Crock Pot Meatballs in Tomato Sauce

I like good old fashioned meatballs.  I do not like the fat.  Here is my two-day recipe for meatballs and sauce.  Don't be scared; it takes two days so you can skim the fat.  The work is short.

Ground beef, extra lean (about 1.5 pounds)
1 pound extra lean pork
1 pound white meat ground turkey 
Turkey Italian Sausage (about 1.5 pounds)
2 teaspoons oregano
1 cup oatmeal
1 cup grated parmesan
1 tsp. garlic powder
3 eggs
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

Beat the eggs a little in a large bowl.  Add everything else.  Gently use your hands to thoroughly mix it all together. Now get some friends (I use handy children) and start rolling the meatballs.  Again, be gentle or they will be tough.  You can make any size; I like them slightly smaller than a ping pong ball.  As you make them, place them on a tray covered with foil or wax paper.  Pile them high, they're going in the crockpot anyway!

In a 6 quart crockpot, place:
28 oz. petite diced tomatoes
28 oz. tomato sauce
4 cloves of garlic, crushed.

Place the meatballs into this sauce.  They will be piled higher than the sauce; no problem.  Cook on low for 6 hours.  When they are done, take the lid off and let them cool 30 minutes or so.  Take out as many meatballs as you want for dinner tomorrow to refrigerate, and place the rest in freezer containers.  (They should be cool enough to touch before you put them in the freezer).

Ladle the sauce into a glass bowl or large measuring cup, cover and refrigerate overnight.

About 30 minutes before serving time, skim the fat off the top of the sauce and discard.  Place the remaining sauce into a large pot.  Add:

2-28 oz cans tomato sauce
1/2 cup red wine

Bring to a boil over medium heat, and gently return the meatballs to the pan to heat.  Cook 20 minutes, reducing heat to "simmer" when the pot returns to a boil.

Meanwhile, finely chop:
3 Tablespoons fresh basil

Stir in the basil when the cooking time is up and remove from heat.  Decant about 2/3 of the sauce into your freezer containers, depending on "saucy" you like your pasta.  Freeze remaining sauce once cooled.

[I will add the photo tomorrow!]

Rainy Friday - Tips, Tricks and Inspiration!

Happy Friday!  I've missed a few of these installations lately because of hot dates with my hubby but on this rainy evening pre my Color Run 5k tomorrow, I am here to share some of the week's reading with you.

Here's a tip:  go for at least 5 days a week following health guidelines;  I was shocked to learn that most Americans have only 7 days a year where the meet the MyPlate guidelines.  So many of us are obese or overweight, and it is really sobering news to me.  Oh and did I mention that those who did manage to meet the guidelines usually ate more than 3 meals to get there? 

I think the big wake-up call is that MyPlate is a very simple concept and yet, people don't do it.  It is not enough to say "I'll eat moderately"; we need to put intention and action into it. 

 On a similar vein, let's not let ourselves be tricked by diet gimmicks.  Here 8 diet "rumors" are  unraveled.

Finally, for your weekend enjoyment, here is a little Bento inspiration - a cute piece from the BBC.


Now you should be all set for a fun and fit
weekend!

Menu Sharing

A few months ago my smart friend Colleen suggested I start keeping my menus on Google Calendar, a resource I already use to pieces anyway.  It was a brillant idea and beat the heck out of my former paper and pencil system.

The Google calendar allows me to repeat menu items, so something that is a big hit might get repeated in 2 weeks, whereas something else yummy, but very odd -- like smoked salmon -- might only get repeated every 5 weeks.

What I truly love about this is that each week when I sit down to work on next week's menu, it is already loaded with lots of meals!  Sometimes there will even be 2 or 3 choices for each meal and I just see what "feels" right this week, then set the other meals forward a week or two.

I can now do my menus in 10 minutes where it used to take an hour or more.

This week I was wishing I could have a peek at someone else's menu;  all the kids were sick and craving comfort food; I was looking for fast inspiration!  Today I thought, "Well, why not share my menus?  Maybe they can help someone out when they feel uninspired."

I have done so.  Here is the link to my menu calendar.  It's public so you should have no trouble seeing it.  If you click on "details" you can see a link to any online version of the recipe(s); if I have a photo, it's attached which you can also see under details.  For an example of both, look at the details under my lunch entry for Feb 2, Bo Luc Lac.

Disclaimer:  I only work one week ahead, so menus for two weeks from today will be incomplete and lacking detail!

