Mexican Meatballs

I am a huge fan of this recipe. If you follow it completely, you get delicious meatballs, but it's also really easy to change and edit to your taste. I went on a meatball making binge after making these. Each batch was different than the last, and we loved them all!

Ingredients
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2/3 cup fine dry bread crumbs
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
4 gloves garlic, minced
2 tsp. dried or 2 tbsp. fresh oregano
2 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground cumin
2 lb. lean ground turkey
8 oz. uncooked or cooked smoked chorizo sausage, finely chopped (I made my own chorizo by flavoring plain sausage. Will share that recipe later.)
2 tbsp. olive oil

Preheat oven to 400. Spray 9x13 with cooking spray. Mix together in large bowl the eggs, bread crumbs, cilantro, garlic, oregano, 1 1/2 tsp. of the chili powder, salt and cumin. Add the ground turkey and chorizo sausage; mix well. With damp hands or a small ice cream scoop (I used my hands) form into 24 to 30 meatballs. Combine oil and remaining 1/2 tsp. chili powder, brush over meatballs. Bake meatballs 22 to 25 minutes or until cooked through (165 degrees). With slotted spoon, remove meatballs to a serving bowl.

We ate with rice. They were awesome. If you make the meatballs as uniform in size as possible, they cook more evenly. I have to say, I love baking meatballs. I have always hated cooking them on the stovetop. Anytime I find a meatball recipe, I make them and cook them to this recipes directions. Love baking meatballs! Then you can even make them earlier in the day and refrigerate til it's time to bake.

Smokey Potato Chowder

We got this recipe courtesy of the best man from our wedding. It wasn't his recipe, but a woman from his family.

Ingredients

6-8 large potatoes

1 quart milk

3/4 cup flour

1/4 cup butter

2 tsp liquid hickory smoke

1 can cheddar cheese soup or 1 1/2 cups cubed Velveeta

8-10 sausage links, cooked

onion (dried or fresh, to taste)

salt & white pepper

Peel and cut potatoes into cubes. Put into large saucepan, cover with water and cook until tender by still slightly firm. While potatoes are cooking,k put milk into wuart har with flour and shake until blended. Drain water off potatoes. Put potatoes back on low heat. Stir in butter, being careful not to mash the potato cubes. Pour in milk. Add cheddar cheese soup, rinse soup can with milk. Sti careful until well blended. Season with salt, white pepper, onion, and liquid smoke to your own tastes. Stir often to keep milk from sticking to bottom. Cut cooked sausage links into slices and add to soup. Heat until milk has thickened. Taste for any additionla seasonings needed. More milk may be added if soup is too thick or more flour may be stirred in it too thin.

I doubt we stay to these directions to staunchly, so feel free to vary where you want to. It's a great soup, nice flavor, and really comforting on a cold day.

Alfredo Pizza

We got this courtesy of Aaron's brother Jared.

Ingredients

1 loaf french or Artisan bread
1 can Alfredo sauce
1 lb. pork sausage
2 halves different colored sweet bell peppers, chopped
½ sweet onion, chopped
1 can fresh mushrooms, chopped
1 cups shredded cheese (yellow or white, whatever you like better)

Preheat oven to 350. Cook and drain sausage. Add peppers, onion and mushrooms to sausage. Sautee for a 3-5 minutes. (adjust time depending on how cooked you like your veggies) Add Alfredo sauce. Simmer 1 minute. Cut the bread lengthwise, then into desired chunks from there. (We generally make ours pretty big, but with kids, you might make some smaller) Lay cut side face up on baking sheet and cover bread with sauce. Cover sauce with cheese. Warm in oven to melt cheese and warm bread, 10-12 minutes.

You can see with this one, we used a white cheese, the sauce is more of a tannish color. Anyhow, we've used cheddar too and it works great too. Sometimes we like to sprinkle some parmesan ontop before baking too. It adds a nice flavor.

Black Bean and Sausage Soup

I thought for sure I'd done this already, but I hadn't. So good!

