Erika's Sweet and Sour Meatballs

I hope you don't mind me posting without photos. I will get some up soon, I promise. I just wanted to put this recipe up since this is the recipe I call Erika for over and over again.

Sauce

1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup vinegar (white)
1 teaspoon mustard
2 teaspoons Worcestershire
1 cup barbecue sauce

Breanne's Sweet Potato Salad

This is all that was left by the time I was able to take a picture

I adapted this from a Bobby Flay recipe that calls for mustard, but I don't like mustard so I used Catalina Salad Dressing instead.  The result is tangy and sweet, yum!

Ingredients
6-8 Sweet Potatoes (or yams)
4 scallions (green onions), chopped
1/4 c white wine vinegar
2 tbl balsamic vinegar
1 tbl of Catalina salad dressing
olive oil (about 4 tbl altogether)
1/2 c parmesan cheese
1/4 c fresh parsley (optional)
salt
pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Peel the sweet potatoes and cut into 1/2 inch cubes.  Toss with olive oil, salt, and pepper and spread on a large flat tray and put in the oven for about 40-50 minutes, or until you can stick a fork through one of the larger pieces.  Try not to go too long so they aren't too soft.

Remove the sweet potatoes and sprinkle the chopped scallions over while they're still hot (you could also roast the scallions for the last 10 minutes of the sweet potato cooking time.  That's what I planned to do but I forgot so I just threw them on there while the SPs were hot).

Mix together the white wine vinegar, balsamic vinegar, and Catalina dressing.
Slowly add 2 tbl olive oil while whisking to emulsify.

Put the sweet potatoes and scallions in a large bowl and pour the dressing mixture over them.  Toss it all together and sprinkle with fresh parmesan cheese.

You can also add fresh chopped parsley if you want, but I didn't.

After I made this I thought it might be too weird but it turned out to be a big hit!  Thanks everyone for the nice compliments.

Brining A Turkey

Our turkey this year turned out pretty good and Ryan and I think it's because we brined it.  I found this recipe online and instead of tucking my sticky note away never to be found again I thought I would put it here where it will be easy to find in the future.

I filled a cooler with water, enough to cover the turkey about 1-2 inches.  We added 2 Cups of salt per 2 gallons of water (so measure the water as you pour it into whatever container you are using).  After removing the neck and whatever else is inside soak the turkey 1 hour per pound.  We actually did about 14 hours for a 20 lb. turkey.  Put the turkey in breast side down then roll it over half way through.

Before roasting rinse the turkey thoroughly and then pat it dry inside and out.

Pesto Potato Salad with Green Beans

I got a bunch of lovely fresh green beans from my co-op this week, so I was looking for a good, simple recipe to use them in. I don't think I've ever had so many green beans in my life, particularly because I've never liked them before. But I LOVE this salad. We've been eating it for days, it's fantastic even re-heated later.



I found the recipe on this site, which recommends making your own pesto. But I gave in and bought the kind that comes in a jar from the store. If you want the recipe for the pesto you'll have to visit their site.

4 pounds small Yukon gold or red-skinned potatoes, quartered
1 pound green beans, cut into one-inch segments
6 tablespoons (or more to taste) mild vinegar, such as white wine or a white balsamic
1/4 cup chopped green onions (scallions)
1/2 cup pine nuts, toasted
Parmesan cheese to taste
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
(pesto)

Cook potatoes in large pot of boiling salted water until just tender, about 10 minutes. Add beans; cook four minutes longer. Drain well and let cool, then transfer potatoes and beans to a large bowl.

Toss the beans and potatoes with pesto. Stir in vinegar, green onions, pine nuts and season with salt, pepper and/or additional vinegar to taste. Finally, shave some wide flecks of parmesan over the salad with a vegetable peeler.

Serve immediately, or make this up to two hours in advance. It can be stored at room temperature.
(This was good cold, hot, room temp, whatever).

