Slow Cooker Pork and Sausage Meatballs

Hello all! This is my first recipe with videos rather than pictures, and I'm launching a YouTube site to go along with it! Please keep in mind that this is not some professional, studio quality production; my son did the camera work and it's our first attempt at any such thing :) Planning to do more of these going forward and hopefully our production techniques will improve along the way. Link to my YouTube video about this recipe:

https://youtu.be/imgqs46aXjw

This recipe is very tasty, highly recommend, 10/10. I only modified the recipe a tiny bit, which was adding more crushed tomatoes than called for as written, and the amounts of pork and sausage were slightly different. Next time I make it, I will add the entire 28 oz. of the can (I only went about 2/3 of the can during this attempt). It is equally delicious leftover, though you may want to supplement with some jarred sauce when reheating.

Link to original recipe: https://www.finecooking.com/recipe/slow-cooked-pork-and-sausage-meatballs-with-porcini-sauce

Written version below includes my modifications.

Ingredients:

for the meatballs--

1 1/2 c. coarse fresh breadcrumbs

1/2 c. sweet red vermouth (I used Gallo brand, which I purchased at Jewel-Osco)

1 lb. ground pork

18 oz. sweet Italian sausage, casing removed (I used Kroger store brand)

1 large egg

6 T. finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

1 tsp. dried rubbed sage

1 tsp. dried oregano

1/2 tsp. kosher salt

1/4 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg

for the sauce--

~20 oz. crushed tomatoes (I will use full 28 oz can next time)

1/4 c. tomato paste

1/2 oz. dried porcini mushrooms, crumbled

1 tsp. dried oregano

1 tsp. dried thyme

1/2 tsp. fennel seeds

1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes

1/2 tsp. kosher salt

Directions:

1. Begin making the meatballs: in a large bowl, mix together the breadcrumbs and vermouth. Set aside and let stand for 20 minutes.

2. After the 20 minutes, add the ground pork and the Italian sausage to the mixture. Use your hands to break up the sausage and thoroughly combine the mixture.

3. Mix in the egg, Parmesan-Reggiano, sage, oregano, salt, and nutmeg. 

4. Form into 12 meatballs.

5. Make the sauce: in a 5-6 qt slow cooker, combine all the sauce ingredients (from crushed tomatoes through kosher salt), stirring until the tomato paste is dissolved.

6. Nestle the meatballs into the sauce. Cover and set to cook on "hi" for 1.5 hours, then reduce to "lo" setting for around 5 additional hours.

7. Serve with cooked spaghetti and enjoy!

 

Creamy Balsamic Chicken & Mushrooms

I kid you not--this is unbelievably tasty. My husband and I both agree this knocked our socks off, gotta go 11/10 here. And I even got my kid, who has always turned his nose up at chicken, to try it and like it! So yeah, we're going to have this again super soon. And next time, we will have baguette on hand to mop up the sauce at the end :)

Link to my YouTube video of preparation: https://youtu.be/lHUxunaDJ-o

Link to original recipe: https://www.howsweeteats.com/2020/10/balsamic-chicken-and-mushrooms/

Recipe below contains my modifications.

Ingredients: 

1-2 T. olive oil (I used enough to swirl and coat the pan, didn't measure)

1 1/4 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 1/2" thick slices (can also use boneless chicken thighs)

kosher salt and coarse ground pepper, to taste

1 1/2 T. butter

1 lb. cremini/baby bella mushrooms, stems removed, halved if large

1 1/2 T. bottled minced garlic

1/2 to 1 tsp. dried thyme (no idea how much I used, just went enough to give a good sprinkling over all the mushrooms)

1/4 c. balsamic vinegar

3/4 c. heavy cream

2-3 T. chopped fresh Italian parsley (or regular parsley, if preferred)

Directions: 

1. Salt and pepper chicken breast pieces on both sides (I went quite generous on the salt). Heat olive oil over medium heat, then add chicken to pan. Cook for around 2 min. on each side, then transfer to a plate (a little oil will remain in pan; leave it).

2. Add butter to pan and melt. Add the mushrooms. Sprinkle mushrooms with salt and pepper, then stir to coat in the melted butter. Cook mushrooms for around 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3. Stir in the minced garlic, then the thyme. Cook for around 1-2 additional minutes.