I would love to see some other folks' menus too!  If you'd consider sharing, please be sure to let me know!  Happy cooking!

(Cross posted to Bright Love)

Beautiful Breakfast (or Lunch, if You Please)

I made Salade Niçoise for Pepper and Dear Hubby for lunch today and it looked so wonderful, I made it for myself for breakfast.  Yes, it was 8:00 a.m., however, I did get up at 4:30.  It was just what I was craving.

The base is salad greens.  We just restarted our CSA box so we got to enjoy some very fresh greens! On top of that is tuna dressed with a mustard vinegarette.  It is surrounded by boiled potatoes (toss them in a teaspoon of olive oil while they're warm), grape tomatoes and a boiled egg.  On the very top I have some pickled cucumber instead of olives which Pepper and Dear Hubby do not like. It's divine.

In the photo below is the deconstructed version for the bento boxes.  Tuna (with the cukes) on the right, potatoes, et al on the left.  This one is Pepper's.  Dear Hubby's has smoked salmon instead of tuna because he is not a fan of canned tuna.

It's simple, it's low calorie and it contains tons of good things for heart and brain health.  What more can you ask?  In case you keep track, nutritional information below:

Nutritional Info  (For Weight Watchers, 7 Points Plus. including your 2 healthy oils!)

• Servings Per Recipe: 1
• Amount Per Serving
• Calories: 263.0

• Total Fat: 14.3 g
• Cholesterol: 233.3 mg
• Sodium: 496.6 mg
• Total Carbs: 7.1 g
• Dietary Fiber: 2.0 g
• Protein: 26.4 g

Our Favorite Bento

It's been a crazy week.  Okay well it was actually a normal week but seemed crazy because I am not back in the mode of school and schedules yet.

That said, I did manage to produce a bento lunch for the family every day but one; here are a couple:

This is a mostly leftover bento.  Pepper had made a yummy Asian chicken salad in phyllo cups the night before; so here is the leftover with sauteed spinach, broccoli, tamagoyaki (omelet) and rice.

Next is our current favorite bento.  All the recipes for this one are from the Just Bento cookbook.  (I think she should be giving me royalties!).  This a Soboro bento.  I think soboro means "ground" so this one is egg, turkey and green bean (with a little carrot for color).  I think the reason they love this bento so much is that the texture is so lovely. All the food is soft; it's just a joy to eat. 

Here are the ingredients ready to go, except the beans and the rice.  I grind my own turkey because I'm a little paranoid.

This is half of Pepper's new bento from Christmas.  It's huge!  The pictures do not do this food justice; it photographs bland, but all the parts are delicately flavored.  It's just so tasty.  To eat it, you dig into the rice beneath so you get both in each bite.  I'm telling you, it's heaven!

 

I left a couple of green beans whole for the top of the box.

Isn't it beautiful?  It makes her want to eat all the healthy stuff inside.  We tie it up in a napkin so the box stays together.

PS - I am not reprinting the recipes here because I haven't asked for permission. But if you want to borrow my cookbook, just ask. Or better yet, buy yourself a copy, it's fantastic.

Bo Luc Lac

At my Weight Watcher's meeting, someone mentioned the website SkinnyTastes.com; an hour later I came across a recipe on Pinterest for a dish I'd made recently, but hadn't been pleased with.  The recipe was for Bo Luc Lac (Shaking Beef), a Vietnamese Dish.  Turns out this recipe was from SkinnyTastes!  It sounded flavorful so I decided to give it one more try and if I didn't love it, I'd let it go.

This recipe is fantastic.  Really, really, fantastic.  The whole family went wild for it.  I made only two adjustments to the recipe as it appears here;  I left out the onions (allergies) and I did not make the lime dipping sauce.  Instead I halved some cute little limes and surrounded the dish with them; then everyone squeezed a bit on their own dish.  

Do take time to read the blog author's comments on the dish.  She was striving for authentic and I think she hit it.  Don't be tempted to leave out the tomatoes, they make the dish.  My only adjustment for next time is this:  I won't dump all the vinaigrette on it;  it was too much liquid to deal with.  Not too much flavor, just too much liquid. 

Try it for yourself and let me know what you think!  Here is the nutrition information as the blog author reported it:

Servings: 6 • Serving Size: 3 oz beef + lettuce, onions, tomato
Sodium 1451 mg  • Points+: 7 pt (Weight Watchers)
Calories: 268.9 • Fat: 10.1 g • Protein: 27.3 g • Carb: 16.6 g • Fiber: 0.9 g • Sugar: 12 g

 Check out the SkinnyTastes site.  She has a lot of great ideas and a cool feature for Weight Watchers; you can plug in the amount of points you want to use and it will give you suggestions.

