Spaghetti & Meatballs

With a few secret ingredients…

We're adding a few secret ingredients to this week's recipe. They might sound strange, but they do actually make a delicious addition and add additional vegetables to a meal that is already delicious and easy to convince pickier family members to eat. 

Ingredients

1/2 pound lean ground turkey (you can go with lean ground beef, but it will slightly alter the taste.) 

1 cup breadcrumbs (you can make your own, or grab a jar of Italian breadcrumbs at the store) 

1/2 cup butternut squash puree

1 clove garlic minced 

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 plus 1/8 teaspoon crushed black pepper

Nonstick cooking spray

2 teaspoons olive oil 

1 (26 ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes with their juice, pureed in a blender 

1 tbsp oregano

1 tsp basil

1 tsp onion powder Or 1/2 cup fresh diced onions 

1 tsp thyme 

SMALL pinch marjoram 

SMALL pinch rosemary 

1/2 cup water 

1/4 cup carrot puree

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

pinch of cayenne pepper 

1 bay leaf

1 pound of spaghetti, whole grain or whole wheat if you can, but it's not mandatory

Purees 

1 large butternut squash

1 lb carrots 

Tools: Chef's knife, cutting board, baking pan, aluminum foil, large pot, blender, food processor, instant pot 

Let's get started with making the purees for the recipes, and if you find you like this, you might find ways to sneak them in other recipes. Grab your carrots and give them a quick wash, then peel off the outer layer. Next, chop them into large chunks (three inches long or so is best for working with an instant pot.) Pour one cup of water to your instant pot, set up the steamer basket or tray, and add your carrots. Set the lid on top, set the pot to steam for 5 minutes, and walk away. This has been a game-changer for us; rather than having to steam veggies for 20-30 minutes, all we need is 10 minutes and our instant pot. Once that's done, grab your food processor and chuck in the carrots.  

Here we're going to say Learn From Our Mistakes. Do not try and puree or blend all of your carrots at once. Don't do it. Whether you're using a food processor or a blender, you will burn out the motor. We know, your blogger did it. Go one to two carrot chunks at a time, with a tablespoon of water, until it's fully blended and there aren't any solid pieces left.  As you finish one section, pour it into a separate bowl, and move on. 

Now once you finish your carrots (or while they're steaming in the instant pot), you can start working on your butternut squash. Start off by splitting it in half. Grab your chef's knife and go down the middle vertically. OR you can cut it horizontally and then cut each of those in half to get at the interior. Once you have your squash split, grab your spoon and scoop out the 'guts' and seeds. You can chuck them, roast them or plant them as you see fit.  Now set your oven to 400*, and lay the squash face down on a lined cookie sheet (or round sides up, if that makes more sense.) You're going to roast the squash for 50 minutes or until soft. Your squash is likely to come out not only looking brown and wrinkled in several spots but also with a bit of the sugars on the sides. It's completely normal and not to be worried about. This time you're going to snag a spoon and scoop out the meat of the squash. Run that through the food processor or blender for two minutes or until smooth. You'll want to add water as needed to make for a smooth consistency and make it possible for your blender to work easily. 

And now, let's go on to the spaghetti! 

In a large bowl, mix the turkey, breadcrumbs, butternut squash puree, garlic, cayenne, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper until well combined. Shape the mixture into 1-inch meatballs and place them on a sheet of waxed paper or aluminum foil. One trick that works well for making meatballs is using an ice scoop. We don't advise a melon-baller because the meat is too sticky to come out easily. 

Now, coat a large nonstick skillet or frying pan with cooking spray and set it over high heat. When the skillet is hot, add the olive oil, stir it once around the pan, and then add your meatballs and brown them for 4 to 5 minutes, turning occasionally.  You're not looking to cook them fully at this point, but instead to brown the outside for a delicious taste later. 

In a large pot, add the pureed tomatoes, water, carrot puree, garlic powder, oregano, thyme, basil, onion, marjoram, rosemary, bay leaf, and the remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the meatballs are no longer pink in the center. Remove the bay leaf; they're not particularly tasty.

