Meatball Subs

Summer reminds me of cookouts, baseball and amazing food (can we say, Apple Pie)! This isn't typically something I would make, or eat, but my husband is a HUGE meatball lover. He saw this recipe in the cookbook I received a while back from a giveaway and requested this be one of the first to make from it. Boy was I glad he wanted this! It was so incredibly delicious; much better than I was anticipating. Given the choice, I'd never choose a meatball sub .. over anything really. This however was different. It had substance. It didn't need a bunch of toppings to mask the taste. These would be great for a summer gathering or even a cookout at your house, just cut the buns in half and voila!

Meatball Subs

Adapted from: Simply Suppers

Yields: 4 subs

For meatballs:

1/4 cup panko bread crumbs

1/4 cup milk

3/4 lb ground beef

1/4 lb Italian sausage

2 Tbsp finely diced shallots (or onion)

5 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 cup ricotta cheese

1 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese

1 large egg, lightly beaten

2 Tbsp parsley, chopped

1/4 tsp freshly ground nutmeg

1 tsp dried thyme

1/2 tsp dried oregano

kosher salt

finely ground black pepper

For sandwiches:

2 cups tomato sauce

4 crusty sandwich rolls/buns

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

To prepare the meatballs, preheat oven to 395 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, combine bread crumbs and milk until mixed well. Add the remaining ingredients for the meatballs and mix well with hands. Season with salt and pepper as desired. When well combined, shape into 16-20 meatballs.

In a large skillet over medium-high heat, warm the oil until a few droplets of water sizzle when sprinkled onto the skillet. Working in batches, cook the meatballs until well-browned on each side, about 4-5 minutes total time. Transfer the browned meatballs to a rimmed baking sheet and continue this process until all meatballs are browned.

Cook meatballs in preheated oven for about 8-10 minutes, until the center is no longer pink. DO NOT turn the oven off.

To assemble a sandwich, heat a medium saucepan over medium heat and add the tomato sauce. Add the meatballs and toss until well coated and warmed. Place meatballs on sandwich buns and place on a clean baking sheet. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese evenly amongst the four sandwiches and bake in oven until the cheese has melted, about 3-5 minutes. Serve immediately.

Chicken Salad

Simple and easy is what I'm currently looking for in recipes lately. Starting my third trimester soon and slowly losing patience with cooking (among other things) has just drained me; physically and mentally. This was easy to make and actually made lots of leftovers which were amazing the next few days! This is something I could see my husband making when the baby comes because it's so easy and not very time-consuming. Next time I might try it with some leftover chicken breast, shredded, to see if I can taste the difference.

We also just got back from our "babymoon" in Washington DC so I might post about the places we ate there soon as well. I made a list of the good places and the bad places to avoid. It's about even on both sides.

Chicken Salad

Adapted from: Allrecipes

Serves: 4-6

2 10-ounce-cans chicken chunks, drained & rinsed

1 cup seedless green grapes, halved
1/2 cup sliced almonds
1/3 cup pecans, chopped
1/2 cup chopped celery
1 8-oz can mandarin oranges, drained
1/2 cup cucumber ranch salad dressing
1/4 cup mayonnaise

Mix all ingredients in a medium mixing bowl. Cover and allow to chill for at least 1 hour in the fridge. Serve on warm buns or large croissant rolls.

Sloppy Joes

Sloppy Joe dinners are usually my I don’t feel like cooking and nothing sounds good dinners. Lucky for us, we both love sloppy joes anyways. I have never even attempted to make it homemade because the can is so good and so inexpensive that it would be much more cost effective (even with health reasons) to just use the can. When I saw this recipe in my google reader, however, I had to try it at least once. It came out tasting good, it was just less salty. I liked that part of it even though it took longer because with a can you just plop it in there and heat. Don’t worry though, it didn’t take that much longer. I also think the cost effectiveness outweighs the taste benefits. Don’t misunderstand me: it’s good, but just not quite the same taste as the can. It’s definitely worth trying though!

Sloppy Joes
Adapted from: The Cooks Next Door
Yields: 6-8 servings

1 lb ground beef
½ cup onion, diced
½ cup green pepper, diced
1 can petite diced tomatoes (15 oz)
1 can tomato sauce (8 oz)
3 Tbsp quick-cooking oats
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp brown sugar
½ tsp seasoned salt
Dash cayenne pepper

Brown ground beef until halfway cooked throughout. Add onion and green pepper and cook until meat is no longer pink. Add all other ingredients and simmer for 20-30 minutes. Serve on hamburger buns immediately.

