Mama's Meatballs and Salad Dressing

My mother, while having many special qualities, is not as accomplished a cook as my Nanny (her mother, who taught the fundementals of cooking). Don't get me wrong...she kept us nourished and fed as children, and gave us love in different kinds of ways. But cooking was not her specialty, and with three children, I don't blame her one bit. When I was little, one thing she made at least once a week was spaghetti and meatballs. It got to the point that I grew very tired of eating that dish. Now that I am a mother, I see that this dish can be very comforting, hearty, and QUICK TO MAKE.

I miss my family an awful lot (they reside in California), and today I needed something to give me the comfort of home. So, I thought, spaghetti and meatballs it is. There are three things I do differently than my mother to give this dish my own special flare. One, I create my own pasta sauce (instead of using Ragu in a jar that my mother was so fond of using). The recipe of my sauce is one that I've learned from an old Italian friend, of which I choose to keep a secret. Secondly, instead of just using standard beef, I've decided to use ground pork and ground beef. While it may have a bit more fat that my mother's meatballs, the pork gives it a more rustic taste with lots of flavor. Thirdly, in addition to spicing the meat with bread crumbs, eggs, and ketchup as my mother does, I also give it some additional flavor with dried thyme, grated onions, parmasean cheese, salt/pepper and some minced garlic.

One thing that I MUST have with spaghetti and meatballs is a green salad with tomatoes and cucumbers. And one thing I do give my mom "kudos" for is her salad dressing. She is known for her dressing, and whenever she brings a dish to a potluck, that is her specialty. It's a very basic dressing with oil (olive or vegetable), red wine vinegar, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Simply delicious!

Later in the evening....Well, the meal was a success and I feel pleasantly full and satisfied. One thing I realized after using both ground pork and beef was that there was WAY too much meat for two people. So with about one third of the meat mixture, I made really small meatballs that I will serve at the Superbowl gathering that I am hosting this Sunday (in addition to other appetizers--stay tuned for what those will be).

I dedicate this meal to my mom:

I Made a Bundt Cake ... I'm Officially An Adult!

One of my husband's co-workers just moved into the same neighborhood as us, so I thought this occassion would be a perfect opportunity to try using a bundt cake pan that we got for our wedding (over 3 threes ago--it's about time!)I searched for a basic chocolate bundt cake recipe, and believe it or not, the closest thing I could find was a recipe for a chocolate whiskey bundt cake which I found at Epicurious.com. Scratch that, it was the only recipe I could find that did not call for "cake mix" as a main ingredient. I figured this recipe was close enough--I just wouldn't put the whiskey in since I am not a fan of tasting alcohol in baked goods.

I came across a couple of challenges. One, I was low on Hershey's Cocoa Mix and I supplemented the specified cup and a half with individual packets of fat free cocoa mix. To make sure it was "chocolately" enough, I used a tip that was mentioned in the reviews and added some chocolate chips as well.

The second challenge was that the bake time took longer than expected. After reading the reviews (this is great to do when first trying a new recipe--you can read how other people felt about the recipe and learn from their mistakes), some people said they had the same problems and had to cook it longer than asked in the recipe. Others said DO NOT OVERCOOK. This posed a dilemma, but I had no choice because after 40 minutes of baking, I put a toothpick in the center and the cake was still in semi-liquid form. So I baked it for about 55 minutes.

The cake looked great, but being that this was my first time making a bundt cake, I felt hesistant about giving it to someone without actually tasting it and making sure it was OK. So, I decided to use this cake as a tester, and try a piece of it. It's a good thing I decided to do that because after the cake came out, I read another tip in the reviews about taking the cake out of the pan before it cools so that it doesn't stick to the bottom. Well, the cake had already been sitting on a wire rack for an hour before I read that, so I took the cake out and part of the top did indeed stick to the bottom, even though it was sprayed and floured.

Still, the cake was very tastey and perfectly moist. The chocolate factor was just right. Another advantage to making this cake a tester was that I was able to give my friend a piece (whose birthday was today in fact). She LOVED the cake, and said it came out just right. Now, I feel confident that the next time I make it, it will taste right and hopefully look a little better than the first one did.

Here is a piece of my first bundt cake:

Martha Stewart Saves The Day!!

I know, I know, I haven't posted a blog in a few days. But don't fret loyal readers...just because I didn't write about it, doesn't mean I stopped baking or cooking (the recipes I made were already blogged about so there was no need to bore you with "repeats.") On Friday, I whipped up a batch of my chocolate chip cookies for a friend's daughter who has been under the weather. Then on Saturday, we had a friends over and I honed in on my pizza making skills. As promised in a previous blog, I bought a pizza stone and used some tasty toppings such as artichoke hearts, olives, tomatoes, onions, mushrooms, and some whole milk mozzarella cheese. (The pizza stone also came with a "pizza peeler" and cutter, and I must admit that using the peeler did not come very easy to me. My friend, who is also a homemade pizza maker, suggested just using an old baking sheet and placing it on top of the stone. This worked quite well and the pizza came out crispier than before).

During my "hiatus" these past few days, I also dedicated my time to researching various cookbooks at the library. I checked out The Martha Stewart Cookbook, as well as Jaime Oliver's cookbook entitled The Naked Chef Takes Off (I also purchased a Paula Deen cookbook and The Bon Appetite Cookbook). Now, I realize that any reference to Martha Stewart these days is loaded with baggage and will inevitably lead to an ethical dilemma of whether to demonize this one-time domestic diva or not. But I am one to overlook people's flaws (because god knows we've all made some mistakes at one point or another) and recognize their talents. And Martha Stewart, convict or not, is indeed an amazing chef and artist.

So today, as I try to do every Sunday, I aimed to try one of Martha's recipes, particularly a soup because it has been FRIGID here in the Green Mountain state. But my husband, one who I also like to make happy with my cooking, said he was in a beef stew sort of mood. I was certain that we could reach a compromise, and low and behold, as I was flipping through Martha's cookbook, I came across a recipe for MUSHROOM BEEF BARLEY SOUP. It had a lot of similar components and ingredients as beef stew, but it also posed a challenge for me because I have never cooked with barley before. My husband was pleased, and thus, Martha Stewart Saved The Day!!

I won't go into detail about HOW to make the soup, but I will give you a list of the ingredients so you have a general idea of what it consists of: onion, mushroom, carrots, celery, parsnips, olive oil, beef stock, 1 bottle of beer, 1 lb beef chuck, thyme, barley, salt, and pepper. I pretty much kept on par with Martha's recipe except I subsituted celery for dill (my husband and I hate dill) and I only bought 2 quarts of beef stock instead of 3, so I added a little water to make up for the shortage of stock. I also used a bottle of Magic Hat's Seasonal Ale instead of a dark beer that was recommended, but it came out just fine.

The final product came out incredibly good, if I do say so myself. It was earthy, simple, and warmed out bellies...We have enough to last all week, which is my idea of the perfect Sunday meal. Here is a picture of today's recipe:



Hope you all have a great end to your weekends!