January 19, 2013

Meatballs and Brownies



 This meal last night was super tasty...and simple!

I love making meatballs.  It's fun to mash egg and cheese and breadcrumbs between your fingers. It's sort of a mini stress reliever.  The same goes for meatloaf.  I especially love making my Grand mom's and Mom's meatballs. This meatball recipe is SO good! Their sauce is delish, too.  However, we were seeing a movie later that night. Between the brownies for dessert  that I was making and the meatballs and sauce, I didn't have a moment to make complete spaghetti sauce from scratch.  Next time.

Although...even though this sauce is sort of a cheat-sheet thing, I love it!  It's just 2 large bottles of Ragu Traditional, poured into a large sauce pan. Then add in some red wine. That's it. Stir here and there, and let it simmer over medium-high heat and get bubbly.  Then you cook the meatballs in it for about a half an hour and Boom!  Dinner is ready. Meanwhile, you would cook your pasta.

Got leftover sauce?  Freeze it and enjoy at a later date. :)  I love food that is easily freezable!

Homemade Meatballs
(normally makes between 15-19 meatballs)

1 1/2 container of meatloaf mix
2 eggs
fresh or dried parsley
garlic powder
Italian breadcrumbs
Salt
Pepper
1/2 cup or a touch more of grated Parmesan Cheese



BLEND WELL WITH HANDS





















Start forming the meatballs once everything smells very cheesy and garlicky.  yum.



This time around I got 15 meatballs.  Make them about a touch larger than a golf ball.


Place in sauce and let them bathe for 30 minutes.  The meatballs want out once they rise to the top.























Serve with any pasta you prefer. I normally serve this with Angel Hair or Linguini.  I thought I would change it up this time and serve with Rigatoni.  Needless to say...DELISH!  Plus, I love that the tiny ridges in the pasta soak up some of the sauce.

Top with fresh Basil and more cheese. Enjoy!



Gooey, Sweet and Salty Brownies....words can't even describe this combo.



I found this brownie dessert through a blog I actually only started following about two weeks ago.

It's an adorable blog and Rachel's recipes are pretty darn stellar.

I followed this recipe to a T.  They really came out so good!  The kick of the kosher salt on top of the sweet caramel sauce....ohhhh myyyyyy gooooddddd.  You'll just have to make these and see for yourself.  Like, now.  One thing I will say is that these are VERY rich.  They almost compare to the Boardwalk chocolate fudge..with caramel...and a dash of coarse salt. YUM.  However, next time I may bake them for a tad longer...instead of fifteen minutes, I might try twenty.  But again, I followed this exactly. I'm sure with every oven, the temp. sometimes will be off.  But that's the only thing I can think of that made them almost "extra" rich and gooey.

They are most likely supposed to be really gooey though.  If so, God help me.

Please see the link below for this recipe. Adapted from Avid Appetite.

Enjoy!

These Are Incredible!








Too gooey to stand up straight. Oh well.
















This guy looks pretty hungry, wouldn't you say?


Tonight is double date night with my husbands sister and her fiance'.  They are getting married this November. :)  We are going to an adorable Seafood restaurant in a very old and quaint town called Haddonfield, NJ.  Check it out:  The Little Tuna .It's a BYOB and has superb food!  We haven't been there in a year so I'm very excited.  Enjoy your little Saturday.  And if you're not doing anything, get your butt in the kitchen and make those meatballs or brownies!  You'll thank me.



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3 comments:

  1. They came out great Dana, I hope you gave our grandpuppy one of those meatballs!!!! I know he's just dying for one!!!! LOL Love ya Mom

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  2. Thanks for trying out the brownies! I'm sorry they didn't cook properly for you! I will need to remake the recipe and see what is up. Your meatballs sound amazing...there is really nothing better! My mom is Italian and makes the most a-mazing meatballs and I'm too intimidated to even try making them! I happy to just be a taste tester in that case :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. haha thanks Rachel! The brownies were still incredible, of course! I'm going to make them again for Easter most likely!

    ReplyDelete

 
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