Next, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. (Ideally, you want your water to be as salty as the ocean.) Add the pasta and cook according to package directions until al dente. Before you drain your pasta, take a half cup of water and mix that into the sauce. Next, drain the pasta into a colander.  Spoon a little bit of your sauce into each bowl, then pasta and then more sauce, and top with meatballs. Enjoy! 

What did you think?  Are you willing to try it? We can honestly say that we've made it and enjoyed it for ourselves, and because the vegetables are pureed, they're not easy to spot by sight, taste, or smell.  Let us know what you thought in the comments below or over on our Facebook page. 

Now, if on the other hand, your oven went out while you working on this, or refused to hold a consistent temperature, we can help! You can reach out to us by calling ((214) 599-0055) or on our contact page. You can set up an appointment time that works for you and let us take care of getting your home back and running smoothly.

Chicken and Vegetable Quinoa

All the best of chicken soup without the soup

I Don’t Care, Take Me To the Recipe!

March is.. March. We've had snow, we've had rain, and we've had temperatures so cold your blogger thought she might turn into an ice-pop. BUT! This is part of March and we accept it as it is, we just need warm hearty foods to combat it. With that in mind we went digging to see what we could come up with. Chicken soup? We've done it. Stew? We've done that too. What about biscuits? Nope. We needed something hearty and warm that would still give you enough energy to tackle all of the gardening many of us want to do now that it's (theoretically) spring. With that, we bring you something new. Take the best of chicken soup and dumplings and then make it easy to eat on the run. That's this recipe and we know we're already eager for fall to get here so we have an excuse to make it again. 

Ingredients 

1/2 cup tricolor quinoa

1 cup water

2 whole carrots or 10 baby carrots

2 stalks celery

1 can campbells cream of chicken soup 10.5 oz 

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp parsley flakes 

Tools: Large skillet with lid, stirring spoon, measuring cups and spoons,  knife, cutting board, fine sieve (possibly can opener) 

Measure out your half cup of quinoa. We find it easiest to use a much larger measuring cup for this, as it leave plenty of room for your next step. On top of that it means that you aren't going to have the grains bouncing out of the cup due to static. (We wish we were kidding on that one.) 

Rinse your quinoa and drain through a fine sieve.  Quinoa often has a bitter outer coating (naturally! It's not a byproduct of harvesting or processing - it's there to keep the grain from being eaten) that will throw off the flavor of whatever you're making with it. Just run it under cold water, swirling it around a few times under the water, then remove it and tap until most of the water has drained out. Repeat this until your water runs clear. You can skip this step if the package says "pre-washed" or "pre-rinsed." 

Once your quinoa has been rinsed and drained, drop it into your ungreased skillet and turn up the heat. We use medium-low heat, but feel free to adjust for your own preferences The goal here is to dry the individual grains and lightly toast them. Keep them moving during this step to make sure they don't end up scorched on one side and soggy on the other. A wooden spoon is best for this step so it doesn't transfer the heat the way a metal one will or melt like a silicone one can. 

When you feel your quinoa has been sufficiently toasted, add your water and turn the heat down as low as it will go. Turn your attention to the vegetables. Like the quinoa, these will need to be washed. Rinse all of them in clean, cold water for 30 seconds or so and then pat them dry. No need for soaps or produce washes. 

After your veggies are dry, chop them down to quarter inch pieces. Push them off the cutting board into the pan with the quinoa and water and give everything a stir. We advise doing the carrots first and then the celery to give the carrots more time to cook. Turn the heat up to medium, then measure in your parsley flakes and garlic powder. Give everything another good stir and put the lid on. Allow everything to simmer for five minutes while covered. 

Open up your can of soup. For ours, we used cream of chicken - but you're welcome to use whatever cream soup you'd like - perhaps cream of mushroom to make this a vegetarian recipe. Maybe even cream of shrimp if you're feeling particularly adventurous. We might avoid cream of celery (too much celery is in fact a thing in our opinion) - but maybe celery is your favorite food. Experiment and let us know what you discover! 

Pour your soup over the quinoa and vegetable mixture. We know the water hasn't had a chance to be fully absorbed by the quinoa, and that's fine. It's part of why we're not adding any water to the condensed soup. 

