Turkey meatballs 2 ways

Another cooooold night here. I had some leftover ground turkey and had a little time to make meatballs. These are very healthy and versatile. I put the turkey in a bowl and added 1/4 C. of egg whites, about 1/4 C. breadcrumbs, 2 cubes frozen garlic, 3 cubes frozen parsley, a good pinch of salt and pepper. I mushed it all together with my hands and proceeded to roll small (about the circumference of a quarter, maybe a little bigger) meatballs.

While I rolled the meatballs, I heated a little olive oil (about 2 tbs) in a large nonstick pan on medium high heat. As soon as the oil was hot, I added a bunch of the meatballs to the pan and browned on all sides. Add enough so that they don't touch and are not squished together. Let them get good and brown on the outside- DON'T rush this part. It takes about 15 minutes. Shake the pan around every so often so they roll around and brown on all sides.

When they are browned, remove them from the pan- they will NOT be cooked through.

I make a yummy soup with these, and it's so simple.

Add 2 boxes of chicken stock to a pot and let come to a boil. Peel and finely chop 3 carrots and 3 stalks of celery. Add to the soup. Add in a bunch of the meatballs and let it come to a quiet boil for at least 30 minutes.

In another smaller pot, boil water and once boiling, add in 1 C. of tiny star shaped pasta ( I believe it is called Pastina), or ditalini if you can't find the other. Cook until al dente and add to soup. Don't add the cooked pasta in too early as it will get a little mushy.

The other thing you can do with the meatballs of course is cook them in some tomato sauce and eat them with pasta. They are so flavorful and so much healthier than beef.

Garlicky swiss chard and mustard seed carrots

I worked this weekend and we had an early dinner with our dear friends up the street. It's something that I really enjoy doing. A meal always feels special to me when it is shared with people I love.

We did our usual, bring what ever is in the fridge and we'll make something out of it. I brought some rainbow Swiss chard, some shrimp, and a bag of shredded carrots. I made some garlickly Swiss chard which is both delicious and very easy.

Heat a large nonstick pan on high, add either frozen garlic cubes or garlic paste- a good amount (4 cubes or a tbs.) Wash and chop the chard. When the oil begins to sizzle, add the chard to the pan and saute for 6 minutes or until the stem pieces have become soft and the leaves have cooked down. Add a pinch of kosher salt and pepper. Serve.

My friend turned me on to mustard seeds and I decided to saute the shredded carrots in some olive oil and mustard seeds. Basically, heat a little oil in a large nonstick pan and add in a couple tbs. of mustard seeds, when they start to pop, add in the shredded carrots and saute for about 8 minutes or until the carrots have become soft. Add a pinch of salt and sugar and serve. I think this might be one of my new favorite side dishes.

My kids wouldn't touch the carrots, but her kids ate it- go figure!!!

Friday night fish sticks (again!)

Well my kids officially like fish, even if it is dredged in Panko, it's a starting point!

I made homemade fish sticks again and they loved it again. I decided to broil a few pieces of tilapia for myself.

Here's how I made it.

Preheat oven to broil. Move rack to top 1/3 of oven. Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil and place 4 pieces of tilapia on foil. Drizzle with a little olive oil, add a pinch of kosher salt, pepper and a little sprinkle of Greek Seasoning.

Broil in the oven for 7 minutes until cooked through and squeeze a bit of lemon juice on fish before serving.

I ate the fish with some Thai coconut lime rice that I bought at TJ's the other day. It's cooked rice that is shelf stable- I had to try it! I nuked it for 2 minutes and it was very tasty. I have to admit that I was surprised, I didn't have high hopes for this rice, but it was really good.

The girls have fallen in love with Nutella, it's their new favorite treat! We'll be ready for Paris in no time! LOL

I'm bringing Abby on WTNH tomorrow morning to help me make 15 Minute Soup. You can watch the video on wtnh.com and click on Good Morning Weekend CT.

Oven baked spare ribs- papa style

I went for a haircut today and left Kirk to make dinner. Well, didn't leave him entirely alone, I left him exact directions to make oven baked spareribs, jasmine rice and edamame. The meal was delicious and the kids were very happy.

Here's the recipe:

8 pork spareribs
1/2 C. hoisin sauce
1/4 C. honey
2 tsp. soy sauce

Preheat oven to 450. While oven preheats add all ingredients into a casserole (deep sided) pan. Stir around to combine and bake in the oven for 45-55 minutes. Ribs will be juicy and tender and the flavor is sweet and tangy.

I made the girls little Nutella tartlets tonight for dessert. I spread a little Nutella into these tiny tartlet cups that I ordered from Niftyfoods.com They have lots of different shapes and pretty much anything you add to these little cups makes them look fancy. I've even been known to spread a little pb and a slice of banana for the girls for a special dessert.

