sweet and sour meatballs

This is a recipe that I have had for over 30 years that was shared with me by a co-worker at my first nursing job. This recipe is for meatballs that are cooked separately and then added to the cooked sauce.  I bake my meatballs in the oven but they can be browned in a fry pan on top of the stove instead.  The cooked meatballs are then added to the sauce which has been cooked on top of the stove and then baked or put into a slow cooker.  If I am in a hurry I have served it right from the stove top and it is just as good.  I serve it over cooked white long grain rice.  I often make this for a crowd by tripling the meatballs and doubling the sauce.

Sweet and sour meatballs

meatballs

1 pound hamburger

small onion, chopped

2 slices white bread, cubed or made into crumbs

1 egg

1/4 cup milk

1 tsp Worchestershire sauce

1 tsp salt

2/3 tsp pepper

Combine all ingredients.  I used the food processor to make the bread slices into crumbs and then mixed everything in the stand mixer.  Form the meat mixture into small balls a little bigger than an inch and then bake at 350 for 30 minutes.  I bake mine on a parchment lined baking sheet.

Sauce

2 Tbsp cornstarch

15 ounce can pineapple chunks in heavy syrup

1/2 cup green pepper, chopped

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup white vinegar

1 Tbsp soy sauce.

Drain the pineapple, reserving the syrup.  Place the cornstarch in a cold pan with reserved syrup and whisk until the cornstarch is dissolved.  If you do this while it is cold it is easier to get it mixed together without any lumps.  Mix in the brown sugar, vinegar and soy sauce and begin heating over medium or medium high heat, cooking until it thickens.  Once the brown sugar, vinegar and soy sauce are combined add the pineapple chunks and green pepper.  When the sauce has thickened add the cooked meatballs and place in crock pot or bake in a casserole dish in the oven at 350 for 30-60 minutes.  Serve over cooked white rice. 

I first started making this when there was only one kind of brown sugar.  Either light or dark will work but I think the dark will give a richer, more interesting color to the sauce.

corn salad with fritos

This is a great salad with several ingredients that come from the garden... 

Corn Salad with Fritos

2 cans corn (we used a similar amount of our garden sweetcorn from the freezer)
2 cups grated cheddar cheese
1 cup mayonnaise
1 cup green pepper, chopped
1/2 cup red onion, chopped
10 1/2 oz bag fritos chili cheese corn chips, coarsely chopped

Combine all but the chips and chill.  Right before serving top with the chopped corn chips. 


Source: here

veggie shooters

For the grad party Lisa was looking for a easy way to serve relishes with dip and this worked out great and couldn't have been easier.  While at the party store picking up paper plates and napkins she found these cute disposable square shot glasses and bamboo skewers.  A squirt of ranch dressing in the bottom of the glass was the dip and then we placed in the shot glass a carrot stick, a celery stick, a green bean and a skewer with two small cherry tomatoes.  Any long narrow vegetable would work.  Red, yellow, orange or green peppers cut into narrow strips would be colorful and tasty.  A pea pod would also work well or a stalk of asparagus.  We had the vegetables all prepped in the kitchen and filled the shooters a tray at a time and swapped out a full tray for the empty tray as needed.  The presentation was nice and they were very convenient for both the guests and the kitchen helpers.

Lisa used ranch dressing thinking that it would be familiar to most people but any favorite dip could be used.  The ranch worked out nicely as it had a squirt type top on the bottle.  Transferring your dip to a squirt bottle would make for filling the shooters neatly. Wouldn't these be good with fresh-from-the garden vegetables at their peak of flavor?

next year this will be a farmstand recipe

The farmstand cookbook is a small but expanding collection of recipes using ingredients from the farmstand.  I have other recipes too but they are blogged about either at The Bakery at Mom's Hobby Farm or A Dozen For Dinner where I have started reviewing a new cookbook each month and then each month after a recipe from that cookbook.  So, I am already behind.  But just a little behind.  In March I was to review a recipe from the January cookbook and a recipe from the February cookbook.  It is April 2 and I am cooking and writing for March.  I made a cabbage salad tonight that called for cabbage, red onion and green pepper.  These are all vegetables that I did not grow last year but are on the planned list for this year.  

Here is a picture of the salad:

and here is the recipe for the salad.