super delicious. The recipe is from a cookbook my mom gave me for Christmas several years back that she had hand written some of her good old recipes. She has written this recipe comes from Cooking Light, but I really really doubt it. And it's not on their website. She's been making these meatballs forever and they're a family favorite. They're now a poker night favorite too!

Grape Jelly Meatballs

from my mom ala "Cooking Light"

2 pounds ground beef

1 cup breadcrumbs

2/3 cup skim milk

1/2 cup minced fresh onion

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/8 tsp pepper

1 large egg, lightly beaten

cooking spray

1 cup ketchup

1 cup grape jelly

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Combine first 9 ingredients in a bowl; shape mixture into 54 (1-inch) meatballs. Place half of the meatballs on a broiler pan coated with cooking spray. Bake for 20 minutes or until done. Set aside. Repeat procedure with remaining meatballs.

Combine ketchup and jelly in a large nonstick skillet. Bring to a boil over medium heat, cook until well blended- stirring frequently. Once sauce is smooth pour the sauce into a crock pot. Add the meatballs and keep warm in the slow cooker.

My mom uses her fondue pot to keep the meatballs warm.

Buffalo Wings

Now this is getting embarrassing. I have completely fallen off the blogging ball. Really I've completely stopped cooking. I don't have a good excuse even. My long term sub job ended on Tuesday (you can read more about it on my other blog). I've been a little bit blue, but really...

I did try Taco Bell for the first time since the early '90s though. It was pretty tasty, but I think I'm good for the next decade.

Fortunately, my loving husband has a poker game tonight. Which means that I actually cooked something. See we've been eating leftovers all week of this bean and ground beef and brown rice and tomato kind of slow cooker mushiness that wasn't anywhere near good enough to blog about. And there was so much of it (and it wasn't really all THAT bad) that I felt I shouldn't, with today's economy, just toss it. So when the Brain told me he was going to play cards tonight I ran to the next county to pick up some frozen chicken wings (that were on sale). And while he took a nap (because he was working late into last night on important legal documents) I steamed and baked and tossed these wonderfully delicious wings.

I love Good Eats. And I think Alton Brown is so appealing to my OCD and dorky ways. So last week I caught an episode where he made buffalo wings and printed out the recipe hoping I'd have an opportunity to make them. Alton's recipes rarely let me down. So even though they seem a little complicated to make, I hated to part with them and send them off to some hungry men who probably are going to inhale them in 3 minutes flat. Either that or they will be upstaged by some complicated and fancy wild bear tacos or something like that. I think it's better that I don't know exactly what goes on at these poker night events. Although the little bit that I hear sure is interesting!

Buffalo Wings

from Alton Brown

1 (4 pound) package frozen chicken wings, thawed

3 ounces unsalted butter

1 small clove garlic, minced

1/4 cup Frank's hot sauce

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Place a soup pot with a steamer basket and 1 inch of water in the bottom over high heat. Cover and bring to a boil. Clean wings of any hanging pieces of skin or fat and place into the steamer basket. Steam for 10 minutes.

Line a sheet pan with paper towels and a cooling rack. Lay the wings on the rack and carefully pat dry. Refrigerate for one hour.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Replace the paper towels with parchment paper and bake for 20 minutes. Turn the wings over and cook for another 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, melt the butter with the garlic. Add the hot sauce and salt and pour into a bowl big enough for all the wings. When the wings are done cooking, immediately toss in the hot sauce. Serve warm.

Pretty Radish Sandwiches

Tonight, I had to do a late run through Meijers for butter because I have some cupcakes that need frosting. How did I run out of butter? I was up there anyway because I had killed my cell phone earlier this week and I had a library book that was due today that I didn't finish, but that's ok because I didn't really enjoy it. But I had to drive up to return it. But I digress....

Anyhow, so I'm wandering hungrily through Meijers and this happy little radish bunch lept off the shelf and into my cart. Ok I'm lying. I picked them up and put them in my cart. They were just so pretty and fresh looking and promised that spring was right around the corner. Well that and I remembered seeing a picture of an open faced radish sandwich in the latest issue of Bon Appetit. Sheesh I love that magazine!

These little radish sandwiches were so easy and quick to put together. I'm now in full anticipation for spring and the first peppery radishes to come out of my backyard garden. Because although my little radishes were downright cute, they weren't as peppery as the ones I grew last year. Now those were good.

Radishes, by the way are really good for you. They are relatives of the turnip. They are high in ascorbic acid, folic acid and potassium. They're also good source of vitamin B6, riboflavin, magnesium, copper and calcium. They also have a low calorie density. They also can be used for a variety of homeopathic medical remedies.

For all of that, there really is no recipe for these sandwiches. Well Bon Appetit came up with one and if you want to see it you can read it here. But what I did was use unsalted butter to butter as many cocktail slices of bread as I was going to eat. I then sprinkled the butter with kosher salt. Then I carefully thinly sliced as many radishes as it took to cover the bread. Then I ate it. Deeeeeelicious!

A Bite and a Cocktail

So. Yeah, after that article, I'm trying to up the amount of alcohol I drink to moderate. Well, not exactly. It's a Blog Party! Wheee! I'm participating in Blog Party #30 over at Dispensing Happiness. The rules are simple. I have to prepare one cocktail and one appetizer. There's one teensy little catch. It has to be vegetarian. Dairy is ok though.

Piece of cake. Well not really a piece of cake. The Brain's favorite cocktail is a Maker's Mark on the rocks. That is also what all the brother-in-laws drink, and what my mom and Grandma drink. And I usually pass on the cocktail. So today I got all fancy and girly. I was at the local grocery (not the big chain store that's closing) and they had some beautiful pink grapefruits. Unable to remember exactly how to make the martini I used to indulge in, that I raked up a $114 bar bill at the Knickerbocker hotel in Chicago drinking, I decided to improvise.

For my cocktail, first I mixed 1 tsp grapefruit zest to 2 tsp sugar and dipped the rim of my glass in grapefruit juice and then in the sugar/zest mixture. Then I pureed the pulp and juice of the grapefruit to make a grapefruit puree. And what the heck, I gave it a cute cute name.

Little Mary Sunshine

1 oz. vodka

2 oz. grapefruit puree

sparkling mineral water (San Pellagrino)

First pour the vodka into the bottom of the sugar rimmed glass. Then add the grapefruit puree. Stir. Pour sparkling mineral water to fill the glass.

Now on to my appetizer...

This was really good. Really. I even had a good time roasting the peppers and I didn't catch the oven on fire. I did however manage to melt my tongs a teeny bit.

This is again out of my Vegetables Every Day cookbook by Jack Bishop. There's very good instructions on how to roast red peppers and that's what I did, but I'm sure you could go out and get a jar of roasted red peppers and it would work just as good. And I'm sure leftovers would be great on sandwiches. If you have leftovers.

Roasted Pepper Spread with Goat Cheese and Herbs
from Vegetables Every Day by Jack Bishop

3 medium colored bell peppers (I used a red, an orange, and a yellow) roasted, steamed, peeled, cored and seeded

3 oz. goat cheese

3 small garlic cloves

6 large basil leaves

Salt

Freshly ground pepper

Puree the peppers and their juices along with the cheese, garlic, and basil in a food processor until smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste. This spread can be refrigerated in an airtight container for several days.