Meatballs

I used to work at a cooking school, assisting the teaching chefs. 

My favorite chef actually used to have her own cooking school in the 70's and continued to teach at other schools after she retired.  Her name was Lois Lee and she had the best, most simple recipes. I use so many of her recipes on a regular basis and this classic meatball recipe is one of our favorites.

I'm going to write it with the few changes I made.  Mainly, I cook the onions and garlic before they go into the meatballs because if you don't, their flavor will revisit you all night in the form of big, stinky burps :)  Also, I roast them in the oven.  It only takes about 15 minutes and it requires less "babysitting" than pan-frying them.


One tip:  buy the $15 wedge of Parmesan.  It makes such a difference.  Even though I'm always looking for ways to cut my grocery bill (hello, Aldi!), I won't give up the good Parmigiano-Reggiano.

Lois Lee's Meatballs

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion, minced
1 clove garlic ,finely chopped
l lb. lean ground beef
1 tsp. salt
freshly ground pepper
1 egg
1/2 cup dry breadcrumbs (I use crushed saltines....about 1/2 of a sleeve)
1/3 cup finely shredded Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup parsley, chopped
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- enough water to make mixture soft (about 1/2 cup)


1.  Heat oven to 450 degrees F.  Spray a large rimmed baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray.

2.  Heat oil in 10-inch skillet over medium heat.  Add onions and garlic and saute until softened, about 3 to 5 minutes; cool.


3.  Combine cooled onion mixture and remaining ingredients together lightly (I use clean hands).  Form into small, golf ball-sized balls and place on prepared baking sheet.  



4.  Bake in 450 degree oven for 10 to 15 minutes, turning once, until browned and cooked through.



Cardinal rule of meatballs (and any meat)?  BROWNING.  I let mine get quite crusty, but not overdone.  The Parmesan really helps this and really adds to the flavor.


I make Italian Wedding Soup with these, too.....I just make them much smaller. 


I hope you like Lois' meatballs as much as Zuddy and I do!

Awwwwww SNAP!

My camera takes black photos.  

I found this out when I was taking 'before' photos of the Noodle's old-bedroom-now-office.  I'll try to borrow my Mom's camera because you all have to see the shit I've encountered.  And I have no nicer way to say this, trust me.  Saying "shit" and "snap" is as censored as I can get. And now I need some much harsher words to convey my feelings.

Here's how my morning has turned out: 

1. I can't find the camera.  Zuddy has it in the garage.  Does it belong in the garage?  No.  It does not.
2. I take a 'before' photo of the office.  The low battery light comes on.
3. I plug in the battery for recharging.
4. I remove the wire shelving in the closet and grab the battery-powered driver to remove the mounting brackets attached to the wall.
5. The battery pack is fuckingdead.
6. I go downstairs to get the extra battery in it's (unplugged) charger.  It's dead, too.
7. I start removing the fugly "cedar" panels from the closet.  They are glued AND nailed into the walls.  
8. I remove a couple of the panels and the plaster wall comes with them and crumbles to the floor.
9. After the driver battery is charged I try removing those mounting brackets.  The screws just spin and spin and won't come out.
10. I place the recharged camera battery in the camera and take photos of the closet.
11. I download the photos and SURFUCKINGPRIZE!  They're black.

I give up.   


But I found a few half finished Noodleroom photos on the camera: 

Her bed is on the floor all klassy-like because she didn't want the the frame anymore.  Plus, she just wants her bigger bed.  

But Dave Ramsey and our bank account say, "No.  Get a real job, Martha."


I am frustrated on so many levels today.  I'm going to go and take a shower and get out of the house.

O. M. G.

My sweet Noodle went to a "goth book signing" (her exact words) tonight.

She flew out of the house dressed in black at 5pm and I haven't seen her since.  It's 9pm now.  

Should I be worried?

Do you think she's having a makeover?

What if she comes home looking like this:

 

Thanks and What's Up.