Ingredients

1 cup dry black beans (can use canned beans)
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped celery (2 stalks)
1 tsp ground coriander
¼ tsp salt
1/8 – ¼ tsp ground red pepper
4 cloves garlic, minced
8 oz. cooked, smoked turkey sausage or polish sausage, chopped
Dairy sour cream, shredded Monterey Jack cheese, fresh cilantro (optional)

Rinse beans. In a large saucepan or Dutch oven combine beans and 6 cups water. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer for 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Cover; let stand for 1 hour. Drain and rinse beans. Return beans to saucepan. Stir in 2 cups water, broth, onion, celery, coriander, salt, red pepper, and garlic. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, covered, for 1-1 ½ hours or until beans are tender.

If desired, mash beans slightly. Stir in sausage; heat through. IF desired, serve topped with sour cream and cilantro. -OR-

Prepare as above through step 1. In crock pot combine chicken broth, 2 cups water, onion, celery, coriander, salt, red pepper, and garlic. Stir in beans. Cover and cook on high heat for 5-6 hours. If desired, mash beans slightly. Stir in sausage. Cover and cook for 30 minutes more.

Or just used canned beans like we do. Then you only have to cook it for like 30 minutes and then add the sausage. Just cook long enough to get your veggies the way you like them.

In this one, we added some leftover rice just for fun. It added just a little extra. But this is a great recipe. I highly recommend using the optional ingredients. They're fun and tasty to add.

Split Pea Sausage Soup

I'll be the first to admit that anytime I read split pea soup I do not get hungry. I even dread making it for like a week before I do it. However, in the end I eat it and think, "Hey, this is okay. I kinda like it." Needless to say, it's a good recipe and I've eaten it many times. It just has a stigma, you know? Poor split peas. Anyway, another make ya feel good for eatin good recipe.

Ingredients
1 pound smoked kielbasa
1 pound dry split peas
6 cups water
1 cup chopped carrots (2 medium carrots)
1/2 onion, chopped
1 cup chopped celery (2 stalks)
1 tbsp minced fresh parsley
1 tsp salt
½ tsp coarse black pepper
2 bay leaves (I just have chopped bay leaves, so I use about 1-2 tsp.)

Cut sausage in half lengthwise; cut into ¼ in. pieces. Place in pot; add remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 1 ¼ to 1 ½ hours or until peas are tender. Remove bay leaves.

Another easy recipe, and it's pretty good for ya. I'm including this in my beans category because I keep my dried split peas with all my dried beans. I don't know if it's actually a bean. Maybe it is.

Lentil and Sausage Soup

Tonight's cuisine was courtesy of the Better Homes & Garden Cookbook. This is one I became acquainted with in Missoula and have since come to enjoy very much.  I must say that it was pretty awesome. It's a really easy recipe and tastes pretty great. I must say that growing up I wouldn't have touched this type of thing. But I have since evolved to eat things like beans, vegetables, and yeah, that's what I used to avoid pretty much. But now I really enjoy these things and I feel good because I know they're good for me.

Ingredients
2 14-oz. cans chicken broth
1 ½ cups water
1 cup red lentils (brown are easier to find)
1 cup sliced celery (2 stalks)
1 cup sliced carrots (2 medium)
½ cup chopped onion
1 tsp snipped fresh thyme or ½ tsp dried thyme, crushed
1/8 tsp ground red pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
6 oz. cooked, smoked sausage links
Optional: shredded cheese, saltines or croutons

In a large saucepan combine chicken broth, water, lentils, celery, carrots, onion, dried thyme (if using), red pepper, and garlic. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, covered, for 20-25 minutes or until vegetables and lentils are tender. Stir in fresh thyme, if using, and sausage. Heat through.

I used shredded mozzarella. You could use swiss or monterey or maybe colby jack. I used mozzarella because it's what I had at the time. I prefer croutons to saltines because they can be seasoned and they don't get soggy as fast. I also added a tbsp of flax seed to my soup. One tbsp gives you two grams of fiber and in the soup it was basically tasteless. I'll have more posts about flax seed. It's great to add to different types of things.  I was also liberal with the spices. We prefer our food to be spicy versus bland.  Makes for good soup!