Once again, give everything a stir - but this time, let it simmer uncovered. Continue to stir frequently and watch for the individual grains to uncurl - that's how you know your dish is done.  

Allow it to sit for two to five minutes and stir once more before serving.  

This meal tastes even better the next day after the quinoa has had a chance to really soak up the soup. So, if you're making this as a meal for a  whole week's worth of lunches, you're in for a treat. 

We will add that additional veggies are something we are always going to advocate, so some examples you might consider adding are: pearl onions, green beans, corn, (more) carrots, parsnips, or turnips. Alternatively, you can just double, or even triple the quantities of the vegetables and experiment from there. We will say that if you're going to do that you /might/ need to add more in the way of water to ensure that your quinoa gets enough, but go with caution. 

Some other additions you might consider, to mix things up. 

Beans - great for additional fiber and protein, as well as making sure you have enough energy for the day. 

Chicken- If you're already adding in cream of chicken, and you have some leftover chicken in the fridge, it's a great way to get that used up and bulk up the meal. 

Diced and sauteed mushrooms - Although we wouldn't advise adding them in during the standard cooking process, we definitely think some sauteed mushrooms would go great with this. 

Shrimp - If you're looking to be adventurous, might as well go all in and add some actual shrimp to the meal. You can get them already pre-cooked in the grocery store for relatively cheap and just heat them back up in the pan before adding them on top. Again, because of how delicate the shrimp can be, we don't advise adding them during the standard cooking process. 

With that, we're handing this recipe over to you! What do you think? Like it, love it, hate it? Let us know in the comments below or over on our Facebook page. If you end up making it, let us know how it goes, we'd love to hear from you! 

If you wound up here not searching for food, but because your dryer is making  a strange whining sound, we can help. (although we are confused how you ended up on this page and not our post about dryer sounds, we hope you enjoyed the recipe anyway.) You can get hold of us over on our contact page or by giving us a call at ((214) 599-0055). We'll work with you to choose a date and time that works for your schedule so we can get to the heart of the problem and get your home running smoothly again. 

Buffalo Bread

 Spicy, sweet and delicious bread to get you through the day. 

Spicy, sweet and delicious bread to get you through the day. 

I Don't Care, Take Me To The Recipe! 

Pre-made meals, freezer meals, meal planning, they're all great ways to try and make lunch easier on us. Lunch is supposed to be a midday meal that gives you enough energy to get through the day without burning you out or leaving you so full you're tired and want a nap.  For many of us though, we don't look in the fridge in the morning and think "oh! I'll take this, I'll feel great after eating it." Instead, we're standing there thinking "what do I have so I can grab it and go?"  Then you end up eating whatever, which could be anything from a salad you had last night, to a giant serving of pasta or rice (1.) Which can be great if you're working out in the afternoon or doing an active job, but for those of us working in an office, not so much. Fortunately, there are ways to make a VERY simple food ahead of time, have it taste amazing and have energy for the rest of the day. What is this sorcery? Chickpeas. 

No! Wait, don't run away on us. It sounds weird, but if you like cornbread, you're going to love this recipe. Chickpeas actually blend into the background so all you taste is the cornbread and buffalo sauce, but you get all the benefits of the protein, iron and fiber of the chickpeas. Win-Win! 

 Ingredients

1 box Jiffy corn muffin mix (8.5 oz) 

1 cup cooked chickpeas  

2 stalks celery 

1 egg

1/3 cup milk

1/4 cup Buffalo sauce (any brand and spice level is up to you.) 

Tools: Mixing bowl, fork, spoon, knife, cutting board, measuring cup(s), aluminum foil, loaf pan, food processor 

As always, begin by washing your hands and then your produce. You don't need to use soap or a veggie wash, just 30 seconds under cold water will do just fine for your veggies.  After you've done that, set them to the side and preheat your oven to 400*F. 

Rough chop your celery. Smaller pieces are better, as we'll want this to mix in well, but they don't need to be uniform. Because your celery will be a bit stringy, rocking the knife as you chop may help some. We don't suggest using a 'chopper' tool, as they don't stand up to celery well. 