First of all, I tried to write a response comment to you fab girls in the last post, but I'm having computer issues.  I won't go into the gory details, but I need to take my laptop baby in to the doctor. 


Thanks so much for all of your great ideas for dinner. 

I want to get that book Cutz was talking about and I went to Trader Joe's and picked up a few things.  Sadly, one of the things that made it into my cart was a chocolate mousse torte that only I liked.  Which means I ate it all in 3 days time.  Impressive, no?  I'm totally getting another one.  It rocked my world.  Thanks Michelle!!  My front butt thanks you, too :)

You know what?  The weather's turning more fall-like and I almost feel like cooking again.

 Noodle is happily living in her new room and she's keeping it neat and tidy!  And like any tweenager, she's in there for hours on end with the door shut.

Did I tell you Noodle's in middle school?  

Boy, is that a saga.  It's been a big deal for us.  The middle school she's attending wasn't our first choice of schools for her.  The test scores aren't great, so we planned on sending her to a college prep charter school with awesome test scores.  However, when we went to the open house for the charter school, we didn't feel good about it.  The principal seemed a little nutty.  Also, there weren't many extra curriculars to choose from and she wouldn't be able to continue her Spanish immersion.  In the end, we chose the not-so-great public school and you know what?  

It's been SO GREAT!!  

She's in the Spanish immersion program still, and she's got an amazing teacher.  Plus, the extra curriculars are awesome and she can resume the violin (it was cut from elementary schools last year) and play volleyball and be on the ski team and the tennis team!  Here she is with her bff and the little sister on the first day of school.
Don't they look old this year??

 

Here she is way back in kinder:

 Grade 2: 

Grade 3: 

 

 Grade 5: 

I started working at a new company this week.  Still as a consulting recipe editor and I love it.  

The last couple of years at my other job have been tough.  

Then in December there was a big change in the company which took away most of my work.  I still get called in occasionally, but my profession has been deeply affected by the recession.  I have only worked about 1/4th of what I used to work.

This new gig came just in time.  You see, Zuddy and I have been going all Dave Ramsey for the last 3 years and we are finally almost done paying off some serious debt.  I'm so looking forward to the freedom we will have starting in January.  I will finally be able to finish the kitchen!!

I've also been struggling a bit with the blogging.  I've been feeling self-conscious about "putting it out there".  I mean, who cares about what I'm doing?  I mean, even I'm bored by me.

Well, not many people know about this thing.  I don't share it with a lot of people and I figure I'll keep at it, just to keep in touch with my pals.  In fact, I should really write in this thing more.  

Thanks for keeping in touch with me, girls!  I'm going to get better about responding to your comments, too.  Just check back in the comment section :)  

Okay.  I'm going to go make some meatballs for my Zuddy.  

Balls of meat.  

Want the recipe?  I'll give it to you later this week.  It's from the cooking school where I used to work. 


Love, Mart

Helping Hamburger

I think I have the food editor's version of writer's block.

I don't want to cook, think about cooking, grocery shop for cooking or anything else that has to do with cooking.  I think Zuddy and Noodle are sick of looking into an empty fridge.  Zuddy's even been joking about it:  he opened the fridge door the other day and shouted, "Hel-LOOOOO!"  to see if he could hear his echo.  Oh he's a real freaking riot.

So the other day I was shopping and saw Hamburger Helper on sale. 

I picked up a box and bought it.  Then I made it for dinner.

 

Was it delicious?  No. 

Did I care?  Not really.

Noodle wouldn't touch it, and when Zuddy came in the door, she said to him, "Do you like Hamburger helper?"

Zuddy: "No, why?"

Noodle: "Mom made it for dinner."

Zuddy:  "No she didn't."

Then he looked at me with crazy panicked eyes and said, "No you didn't.....did you?"  His voice got kind of high and squeaky when he said it and he walked quickly to the kitchen to get a look at it.

Sheesh.  You would've thought I substituted.....I don't know......one of our neighbors all chopped up or something for the ground beef.

Do you guys ever have this issue?  It's been going on for a while now.  Help me.