Southwest-Style Turkey Burgers

Burgers. If there is any excuse to have burgers, I can think of it. I am a huge fan of burgers. They really are the main reason I could never be a vegetarian. Otherwise, I could totally skip chicken, pork, etc. Although it may be deceiving on here, I could (and sometimes do) eat fruits and vegetables all day long. Well, burgers are my one outlet; the one thing I know I can order when eating out that I won't be disappointed with. That, and pasta of course. Well, these burgers are different. It's the first time I think I've actually had success with making burgers that weren't from ground beef or chuck. I used ground turkey and my husband actually liked them. Okay, this bears repeating: my husband actually liked them. It's so surprising because he is picky about his meat and I really want both of us to try to start, and continue to eat better. This is a definite step in the right direction. Plus, these weren't grilled, they were broiled in the oven! Hello winter burger!

Southewest-Style Turkey Burgers

Adapted from: New Cookbook, Bridal Edition (Better Homes & Gardens)

Serves: 3-4

1 egg, slightly beaten

1/4 cup onion, chopped

3 Tbsp red (or green) pepper, chopped

3/4 tsp chilli powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

1 pound ground chicken or turkey

2 oz pepper jack cheese, sliced

4 large hamburger buns (or 8 slider buns)

1 avacado, halved, seeded, peeled and sliced (I omitted this)

4-8 lettuce leaves (I used romaine)

1/4 cup salsa (or tomato slices)

Preheat broiled to high in the oven. In a medium bowl, stir together egg, onion, pepper, chili powder, salt, and pepper. Add ground turkey and mix well with hands. The mixture will be juicy but that is okay. Shape the mixture into 3/4-inch-thick burgers (4 large or 8 sliders).

Place the patties on an unheated rack of a broiler pan. Broil about 4-5 inches from the heat. Cook for 7-8 minutes, flip and cook an additional 7-8 minutes, until the burgers are done. Note: It's harder to tell with ground chicken or turkey because it's so light-colored. It may be done although it's not darkening so be sure to check the middle of them.

Add cheese slices to the burgers and broil for 1 additional minute to melt the cheese. Place on buns and top with avacado, lettuce, tomatoes and whatever else your heart (or taste) desires. This dish goes really well with chips and salsa.

Ham and Cheese Sliders

I saw these on a blogger's website and thought to myself that I would probably never make these because of my everlasting hatred for ham. I have despised the fatty taste of ham ever since I can remember and will ONLY eat it from HoneyBaked Ham now. Since I have decided to change my mind for what is probably the most fattening yet delicious ham ever I decided to give this a try, too. Although it's nothing I would brag about, my husband and his teammates thoroughly enjoyed these! I even ate two myself!! I wanted to wait until football season was in full swing to make these, but I just couldn't wait since the perfect opportunity presented itself. My husband plays in an Adult League Baseball team here and they had a double header the other night: 6pm and 9pm. I knew he wouldn't eat anything unless I brought it to him well before the game so I quickly threw these together and they inhaled them! Not that those guys are picky, but I would definitely call this a success!

Ham and Cheese Sliders
Adapted from: Annie's Eats, originally The Girl Who Ate Everything

For the sandwiches
12 slider rolls (I bought Hawaiin rolls and sliced them down the middle)
12 slices honey ham
12 slices swiss cheese
mayonnaise

For the topping
3/4 tbsp yellow mustard
4 tbsp butter, melted
1/2 tbsp finely minced onion
1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
poppy seeds, for topping

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Start by placing the slider rolls on a baking sheet and slicing them, if needed. Slather on some mayonnaise on the top bun, as much as desired. Place a few small slices of ham and cheese on top of the bottom bun and place tops on sandwiches. Mix the sauce ingredients, except poppy seeds, and baste on the tops of the sandwiches. Sprinkle poppy seeds on top immediately. Cover baking sheet with foil and bake 10 minutes, until cheese has melted. Uncover and bake an additional 2 minutes. Serve warm.

Teriaki Burgers with Mango Strawberry Salsa

The most appetizing thing I can think of is a hamburger. The second is fruit. Why have I never thought to combine the two? I have no idea, but this was phenomenal. I have never in my entire life of loving hamburgers not needed to slather on the mayo! The sauce and salsa both combined provided a fantastic taste that I just couldn't add anything to. The sauce was a little heavy on the soy so I decided to half it for next time, which is reflected below. It wasn't too overpowering that I couldn't eat the burger, though. I also replaced pineapple with strawberries because my pineapple I had cut earlier in the week was brown and all I had were strawberries. I think next time I might try the pineapple version just to see how differently it tastes.