At this point you've got a choice to make, you can either grab a can of chickpeas or you can make them from dried. Whether you use canned or cook them yourself, make sure to thoroughly drain them before you use them. Set aside the aquafaba (or bean water) as you can use it for other recipes. 

Measure out your chickpeasa and add them to the food processor. 

Then scrape your chopped celery into the food processor and give it two or three quick pulses.  

Pulse until you have a chunky paste. 

Once your celery and chickpeas have been mixed together, set them aside. 

Turn your attention to the box to the corn muffin mix. Empty it into your mixing bowl and use a fork to break up the biggest clumps. No need to break out the sieve at this point. A few are fine - your batter will be a little lumpy no matter what you do- but definitely give it some attention before adding any of your wet ingredients to avoid overmixing. 

After you've broken up the worst of the clumps, add an egg and 1/3 of a cup of milk. Stir only until barely combined. 

Add your chickpea and chopped celery mixture and pour your measured buffalo sauce over the top. 

Again, stir only enough to make sure everything is thoroughly combined, and you've blended all the sauce in (we want to avoid hot spots after all.) 

Line your loaf pan with aluminum foil - please do NOT skip this step, the loaf will crumble without it- or sub in a muffin tin and paper muffin cups if you prefer. 

Transfer the batter from your mixing bowl to the foil- lined pan with a spoon and smooth the top. You can also give the pan a few taps against the counter to get rid of any air bubbles, that's up to you. 

If you're using a loaf pan, you'll want to bake your bread for 35-45 minutes, checking at 5 minute intervals after the 35 minute mark with a toothpick. 

If you're using a muffin pan, you'll want to bake them for 15-20 minutes, again using a toothpick inserted into the center most muffin to test for doneness. 

Allow it to cool before using the foil to lift it out of the pan.  

Bend back the foil and cut with a sharp knife. Serve with ranch or bleu cheese dressing if desired. 

If you choose to take slices of the bread for lunch, we suggest toasting it in a toaster oven for 2 minutes a side first to reheat it and then to add some crispness to the top. 

An unexpected, but important warning. Do Not eat too much of this at once. 1-2 slices is the most your body is going to be able to handle, no matter how delicious this is. Not because of the spice, but because of the amount of fiber in the chickpeas. You can actually make yourself rather ill if you eat too much. So, instead of packing 3 or 4 slices of this delicious bread, we advise adding a salad or something like a stir fry to the side. You could even go really Southern and add collard greens to the side if you feel the urge. 

Let us know over on Facebook how yours turned out! If you made it with mild sauce (go you for savoring flavor!), or if you made it so hot Scoville is shocked by your tolerance, let us know! 

If your oven died while you were attempting to make this week's recipe, one, we're sorry. We swear it's not a result of the spice. Two, we can help! If you give us a call at ((214) 599-0055) or head on over to our contact page, you can set up a service call that works with your schedule. We service all major appliances, not just ovens though. So if your dishwasher is giving you hell, or your refrigerator is being stubborn, we're ready to help. 

Hauntingly Good Meals To Run After

Spooky Biscuits for All Day Long

Sometimes the best thing you can do for yourself is make things easier on future you. This is especially true for a weekend holiday.

Here's a fast breakfast, lunch or dinner idea to get some food in the bellies of your trick or treaters before they wander off, or as they come back down from the sugar high... Or maybe into your stomach before the heathen horde comes knocking.

Let's make some quick and easy monster biscuits.

Ingredients:

1 can biscuits or 8 frozen biscuits

4 oz brick mozzarella cheese

Lunch meat of choice, or pepperoni 

1 can whole pitted black olives

1 jar strawberry or raspberry jam or jelly

White chocolate chips, sliced almonds, candy eyes, etc.

We know you're looking at this ingredient list and questioning our sanity. Don't worry. It's not all going together on one biscuit.

Tools:

Baking sheet, foil, oven mitt, cutting board, vegetable peeler, knife, fork, spoon, plate, spatula

Line your baking sheet with a layer of foil, because anything that makes your life easier today is worth it.

Preheat the oven according to the directions on your package of biscuits.

We used the Pillsbury brand southern homestyle biscuits in a can (because we already had them on hand and didn't want to make an extra trip to the store) and we found them to work well. We've also previously used the Great Value brand frozen buttermilk biscuits, but in our experience, they are prone to scorching on the bottom. If you use them, keep a close eye on them while they bake up so you avoid that problem.