Bento Blitz

With the return to school and work, I returned to bento making.  I enjoyed my holiday respite from the early morning cooking but the truth is, I love to make lunch for the family.

I have been focusing on getting more color into the boxes, so you may see some unusual things in the next few weeks.  (Are you admiring my fine mesh strainer/steam basket at left?  Got it for Christmas!)

Here are a few bentos I made recently, with a little info about each.

 Pepper has been asking for a simple brown rice and veggie bento from time to time;  she has a very demanding athletic class 30 minutes after she eats, so we collaborate on what is going to sit well while she runs three miles or does 100 crunches. 

I sliced a sweet potato into 1/4" slices, simmered them in a bit of water for about 10 minutes and then used these adorable cutters to make cute designs (thanks Mom and Dad). The scraps at the top were cut small and hidden under the rice.

 Here is Pepper's bento box: broccoli, boiled egg, brown rice, sweet potato, grape tomatoes, and a little piggy of soy sauce.

This is one of my favorite containers for Pepper because it holds her chopsticks and silverware close at hand.(There's a little lid that goes over the flatware compartment.)  I thought dear hubby would not like this meal since he is a meat lover but he offered no complaint!

The next bento was a huge hit.  The spinach knobs with sesame sauce are always popular with the whole family.  In the past I have short-cut the sauce with tahini and it was wonderful, but this time I used the crushed sesame seeds and it was dynamite!  Oh my goodness, oh my goodness! Maki's recipe calls for mixing the sauce with the spinach but it's messy so if I'm in a hurry, I put it on the knobs instead.

There are a few sauteed bell peppers and carrots in between the spinach and the white rice.
Ginger Chicken  (serves 5)

Marinade:
2 Tbsp. crushed ginger
2 Tbsp. Mirin
2 Tbsp. Sake (you can use regular wine)
1 Tbsp. Soy Sauce (I use Low Sodium)

Dice up 4 chicken breasts and put them in the marinade a few minutes.  Heat a frying pan over medium high heat with 1/2 tsp. sesame oil and 1 tsp. canola oil.  When the oil shimmers add half the chicken.   Set a timer for 3 minutes and then flip it all.  Cook 2 more minutes but make sure you don't overcook them.  Repeat with new oil and the rest of the chicken, reserving marinade.

There are no sauce bottles in the picture because I forgot to put them in the bentos and had to call Dear Hubby to come back to get them!  The sauce is simple:

Deglaze the pan with 1/4 cup sake (or white wine) and add 1/4 cup water.  Add any remaining marinade.  Cook it a few minutes until it is nice and thick, then add 2 Tbsp. soy sauce.  Strain and bottle. 

Finally, today's bento.  Since only the Mr. had to take lunch today, I made a simple meal, partially leftover.  I do not cook a whole meal every day; I do use leftovers when I have them.  That said, 7 people eat a lot of food and we do not have a lot of leftovers.  The only thing I "cooked" for today was cabbage and crab slaw; this is a wonderful recipe from the Just Bento Cookbook that Dear Hubby really enjoys.  

It is actually quite simple, mostly instant cabbage pickles with the yummy crab and a super simple vinaigrette.  There is nothing to it, really, and all the calories are in the crab, of which there is only 1/4 cup per serving. 

I dressed it up a bit with these pretty grape tomatoes.

It looks better if you don't chop all the curls out of the cabbage so don't use a food processor.  The picture below shows the cabbage cut thinly by hand, before pickling.

 

I knew hubby would be fine with yesterday's fried rice as the main dish.  I make fried rice most weeks on Thursday to use up the excess rice accumulated through the week.  I just use whatever I have on hand; in this case it is brown and white rice, scrambled egg, cabbage, mushrooms and a tiny, tiny bit of bacon.

Here is the whole meal together.  I added some fresh blueberries to round it out.  It's all assembled in the neat-o tiffin I bought Dear Hubby last fall.  He loves this container.it holds a lot of food but also looks really cool.

That's the bento round up.  This week was super simple, although I have been behind on dishes all week.  After a conversation with my buddy Colleen, I realized -- duh -- I need some dishwasher safe boxes!  So I shopped them on J-List and found a couple for under $5 each.  They are on the way to me as we speak!