Teriaka Burgers with Mango Strawberry Salsa

Adapted from: Annie's Eats, originally White on Rice Couple

For the salsa

1 mango, diced

1 cup strawberries, diced (or pineapple)

1/2 red pepper, diced

1/4 cup red onion, diced

1 tbsp cilantro

lime juice of one lime

pinch of salt

For the sauce

1 cup strawberries, diced (or pineapple)

1/4 cup soy sauce

1 1/2 tsp ginger powder

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 tsp vinegar (white, apple)

1/2 tsp sesame oil

1 tbsp cornstarch

1 tbsp cold water

For the burgers

2 tbsp onion, finely minced

1 tsp garlic clove, minced

salt and pepper, to taste

dash of Worcestershire sauce

1 lb ground beef

3-4 hamburger buns

First, make the salsa by combining all ingredients in a small bowl and tossing to combine. Cover with saran wrap and refridgerate until needed for topping.

Next, make the sauce by combining all ingredients except cornstarch and water. Mix well and place in a small saucepan on the stove on medium heat. Heat until slightly bubbly. Meanwhile, combine cornstarch and water in small bowl until smooth. Once the mixture on the stove is bubbly, add cornstarch mixture and stir in completely. Heat on medium-low for another 3 or so minutes, until thickened.

Finally combine all ingredients for the burger and form into desired shaped patties. Note: I always make my patties thicker and a larger diameter because it's inevitable what level of heat I have it on, they will always shrink a little. Cook burgers on the grill at desired temperature until done. Place burgers on hamburger buns and top with sauce mixture, then salsa and enjoy as-is!

The Perfect Hamburger

We all have our super-secret hamburger recipes for grilling in the summer time. Well, this is my personal (and continuously changing/improving) hamburger recipe! I used to just grill plain ol' burgers but that just didn't have enough flavor. It's no wonder I slathered on the mayo like it was going out of style. At any rate I have heard of other people putting things into the burger recipe so I gave it a whirl this past week. I had a leftover jalapeno pepper so I threw some of that in, a dash of BBQ sauce, onions and voila! Perfection! The only thing I think I will do next time is slice more jalapeno's to be able to top the burger with.

The Perfect Hamburger

Adapted from: Kelly's Kitch original

1 lb ground beef

1/3 cup BBQ sauce

1/2 jalapeno, seeded and chopped

1/4 cup sweet onion, chopped

4 pair hamburger buns

toppings (mayo, tomato, etc)

Mix all ingredients in a medium mixing bowl with hands. Form 4 thick (and large-diameter) patties and place on the grill, low heat, until cooked. The patties will shrink a little bit so make them bigger than you want. Place on hamburger buns and top with desired toppings!

Sesame Hamburger Buns

Hamburger buns. Only $1.00 at the local super market. Do they stand up to these buns (haha no pun intended) at all? Absolutely not!! These hamburger buns are the absolute best that I have ever made. They were definitely a trial run but so much worth it. My husband even commented, "Now if we could just figure out how to make these into hot dog buns.." Oh honey, that already crossed my mind!

One of the things I will do differently is allow the buns to rise longer on the second rise. When I put the egg mixture on top (to coat with sesame seeds), the buns went a little flat. Also I think I will not try to cook them with the pan of water. That actually steamed up our entire house and I am very surprised our fire alarms didn't go off. We had to open lots of windows..

Sesame Hamburger Buns

Adapted from: Annie's Eats, originally The New York Times

3 tbsp warm milk

1 cup warm water

1 package instant yeast (about 2 tsp)

2.5 tsp sugar

dash salt

1 egg

3 cups bread flour*

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

2.5 tbsp butter, softened

For topping:

1 egg beaten with 1 tbsp water

sesame seeds

In stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, mix milk, water, yeast, sugar, salt and egg together. Mix only briefly to combine all ingredients. Add in flours and mix well. Switching the paddle attachment out for the dough hook, add in butter and mix well. Knead with dough hook for 6-8 minutes. The dough will be a bit sticky.

Transfer dough to lightly oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Keep in warm area (I placed mine on a window sill in the sun) and allow to rise until doubled for about 1-2 hours.

Divide dough into 8 equal parts. Roll gently and place onto well-greased cookie sheet about 2-3 inches apart. If you have a silpat, this would work, too. Cover pans very loosely with greased plastic wrap and allow to rise for 1-2 more hours.

Once buns have doubled in size, baste with butter topping mixture and sprinkle sesame seeds on top. Bake in oven on middle shelf at 380 degrees for 6 minutes, flip, and cook an additional 6-8 minutes. Buns should be golden brown. Place buns on cooling racks and slice once cool enough to handle.