4. Deglaze pan with the balsamic vinegar. Stir and cook for 1-2 minutes, then add the cream. Stir and cook for 2-3 minutes, until cream combines well into sauce.

5. Lower heat to medium-low, return chicken to pan, and cover. Let cook for 5 minutes (or longer, if needed to get chicken completely done). 

6. Stir in the parsley and remove from heat. Let set 2 minutes, then serve and enjoy (a lot)!

Chicken Breasts Stuffed with Goat Cheese, Bacon, and Mushrooms

 ...and topped with a mushroom sauce! Can you tell that I had mushrooms to use up lol? This is a recipe I made up after looking at a few others and not finding what I wanted, along with the need to use up some ingredients. The result is very delicious--10/10, will definitely make again. Next time, will cut back a little on the goat cheese in hubby's chicken breast, as he found it a bit overpowering. I love strong cheeses, so it wasn't an issue for me. I served it with my skillet roasted potatoes -- only this time, I used small yukon gold potatoes instead, which worked out great. If you serve the chicken only, you should add some herbs/spices to the mushroom sauce to heighten the flavor profile.

Ingredients:

4 slices thick cut bacon, fatty ends cut off, rest cut in 1/2" wide strips, crosswise

16 oz. button mushroom caps; chop half of them, slice the other half of them

5 T. unsalted butter, divided

salt and pepper, to taste

2 T. + 1/3 c. Chardonnay (or other fruity white wine), divided (amounts are used separately)

~2-3 oz. crumbled tomato and herb goat cheese (I didn't measure)

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

~1 tsp. bottled minced garlic

~7 oz. low-sodium chicken broth (or stock; I will use stock next time)

~1 tsp. cornstarch, dissolved in ~ 1 tsp. water

splash of heavy cream

Directions: 

1. In a large skillet, cook bacon over medium heat, stirring frequently, until starting to crisp. Remove bacon before it fully crisps, transferring to a paper towel lined plate. Pour rendered bacon fat into a heatproof cup/bowl and reserve.

2. In same skillet used for bacon, melt 1 T. of butter over medium heat. Add chopped mushrooms only (not the sliced!) to melted butter. Salt and pepper to taste, then cook for about 2-3 min, until mushrooms start to release their liquid. Add the 2 T. of Chardonnay to the pan and cook for additional 2-3 min, until liquid has nearly disappeared. Remove from heat, place mushrooms in a heatproof bowl.

3. Heat oven to 375°F (note to self: I used lower/non-convection oven for this).

4. Butterfly each chicken breast, then pound out to around 1/2" thickness. Lightly salt and pepper each all over.

5. With each chicken breast laying cut side up, top each with crumbled goat cheese, cooked chopped mushrooms, and bacon. Gently fold/close the chicken breasts with filling inside, then secure with butcher's string/twine.

6. Heat 1 T. of the butter over medium heat, along with around 1-2 T. of the reserved rendered bacon fat. Once heated, add the chicken breasts. Cook for around 2-3 min per side (should be starting to turn golden brown in a few spots). Remove from heat and transfer to a baking dish.

7. Cut the remaining 1 T. of butter in half. Place one half atop each chicken breast, then transfer dish to oven. Bake for 35 min, turning breasts over every 10-12 min.

8. Meanwhile, make the sauce. Melt 2 T. of butter in same skillet, over medium heat. Add sliced mushrooms and cook until mushrooms give their liquid and it has nearly disappeared. Stir in the 1 tsp. of minced garlic, followed by the 1/3 c. of Chardonnay. 

9. Keep mixture at boil for 3 minutes, then stir in the chicken broth. Keep mixture boiling for 3 additional minutes. 

10. Stir in dissolved cornstarch mixture and keep boiling for around 3-4 more minutes. Stir in splash of cream and cook until desired thickness is achieved.

11. Serve chicken breasts topped with sauce and enjoy!

Soft chocolate chip cookies #2

MMM! These are excellent! My son declared these are his new favorites, although I doubt we'd be able to choose between these and the soft malted milk ones we also love so much. And no mixer required for these, just some good arm exercise ;)

Link to original recipe: https://www.spendwithpennies.com/perfect-chocolate-chip-cookies/

Ingredients:

350g (12.35 oz) all-purpose flour (yes, measure it by weight; I used grams)

2 tsp. cornstarch

1 tsp. baking soda

3/4 tsp. salt

1 c. unsalted butter, melted and cooled for at least 10 min.

