Hawaiian Meatballs

(recipe & pic adapted from family gone healthy)

Serves: 6

Ingredients

For the meatballs

• 1 cup panko breadcrumbs
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• ¼ teaspoon ground allspice
• Salt and Pepper
• 2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• ½ cup milk
• ¾ pound 80/20 grass feed ground beef
• ½ pound lean grass feed ground pork
• 1 large egg
• Foil

For the hawaiian glaze

• ½ cup soy sauce
• ¼ cup brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon honey
• ½ cup water
• 1 cup fresh pineapple, finely diced (I use an 8oz can of crushed pineapple, drained)
• 2 tablespoons cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger (powdered ginger works fine too)
• 2 tablespoons corn starch
• 1 tablespoons sesame seeds
• ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 cup of chopped fresh pineapple (for serving,I use a large can of pineapple tidbits)
• 1 or 2 cups of brown or white rice (for serving)
• chopped chives or green onions (for serving)

Instructions

Make the meatballs

1. Add all of the meatball ingredients to the bowl and mix with your hands gently.
2. Put foil on a large baking sheet. Roll the meat into 1-inch balls and arrange them a couple of inches apart on the sheet.
3. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Bake the meatballs until cooked through, about 15-20 minutes. Cut a meatball to make sure it’s not red/pink.

Make the hawaiian glaze

1. Add all of the ingredients except the corn starch and sesame seeds to a medium sauce pan. Heat on medium heat.
2. Bring to a boil and lower heat so it simmers. whisk in the corn starch cook for 5 minutes stirring often.
3. Add in the sesame seeds and cook for an additional minute.

Combine glaze, meatballs, and pineapple tidbits in serving bowl and garnish with chives or green onions.  Serve over rice.  Enjoy!

Peach Custard Pie topped with Cream

(picture from welcome home blog.net)

I originally found this recipe on Pinterest from welcome home blog.net but ended up changing a few things and LOVED it!

This makes 2 deep dish pies, cause two pies are always better than one!

6 large but firm ripe peaches

2 Tbsp of sugar for peaches

1 1/2 cups sugar

7 1/2 Tbsp flour

1/2 plus 1/8  tsp salt

2/3 plus 2Tbsp plus 2tsp heavy cream

5 egg yolks

1 1/4 tsp vanilla

2 deep dish pie crusts, frozen or homemade

2 cups heavy cream

Heat oven to 375.  Peel peaches, remove pit and slice in half.  Place face up on baking sheet and sprinkle them with the 2 Tbsp of sugar. bake for 15 min then flip over and bake for 15 more min.  If you are using homemade crust bake it with the peaches for the last 15 min.  Cut a circle of parchment and place weights or beans in crust while cooking.  Remove crusts and peaches from oven and remove parchment and weights from crust.  If using premade frozen crusts pull out of freezer now.  Cut peaches into thirds and place in a circle all around the outside of the crust and in the middle of both pies.  Turn oven down to 325.

In medium bowl mix together 1 1/2 cups sugar, flour, salt, cream, vanilla and egg yolks.  Whisk till smooth.  Pour half of custard over the peaches in one pie and the other half over the peaches in the other pie.  Bake at 325 degrees for 50 minutes or until custard is set. Cool completely.

Whip 2 cups of heavy cream with some powdered sugar and vanilla.  I make stabilized whipped cream with unflavored gelatin as it holds up better.  Top pies with cream and refrigerate till ready to serve. 

Best Ever Pulled Pork Sandwiches

(picture from breannasrecipebox.blogspot.com)

Pork

3-4 lb pork roast

2 onions chopped

16oz of your favorite BBQ sauce

6-8 oz of your favorite BBQ sauce, we like Sweet Baby Rays Sweet & Spicy (set aside)

Sandwich Buns

Place pork roast, onions and 16 oz of BBQ sauce in crock pot and cook on low 6-8 hours.  Remove from crock pot and shred with forks. Do not return to crock pot.  In separate bowl toss meat with remaining 6-8oz of sauce or drizzle this sauce over pork once its on the buns.  Then toast buns, place meat on buns and top with coleslaw.  The coleslaw is awesome so don't skip it!!

Dead Simple Slaw

I use the 16-ounce bag of pre-shredded cabbage

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1 large green bell pepper, finely chopped 

1 large carrot, coarsely grated

1 1/4 cups mayonnaise

1/3 cup cider vinegar

2 teaspoons sugar

Toss all vegetables in a large bowl with 1 teaspoon each of salt and pepper.  Whisk together mayonnaise, vinegar, and sugar, then toss with the slaw.  Chill, covered, stirring occasionally, at least 1 hour (for vegetables to wilt and flavors to blend).

Recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen 

Big Al's K.C. Bar-B-Q Sauce 

*haven't tried this yet, but I want to

2 cups ketchup

2 cups tomato sauce

1 1/4 cup brown sugar

1 1/4 cup red wine vinegar

1/2 cup unsulfured molasses

4 teaspoons hickory-flavored liquid smoke (I use mesquite)

2 tablespoons butter

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

1/4 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon paprika

1/2 teaspoon celery seed

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (I use 1/4 teaspoon)

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper

In a large saucepan over medium heat, mix together the ketchup, tomato sauce, brown sugar, vinegar, molasses, liquid smoke and butter.  Season with garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder, paprika, celery seed, cinnamon, cayenne, salt and pepper.

Reduce heat to low, and simmer for up to 20 minutes.  For thicker sauce, simmer longer and for thinner, less time is needed. 

Recipe is from Allrecipes

Black Bean, Corn and Avocado Salsa

This is one of my favorite snacks.

Note: These measurements aren't exact, for once in my life I just "threw stuff in" you can add more of what you love and less of what you don't.

1-1.5 cups frozen corn kernels I put them in a strainer and rinse them to unthaw them a bit
1 can black beans rinse and drained
1/2 bunch chopped cilantro
1-2 avocados cubed
3-4 roma tomatoes chopped
3 green onions chopped (white and green parts)
1 lime juiced, more if you like
I used about 2 tsp of Wildtree's Italian Salad Dressing Mix you can use Good Seasons or any brand you have on hand.

Mix it all up gently and enjoy with chips, on salad or with any mexican dish.

Thick and Chewy M&M Blondies

These are just what you expect.  Thick, chewy and delicious!  The M&M's sink to the bottom which doesn't affect the taste but if you want to see them on top you might try sprinkling a few on towards the end of the baking time.

Thick and Chewy M&M Blondies
Ingredients:
3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup M & M candies (or chocolate chips or butterscotch chips)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 13x9" pan with non-stick cooking spray.
Add the brown sugar to the melted butter and stir until combined. Add the vanilla and the eggs to the brown sugar mixture.
In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda and salt. Add the flour mixture to the brown sugar mixture and stir until all combined. Fold in the M&M candies (or chocolate chips). Scrape the batter into the baking pan and smooth the top using a spatula (I actually just used my hands to push the dough all the way to the edges and it was much easier). Bake for about 24-27 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the blondies comes out clean.
Let the blondies cool completely and then cut into squares.
Makes 12-20 squares depending on how big you cut them.

I found this recipe at www.sixsistersstuff.blogspot.com 

Easy Sweet and Sour Chicken

We love this Sweet and Sour Chicken Recipe.  It reminds us of one we used to get at the Thai Orchid Restaurant. It uses bottled sauce which is why it's quick and easy,  I realize that may not be as healthy, but it is what is is people.  We like it.

Kikkoman Sweet and Sour Sauce (for basting or simmering, not their dipping sauce, I get a 4lb 11oz bottle from Cash and Carry and I can get 4+ meals for my family of 7 out of one container.  It's also much cheaper than the itty bitty store bottles.)

3 chicken breasts sliced very thin

1 red pepper, sliced thin

1 yellow onion, sliced

1 seedless cucumber cut into spears

1 large can pineapple chunks, drained or fresh pineapple

Pour some oil in a large skillet and stir fry onions and peppers. Add chicken, season with salt and pepper and cook until chicken is no longer pink.  Add as much sauce as you like along with the cucumbers and pineapple and simmer for a few minutes then serve over rice.  

Just a heads up that the cucumbers make this.  Seriously my husband was totally skeptical and not a huge cucumber fan but the crunch they give is awesome.  The other thing we love about it is having the chicken sliced really thin.

This recipe feeds my family of 7 with a little left over.  So you may want to adjust if you don't feed an army every night.  :)

Kneaders Raspberry Bread Pudding with Warm Vanilla Sauce

This recipe is a copy cat of the Raspberry Bread Pudding from Kneaders Bakery.  It is pretty much heaven on earth.  I made it last year with croissants and then my friend Corinne made it over the holidays with French bread and I loved it even more.  

1 1/2 loaves stale french bread
1 qt. heavy cream
3 C. sugar (I think you could cut this down to 2 cups maybe even 1 1/2)
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
5 C. raspberries, fresh or frozen
1 C. sugar
1/2 C. apple juice

In a large bowl mix the cream, sugar, egg and vanilla. Cut bread into 1 1/2 inch cubes and add to cream mixture, coating the bread well.Let stand 30 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes to allow cream to absorb.Mix the raspberries, sugar and apple juice, stirring until sugar is dissolved.

Layer a 9×13 inch baking pan 3/4 full with the bread mix and pour fruit filling over the bread mix, spreading evenly.

Top with the remaining bread.Bake 40 minutes at 375.

Serve warm topped with vanilla cream sauce.

(If you want it to cut into nice squares you can chill it and then cut it into squares, then microwave it for 20-25 seconds per piece and top with sauce.)

Vanilla Cream Sauce

2/3 C. butter
2.5 T. flour
1 1/2 C. heavy cream
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 C. sugar

Melt butter in medium saucepan and add flour.  Stir 10 minutes until it has a nutty aroma, do not brown.  Add salt, cream and sugar until mix is thick.  Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.  Serve warm over the pudding.