Meatballs

A friend made these for me once and I fell in love with the recipe. When I make them now I usually triple the recipe so I can make enough to freeze extras to go with the pasta sauce.

Recipe

Adapted from William Sonma

1/4 c. Italian breadcrumbs

1/4 c. milk

1/2 pound mild italian pork sausage, casings removed

3/4 pound ground beef

1 egg

1/2 c. low-fat ricotta

1/2 c. finely shredded parmesean

1 large shallot, minced

1 garlic clove, minced

1/8 tsp. nutmeg

1/8 tsp. cloves

1/2 tsp. dried margoram

Salt and pepper

Directions

In a large bowl combine bread crumbs and milk and mix well. Add remaining ingredients. Seasonwith salt and pepper. Mix until just combined. Form into balls 1/2" to 1" in diameter (I use a #40 discher to portion out the meatballs - it's a great size and keeps them uniform). Place on cookie sheet lightly sprayed with cooking spray.

Place in 350 oven for 10-12 minutes or until meatballs are cooked through. Remove to paper towels to soak up any extra grease.

Serve warm with spaghetti and pasta sauce. I put the leftover meatballs in ziptop freezer bags in groups of 12-15 and freeze to eat with future meals.

Pasta Sauce

We love homemade pasta sauce, so when I make a batch it's pretty large. That way I can portion it out in plastic containers and freeze it for future use. I can usually get 7-8 meals for our family out of this recipe (it makes around 25 cups). It can be easliy reduced for smaller batches or families. Sorry for the lack of pictures - I had camera issues that I didn't notice until the end so I only got the final shot.

*Note: You can also exchange small or large cans of ingredients when needed, as long as the total amount works out to the same. Use what you have.

Recipe

6-14 oz. cans peeled, petite diced tomatoes, drained (or 3 large cans)
9-15 oz. cans tomato sauce (or 4 large cans plus one small can)
4-6 oz. cans tomato paste
1 1/2 onion, diced
10 cloves garlic, minced (we love garlic but you can use less)
5 T extra virgin olive oil
5 T Italian seasoning
1 1/2 T dried basil
1 T dried oregano
1 cup brown sugar (we like ours a little sweet but you can use less)
Additoinal spices and sugar as needed to taste

Directions

In a large pot, saute onion and garlic in olive oil over medium heat until onions are tender, about 5 minutes. Add half of the drained stewed tomatoes, tomato sauce and tomato paste and stir together. Add spices and sugar. Simmer on medium-low for 15 minutes. Add remainder of stewed tomatoes, tomato sauce and tomato paste and stir together. Simmer for and additional 15 minutes. Add additoinal spices and sugar to taste. Simmer on low for 30 minutes or until all flavors have come together.

Today's Tip

If you find a recipe your family loves, make extra. I like to make things in bulk and freeze them so I can pull a meal together quickly and easily. Some things go straight into the oven/microwave and others can be defrosted the night before. Today's pancakes are a great example.

Buttermilk Pancakes

These are yummy pancakes. They always come out light and fluffy. We love to make these on a relaxing Saturday morning. The kids love them with chocolate chips or you can try blueberries or nuts instead. Plain or otherwise, add your favorite syrup or other toppings for a delicious breakfast. I usually triple the original recipe and freeze all the extras for those mornings when we don't have a lot of time (so you can easily make 1/3 the recipe for about 20 pancakes). I can put them straight into the microwave or toaster oven for easy morning prep.

Recipe

Yields about 55 pancakes, depending on the size

Adapted from Foodnetwork.com

6 cups flour

6 3/4 tsp. baking powder

1 1/2 tsp. salt

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

6 eggs

6 cups buttermilk

3/4 cup melted butter

Optional: additives ( such as 1 cup blueberries, 1/2 cup chocolate chips or chopped nuts)

Directions

Combine dry ingredients in one bowl and mix to distribute. Combine wet ingredients in another bowl and mix together. Pour wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and combine. Fold in any additional items.

Note: Just mix until the batter comes together. It will still be lumpy. Do not overmix or the pancakes will be heavy.

The batter is mixed.

The chocolate chips were folded in.

Pancakes cooking.

The final product - chocolate chip pancakes. You could use mini chips for less chocolate also.