Place your biscuits on the lined baking sheet - have their edges touching if you want them tall and fluffy, or give them room to expand if you would prefer them a little thinner - and pop them into the oven. Set your timer for HALF of what the directions say. Trust us here.

While your biscuits bake, pop open that can of olives. Drain them and give them a quick rinse so they won't transfer their color as easily when you assemble dinner. We're going to do this in reverse order for the meals, because of the three meal ideas we're covering, the dinner takes the longest to prep.

Fish out a few olives and put them on your cutting board. Slice a thin ring out of the middle of each. Your goal here is eight little rings. Feel free to eat all your mistakes - it's the best perk of being the chef.

Once you have your olives ready, scoot them to one side of the cutting board. Consider wiping up after them if they've left you a wet spot. Place your brick of cheese long side up on the board and grab your vegetable peeler. We know you're questioning our sanity again, and it's okay. Take the peeler and shave long, thin straps off the brick of cheese until you feel you have enough to put a double layer on six of your eight biscuits. 

You may have a cheese wire in a drawer somewhere that you want to use for this. We would advise you skip that urge. The goal here is the extra-thin strips and feathery edges a peeler creates. A cheese wire, even adjusted to as thin as possible, will still make a mostly clean cut. If that's what you'd prefer, go ahead, but we definitely think it looks more like a mummy bandage with the rough sides and broken looking ends.

Feathery, jagged cheese bandages.

By now you should be reaching the end of the timer you set. Pause and flip the biscuits. The directions don't say to in most cases, but if you flip them halfway through, you'll get nice, toasty tops and bottoms without either one becoming too thick or crispy. Put them back in the oven for the remaining half of the recommended time and reset your timer.

While they finish up their baking process, separate some slices from your lunch meats. It doesn't really matter what you choose to use, as long as you enjoy it. We used hard salami for ours, but it would work just as well with ham or turkey or roast beef if you have them on hand.

Once they're out of the oven, split them all evenly with a sharp knife.

Fluffy, freshly baked and sliced biscuits.

Take two and plate them like an open-faced sandwich. Spoon a generous helping of jam or jelly onto each half and spread it a bit with the back of the spoon. Congratulations, you have a smashed monster! We had candy eyes left over from another project and used those for this, but slices of almond, white chocolate chips or mini marshmallows also can serve as a reasonable approximation of monster eyes. Just use whatever you have on hand.

Frighteningly delicious breakfast monster

Take your next two biscuits. Layer your lunch meats on them and add a few strips of cheese if you'd like.Grab two whole olives. Wrap a torn slice of lunch meat around each one, leaving the open end of the olive visible. Shut your biscuits into sandwiches and tuck your wrapped olives into the side, peeking out like a pair of creepy, unblinking eyes. There's lunch, easy to just grab and run if necessary.

Lunch timer watcher

And now for dinner... take your four remaining biscuits and plate them with their soft insides up. Place a layer of lunch meat on each half, then add those olive rings you cut earlier as eyes a little above the middle. Cover it all over with a layer of cheesy bandages, being sure to let at least one eye still peek out from beneath them.

Mummy’s out for dinner!

By the time dinner comes around, these will have gone cold - so be sure to lightly toast them and get your cheese melted before enjoying your new mummy bites.

And with just a bit of time, you’ve got three fantastic meals, sure to haunt anyone. If you test them out let us know over on our Facebook page! We’d love to hear from you. 

If on the other hand, you ended up here because your oven has decided to go to the grave, we might be able to help. We’d be willing to say that we’re better than Dr. Frankenstein, at least when it comes to bringing appliances back to life. Give us a call at ((214) 599-0055) or visit our contact page to get in touch.

Brown Sugar - Cinnamon Oat Bars

 AKA Tablespoon Cake - AkA The Easiest Cake You’ll Ever Make

This one started out as a copycat recipe - we tried some fancy, expensive diet company snack bars this week. We enjoyed them, but we didn't enjoy the price tag quite so much. So we decided we were going to take a crack at producing something similar, with similar nutritional value. We're even going to do out the irritating math for you, so you know what your calorie intake and your approximate nutrition facts are for each serving.