1 1/4 c. brown sugar (packed)

1/2 c. sugar

1 large egg + 1 yolk room temperature (you can put the eggs in a bowl of warm water for 10 min)

1/2 T. vanilla extract

1 3/4 c. semisweet chocolate chips (plus more if you want to add exterior chips for appearance)

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

2. In a large bowl, combine butter, brown sugar, and sugar.

3. Stir in the egg and egg yolk until well combined, followed by vanilla extract.

4. Gradually stir in reserved flour mixture, making sure to stir until no flour streaks remain (get those arms going!)

5. Stir in chocolate chips, then cover and refrigerate for 30 min.

6. Once the dough is done chilling, line baking sheets with parchment and heat oven to 350°F.

7. Drop dough in rounded 1 1/2 T. balls onto prepared sheets (I used my cookie scoop), spaced at least 2" apart. Add additional chips to outside of each ball if desired.

8. Bake for 11 min. Cookies will look puffy and underdone--don't overbake, they will get hard! When you take them out of oven, leave on cookie sheet for at least 10 minutes so they can finish baking.

9. Transfer to cooling rack to cool completely and enjoy! Store in airtight container.

Christmas Steak Sauce

 This is so simple and totally tasty! Since it was just me, hubby, and kiddo for Christmas, we had steak for Christmas dinner :) I wanted a sauce that was a bit special, yet easy, and this is what I came up with. I estimated on the parts where I didn't actually measure. The recipe comes together so fast that I didn't have the chance to take pix and then forgot to do so at the end, too! I'll be making this again for sure, so I'll try to remember to get at least a final pic next time.

Ingredients:

1 T. unsalted butter

~1/2 T. bottled minced garlic

1/2 c. low sodium chicken broth

~1-2 T. balsamic vinegar

~1 tsp. herbes de Provence

~1/4 c. crème fraîche

 

Directions:

1. After cooking steaks (in cast iron pan), remove pan from heat to cool for about 2 min, then transfer back to burner on just slightly less than medium heat. Add butter to pan, followed by garlic. Swirl around in pan, then add chicken broth, followed by balsamic vinegar.

2. Stir to combine, scraping up browned bits while doing so. Stir in herbes de Provence, then crème fraîche. Turn off heat and stir sauce until crème has fully melted and combined in sauce. Pour over steaks and enjoy!

Raspberry Oatmeal Cups

 Don't make these. Seriously, they are not worth your time and especially not your ingredients. They're not the worst thing ever, they just aren't very good. They smelled really great when I was putting them together and when they were baking, yet the taste was just flat. And the raspberries are too much of a contrast with the rest, like they don't even belong. 5/10, will never make again. Only blogging it so I can remember the experience and that I tried and did not like this recipe. I didn't even modify at all. Since I'll never prepare this again and don't advise anyone to make them, I'm not going to bother writing out the recipe nor posting pix.

Link to original recipe: https://www.driscolls.com/recipe/raspberry-baked-oatmeal-cups

My Grandma's Spritz Cookies

In honor of national cookie day (yesterday/4 December), I had to make some cookies, of course! I can't believe I've never put this one up on the blog yet. It's one of my favorite Christmas cookies to make, and super easy! This is the recipe of my (late) maternal grandmother, who was a legendary cook in our family :)

Link to my YouTube video of preparation: https://youtu.be/Ujutg3gU3mk

Ingredients:

1 c. (2 sticks) unsalted butter

2/3 c. sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

couple drops almond extract

3 egg yolks

1/2 tsp. salt

2 1/2 c. (10.64oz) flour

colored sugar, for decorating

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 400°F.

2. Using an electric/stand mixer, cream together butter, sugar, vanilla, almond ext., and egg yolks until fluffy.

3. Mix in salt and flour.

4. Using a cookie press, press dough in desired shapes onto cookie sheet. These cookies don't spread much, so cookies can be as close as 1 1/2" apart.

5. Top each pressed cookie with colored sugar. Transfer to oven and bake for 5-8 min, depending on your oven and how thick you pressed the cookies (I had to go for 8 in mine).

6. Let cool on cookie sheet for around 2-3 min before transferring to cooling rack. Enjoy!