I did this a little differently. I cubed the potatoes and roasted them in the oven with some salt, pepper, and olive oil for about 40 minutes. Then I boiled some water, threw in the green beans for 4 minutes, then drained them and rinsed them with cold water (to stop them from cooking further). Then I just combined the potatoes and green beans with the rest of the ingredients. Yum!

Blackberry Cobbler

I got some blackberries from the food co-op, so I looked up a recipe for them and found this one by Sandra Lee from the Food Network. I made it when Dad came to visit and I thought it was delicious. This recipe makes 8 servings, but I only needed four servings, so I halved everything except the cream soda & pancake mix and it turned out well. I also used three 6oz cartons of fresh blackberries instead of the frozen (that's what I got from the co-op). I was worried about the seeds but they weren't a problem.

Ingredients

• 2 pounds frozen blackberries, thawed
• 1 cup sugar plus more for dusting
• 3 tablespoons instant tapioca
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 (7.75-ounce) packet butter biscuit mix (like Bisquick, or for GF use a gluten-free pancake mix)
• 3/4 cup cream soda, divided

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray 8 (4-inch) ramekins with butter flavored cooking spray and set aside.

In a bowl combine thawed blackberries, tapioca, lemon juice, 1/4 cup of cream soda and sugar.

Transfer to ramekins.

In a large bowl combined biscuit mix and remaining (1/2 c) cream soda. Mix until well blended. Sprinkle biscuit mix over berries.

Bake for 30 to 40 minutes. Serve warm.

I also dusted these with powdered sugar and put a few whole blackberries on top to look nice. It really tasted good.

Acorn squash stuffed with sausage and apple

3 acorn squash, halved and seeded
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
1/4 teaspoon ground sage
1 lb pork sausage (regular seasoning)
1/2 cup onion, finely chopped
1 celery rib, finely chopped
4 oz. mushrooms, chopped
2 apples, cored and chopped (macintosh)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup fine breadcrumbs (optional)
1/2 teaspoon sage
1 tsp. each salt and freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
1 egg, beaten
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped, plus more for garnish
1 tablespoon freshly grated Parmesan cheese (optional)


1. Combine the melted butter, garlic salt and 1/4 tsp. sage; brush over cut sides and cavity of squash. Salt and pepper to taste.
2. Bake cut side up, at 400 degrees F for 1 hour, until squash is tender but still holds its shape.
3. Meanwhile make stuffing: Fry pork sausage until light brown. Remove the pork with a strainer to a large bowl and leave drippings in the pan. Add onion, celery and mushroom to the pan; saute 4 minutes. Stir in apple and minced garlic and saute 2 more minutes.
4. Take the pan off of the heat and add the pork back in (with the breadcrumbs if desired).
5. Taste and season with sage, salt or pepper if needed (depending on your sausage you may not want to add more seasoning).
6. Stir in the egg and parsley.
7. Fill the squash halves with stuffing - they should be slightly mounded.
8. Return to oven and bake for 20 more minutes, until the egg is set.
9. Garnish as desired with parsley and shredded Parmesan cheese.

The recipe called for two acorn squash but I had so much stuffing I could have filled three. I also made this without breadcrumbs and it held together fine. I sliced a little bit off of the bottoms of the squash, so they would sit without wobbling in the pan, but it burned the bottoms a little bit. It was more work than I am used to, but it was SO delicious.

Potato Crusted Fish

1 cup Instant Mashed Potatoes
Zest of 1 lime
2 large eggs
1 cup flour (I used gluten-free featherlite flour that Jacque recommended to me once)
8 tilapia fillets
vegetable oil

Season the flour with salt and black pepper in a shallow dish.

Beat the eggs in another dish.

Mix the instant potatoes, lime zest, 2 t. salt and 1/2 t. black pepper in a third dish.

Dredge each fish fillet in the seasoned flour, dip in the eggs, then coat with potato mixture.

Place a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add about 1/2 inch of vegetable oil. When the oil is hot, place the fish in the pan; cook until golden brown and crisp – about 3 minutes. Turn and cook until golden on the other side – 3 more minutes.

Add more oil as needed, let it come to temperature before adding more fish.