I will be doing a cooking segment this Saturday for WTNH, channel 8 in CT at 7:50 a.m., it's a 15 minute soup. Would love to hear from you if you have any cooking questions on my website www.timetoeat.info click Ask Nicole.

:)

Homemade fish sticks

The kids are flopped on the couch watching cartoons, and I am heading off to make fish sticks for dinner.

I had an interesting meeting today with a woman who is spearheading school lunch reform. She made a documentary called
2 Angry Moms which shows the state of what our kids are consuming at school, it is truly frightening. We are hoping to collaborate cooking classes for moms to support healthier kids meals at home and at school. Check out the website, it's a worthy cause.

Here is the recipe for quick fish sticks:

2 pieces of Tilapia
¼ C. Canola or vegetable oil
1/2 C. egg white or 1 egg
½ C. Seasoned flour ( 3 parts flour to 1 part Lawry’s seasoning salt)
½ C. Panko bread crumbs
1 tsp. Garlic salt

Heat canola oil in a large nonstick pan on medium high heat. Rinse and slice tilapia into 1” long strips. In a bowl whisk egg. In a plate, combine panko, seasoned flour, and garlic salt. Dip fish into egg, then panko mixture and cook for 1 ½- 2 minutes per side.

Quick Tip- Serve with steamed broccoli, peas or green beans for a super fast, super healthy meal.

Tacos and wafer cakes

We had a really nice family meal tonight. It was so good because there was no whining or complaining, but smiles and lots of talking.

I share a carpool with a friend and it was her turn to drive today. While they were at gymnastics, I made soft tacos with lean ground beef.

I also made more of the broiled boneless, skinless chicken thighs which we enjoyed the other night.
For those of you who missed the recipe, I rinsed boneless, skinless chicken thighs. I turned the oven to broil and lined a cookie sheet with foil. I placed the chicken on the sheet and drizzled a little olive oil over them. I them sprinkled some Adobo seasoning and a little garlic salt and pepper to the thighs. I moved the oven rack to the top 1/3 of the oven and broiled the chicken thighs for about 18 minutes. They were tender and very flavorful.

We grated some cheddar cheese, thinly sliced some lettuce and reheated the leftover Spanish rice from the other night. I also warmed up some flour tortillas in the oven that I wrapped in foil so that they would stay soft.

I had chicken tacos and the girls loved their beef tacos. Generally I use 90% lean ground sirloin when I make tacos, as any leaner and they would dry out. Because you add a little water to the taco seasoning, it helps keep the beef moist.

The girls made a whipped cream and chocolate wafer cake yesterday at their MLK camp. We ate this for dessert and it was surprisingly good. From what I gathered, they layered whipped cream with chocolate wafer cookies into little disposable loaf pans, and let sit overnight in the refrigerator.

I gave the girls the option of fish sticks or shrimp for tomorrow night, they both chose fish sticks, so I will share my quick homemade fish stick recipe with you for tomorrow.

French Onion Soup

It's Martin Luther King Day and the girls have just returned from a cool day at the Westport Historical Society full of arts, crafts and cooking. They came home with some kind of a cake with chocolate wafers and whipped cream.

I am making French Onion Soup, one of my favorites because not only is it delicious, but there are minimal number of ingredients- what better could anyone ask for?

Begin by heating a large soup pot on high. Add a tablespoon of butter and about 2 tbs. of olive oil. While that heats, thinly slice 3 onions and 2 leeks. I just found a package of 2 prepped leeks at Trader Joe's today. You still need to slice and wash them, as they hold a lot of sand in them. The easiest way I've found to wash leeks is to slice them in half lengthwise, then thinly slice them into 1/2 moons. Add them to a bowl of water and submerge them for a minute. Here's the important part**- Don't drain the water, but remove the leeks by hand leaving the water and sand in the bowl.

Add the sliced onions and leeks to the pot and stir around so they incorporate with the olive oil and butter. Cook for 5-7 minutes until they begin to soften. Add a large pinch of salt, pepper and dried thyme. Stir occasionally so they don't stick to the bottom of the pot.

Next, add in 2 or 3 32oz. boxes of beef broth. You can adjust the quantity of soup you want by varying the liquid. Cover and let boil for 45 minutes.

Before serving the soup, ladle into oven proof bowls, add a toasted baguette slice and a pinch of the grated Gruyere cheese. Place the bowls of soup on a cookie sheet and broil for 3-4 minutes or until the cheese is melted and golden.

You can slice the baguette and toast it a day ahead of time. The Gruyere cheese can also be pre-grated a day or 2 before using.