Annapolis, Meatballs and Ice Cream (and Shabbos Cooking)



Earlier this week, my mother and I headed into Annapolis for a little day trip. I mention this only because I wanted to include that picture. It's a pretty place and probably a lot more pleasant to hang out when it isn't 90 degrees out.

Now on to cooking. Wednesday night, I made some D-E-LICIOUS sweet and sour meatballs for dinner. The recipe was given to me by a friend who we stayed with for Shavuos last year. She had made it as an appetizer for a yom tov meal, but I felt pretty confident that, if served with whole wheat pasta, it would make an excellent weekday dinner. Boy was I right! It was not only incredibly yummy, but it was really good and filling too! It lasted two nights (even with Yaakov eating it!)

Now, here's what I discovered: It's a little difficult to take appetizing pictures of sweet and sour meatballs with a point and shoot camera. But here's what I've got for you:

The above photographed meatballs are not fully cooked. Once cooked, the coloring is darker. Also, this picture doesn't convey the awesome smell, or that perfect tangy taste against the savory meat.

The recipe is so simple and they come out so amazingly yummy, you've really got to try it! (The recipe is at the end of this post). Another cool thing about this recipe is that, once the meatballs were gone, there was plenty of sauce left over and I was able to use it in my cholent for shabbos. Sweet and sour cholent? Awesome.



Now, today was forecast to be over 100 degrees, so I decided that in the spirit of summer, I'd try out a friend's recipe for pareve mint chocolate chip ice cream. I would share the recipe, but I don't think I'm allowed to. So, instead, I'm sharing pictures. I don't have any of it nicely scooped into a cone, but I do have these shots of the ice cream maker at work: The one above is right after the batter was poured in and the one below is about 20 minutes later when it started to turn into ice cream.



Other than sweet and sour cholent (which is just the sauce, some quinoa, potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, onion, garlic, and meat), I also made some honey ginger salmon, soy sauce green beans and mushroom garlic couscous.

Sweet and Sour Meatballs

• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 egg
• ½ c. bread crumbs/matza meal
• ½ onion, grated
• ¾ tsp. salt
• ¾ tsp. pepper
• ½ tsp. oregano

Sauce:
• 1 c. jellied cranberry sauce
• ¾ c. ketchup
• ¼ c. brown sugar
• 2 tsp. lemon juice
Pineapple juice to cover the meatballs

1. simmer sauce ingredients for 25-30 minutes, stirring often
2. form meatballs into 1 inch balls. Add to sauce and simmer for 1 hour.


Honey Ginger Salmon

  • Salmon fillets

  • 1/2 to 3/4 Cup honey

  • 1 tbsp (ish?) soy sauce

  • 1 tsp (ish?) olive oil

  • 1 tbsp fresh grated ginger

  • 1 tsp garlic powder

  • a pinch of fresh ground black pepper



1. Mix the sauce ingredients until completely combined.
2. Pour over the salmon. Sometimes, I dredge them in a little flour first so that the sauce will stick better.
3. Bake, uncovered, at 350 for 15-20 minutes. (check the fish after 15 minutes to see if it's cooked through)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Strawberry Picking

Image
It's strawberry season, ladies and gents! Of course, it's almost over. And of course, while strawberry season comes to a close, I'm only just getting around to it. But yesterday I headed out to Baugher's Farm to pick them for myself.  I brought along my mom and my daughter, both of them first timers!  They basically just sat on the bench while I did all the labor, but they enjoyed the beautiful weather and the sprawling green landscape. As you can see, I got a decent amount.  Still, the pickin's were slimmer than I'd hoped. Since I don't cook or bake as much as I used to, what with this small, precious, demanding person who's entered my life, I figured I'd better freeze these babies for future use. I washed them, cut off the tops, dried them with paper towels, spread them out on a baking sheet, and stuck them in the freezer. In a little while, I'll take them out and seal them in a freezer bag. Supposedly, they...
Read more
Ok, I was supposed to post by this past Sunday and didn't. Sorry to all of my avid readers! (All two of you.) Nothing very interesting has been going on. The challahs I baked a couple weeks ago came out delicious and I'm definitely going to make them again in a week or so. This time, though, I'm going to make them smaller so I can have more of them. In other news, my semester is soon to be over. I have my final next Thursday and today was my last day of class. Woot! Following this, I've got a few weeks with no school so I can hopefully get some more work hours in, or at least get some other things done in the free time. Then, on January 17th, it's off to Israel for my brother's wedding (which will be in B'nai B'rak on January 25th.) I went to the dress gemach last night and found a really gorgeous purple dress that looks very nice on me. I just need to get it taken out in the shoulders so I can move my arms. I was surprised how quickly and eas...
Read more

Fudge!

Here's a little tidbit many of you may not know about me: when I was growing up, my parents gave mixed signals about kashrus. My father was pretty strict, but my mother tended to be a little lax. She would take me to non-kosher restaurants, like Hard Rock Cafe and Olive Garden, where we would both get salads. My mother would insist the croutons, eggs, tuna and parmesean cheese were okay. In addition to this, my mother used to buy Fudgery fudge. She had once looked at the bag of fudge mix that they use and had determined that it contained nothing inherently non-kosher. (I suppose that means it contained no lard or gelatin). Well, as a kid, I loved that fudge. In fact, it downright broke my heart when I realized it wasn't technically kosher. Ever since then, I've basically never had fudge again. All that is getting ready to change. I finally worked up the courage to consider, maybe, possibly, at some point in the future, making homemade fudge. It doesn't sound...
Read more