Keep in mind, for that to stay accurate, you'll need to follow the instructions to the letter... But you could also be like us and wing it, and then re-do the math later. Like we did. Three times.

There was a lot of "less this, more that," and a lot of "what if?" in the making of this one. If you make it better, let us know over on our Facebook page!

Ingredients:

7 Tablespoons granulated sugar

4 Tablespoons quick oats

2 Tablespoons coconut flour

2 Tablespoons whole wheat flour

2 Tablespoons light brown sugar

1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon

1 Tablespoon ground flax seed

1 Tablespoon water

2 eggs

Tools:

Mixing bowl, one! measuring spoon - a tablespoon, fork, 9x9 baking pan, aluminum foil, baking spray

Grab your trusty tablespoon and let's get to work.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Measure your two different kinds of sugar and your two different kinds of flour into the mixing bowl - and please do not add more coconut flour in an attempt to make the recipe gluten-free unless you have used coconut flour before. Coconut flour is a very mercurial ingredient and can really muck up a recipe if you're not familiar with its properties.

Add in your oats, your ground flax and your cinnamon. If you're not a fan of the texture the oats add to this, feel free to toss them into a blender for a few pulses and chop them down before you add them.

Take the fork we suggested you have handy, and stir all your dry ingredients together. We know it's all basically one color to start with, but still, you want these things to be uniformly distributed. Otherwise you'll end up with pockets of too much sugar, caramelizing and causing divots in the final product. We're not against crunchy spots where the sugar turned into hard candy, or spicy little lumps of cinnamon for that matter - but these things are not part of the original goal.

Break your eggs into the dry ingredients and toss that tiny little bit of water into the bowl while you're at it. We know one tablespoon doesn't sound like a lot, but it's very important in this recipe. It's low enough moisture to start with that every bit is absolutely necessary - and the coconut flour is going to make it disappear really quickly.

The fork is still the ideal tool to mix your batter. That batter is going to be thick, and it's also going to be sticky. We promise, that's actually what you want. It will yield a dense, chewy oat bar with a brownie-like texture and crunchy edges good for grabbing and running. And since that was the big nameless diet company's original intention with it, we think we're doing alright with this copycat thing.

Once you have everything mixed well, line your baking pan with a layer of aluminum foil (leave enough around the edges to lift by later) and spray the bottom thoroughly with cooking spray. Scoop your batter from the mixing bowl to the center of the baking pan, scraping the sides of the bowl as you go. After you've gotten as much as you can from the mixing bowl, take the fork (yes, again!) and use it to smooth the layer of batter out and push it as far as you can into the corners of the pan. Be gentle and work slowly so that you don't accidentally poke through the aluminum foil.

Pop the pan into the oven and let it bake for half an hour. If you're not sure if it's done after the half-hour, give the pan a little shake. If the center jiggles, put it back for five more minutes. If not, it's ready.

Let it cool for ten minutes, then lift the aluminum foil out of the pan. Invert it over a plate and peel to remove the foil from the bottom of the oat bars. It helps to hold the center down gently and lift up from the corners of the foil.

Flip that plate over onto another so your creation is right side up again, and cut into four equal pieces. We know we've called them oat bars this whole time, but we like to cut them into triangles to mix things up a little.

Each of these four servings will have 5 grams of protein and just under 4 grams of fiber, along with almost 40% of your daily value of vitamin D and 10% of your necessary iron - all for about 190 calories.

Be mindful that there's quite a bit of sugar and carbs in this, also - so it's not exactly a diabetic-friendly recipe as shown here. A little quick math says using Stevia instead of granulated sugar would make quite a dent. That could trim calories down to 130 a serving, cut sugar from 23 grams to only 5 grams, and take total carbohydrate per serving from 34 grams to 18, while also giving a tiny boost to iron and potassium. Even bigger diet company goals accomplished - still without the big name brand price tag!

And if you need new appliance performance, preferably also without the jumbo-sized price tag, maybe reach out to our service department. You can reach them through our contact page, or by giving us a call at ((214) 599-0055)