* I had no idea what "bread flour" was but apparently it's right next to the all-purpose flour you can purchase at your local supermarket. I love how much I learn with each new recipe!

All-In-One Pulled Pork Sandwiches

I am not a big fan of pulled pork. Recently, however my taste buds have been quite intrigued watching Man vs Food and seeing Adam eat all those pulled pork sandwiches! My husband said that Chicago has some of the best pulled pork places ever .. and therefore is inspiring us to make a weekend trip soon. Well based on a previous recipe I have made (oh please ignore the awful picture) and some new inspiration from the TV show, I have decided to make my own version of a one-sandwich meal that is sure to please any hungry husband. How did I come up with it? I just figured that instead of having the fries on the side we could stuff them onto the sandwiches. Saves time right?! ;) Also, I threw on some mayo and tomato for good measure. Well, this is by far the best pulled pork sandwich I have ever tasted and is 110% better than my first attempt because there are so many new flavors that it just absolutely does not compare!

Also please note that a lot of the ingredients are "as needed" which is because we tend to do a lot of leftovers. I am not sure how many sandwiches this recipe yields; it depends on the size of the pork tenderloin you get. Ours are pretty small since it's just the two of us so we don't use the entire bottles of BBQ or root beer.

All-In-One Pulled Pork Sandwiches

Adapted from: Kelly's Kitch Original

2-4lb pork tenderloin (if it has a bone you can cut out before or after cooking, after is easiest)

2 liters root beer, as needed

1 bottle BBQ sauce, as needed

tomato slices, as needed

hamburger buns, as needed

mayonnaise, to taste

frozen, seasoned french fries (just enough to layer one cookie sheet)

Immerse the pork tenderloin in root beer and cook in crock pot on low heat for 6-8 hours. When completely cooked, remove pork and allow to cool slightly on a plate. Dump contents of the crock pot out and wipe with a paper towel (doesn't have to be perfectly clean). Shred the pork with a fork and return to empty crock pot and add enough BBQ sauce for preferred texture/taste. We probably added about 3-4 oz for a 2lb bone-in pork tenderloin. Keep crockpot on warm.

Cook frozen french fries according to package directions (usually turning halfway) and during last minute of cooking, place hamburger buns on top of fries to warm. Meanwhile, slice enough tomatoes for each sandwich. Once fries are cooked, remove from oven and make your sandwich: pulled pork, fries, tomato, mayo. Serve immediately.

Easy Tuna Melt

Here's another simple and easy dinner for those "I don't want to work out, do laundry or cook" kind of nights. It's very simple with few ingredients and can be modified for your own personal taste. I also added some Spirulina hot sauce. It has a green tip. You can find it at certain grocery stores in the asian food isle and I highly recommend it.

Easy Tuna Melt (4 sandwiches)
Adapted from: Allrecipes

2 can tuna in water, drained
mayonaise to taste (I used just under 1/4 cup)
1/4 small onion, chopped
8 pieces bread
4 slices cheese

optional ingredients:
peppers to taste (I didn't use any but will do green peppers next time)
1 Jalapeno, sliced and seeds/middle cut out (I used these the first trial and it really gave them some spice)
dash of minced garlic
dash of hot sauce (the peppers in my opinion gave this recipe more spice the first time around)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix tuna, onion, mayo and optional ingredients to taste. Place desired amount on bread and place onto cookie sheet. Place sliced jalapeno's onto tuna mix if desired and cheese slices on top of that. Bake approximately 5 minutes or until cheese is bubbly and melted.

*I served this with a side spring mix salad and it was the perfect amount for dinner.

BBQ Pulled Pork

A few weeks ago I decided against my better judgement (and personal taste) to make one of my husband's favorite dishes. He loves BBQ pulled pork. I emailed a recipe to myself from a well-known website but was disappointed to find out that it was no longer a working link so I just winged it. I couldn't remember everything that it included but I did remember a recipe I passed on that sounded gross where you immerse the pork in root beer. Well, it was the only thing I had to go on. Turned out great and the husband loved it too!

BBQ Pulled Pork

2-4 lb boneless pork tenderloin (I just cut the bone off before cooking)
2 liters root beer, as needed
1 bottle BBQ sauce, as needed

Cook pork tenderloin completely immersed in root beer for 6-8 hours on low to medium heat in crock pot. When done cooking, shred pork with a fork removing all fat. Return to the warm crock pot and add the BBQ sauce and serve.