Meatballs

This recipe goes with the Marina Sauce below, or any other kind of sauce that would be good with ground beef. These are delicious meatballs!!! Also Very easy to make and great to double for freezing leftovers! I've found that I don't even have to roll them! I just drop them by table spoon onto the baking sheet, form them a little, toss them in the oven and wallah! Delish!

1 lb. ground beef

3/4 bread crumbs

2 eggs

1/2 c. chopped onion

1/2 c. milk

1 tsp. salt

1-2 tsp. italian seasonings

1-2 tsp. chopped parsley

pepper to taste

*I add garlic sometimes, sometimes I don't.

Combine all ingredients except beef. Then mix in beef by hand. Don't over mix. Form into 1 1/2 inch balls. Place in casserole dish. Bake naked or cover in sauce. Bake 350 degrees about 30 min.

Marinara Sauce

NO these are not MY pictures!! Why would I stand there and take pictures of the food when I could be eating it??? But this is pretty close to what it looks like ;)

This is an excellent recipe I got from my friend! It is rich and delicious! It's not bitter like some tomato sauces. It's easy to make and goes wonderfully on Spaghetti and Meatballs, Chicken Parmesan, dips, etc. It also freezes very well!

Ingredients:

1/4 cup extra-virgin olove oil

1 sm. omion, finely chopped

1 garlic clove, finely chopped

1 celery stalk, finely chopped

1 carrot peeled and grated

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

1 (32 oz.) cam crushed tomatoes

1 dried bay leaf

Directions:

In a large pot, heat the oil over medium-high flame. Add the onions and garlic and saute until onions are translucent, 10 min. Add celery, carrots, S&P. Saute until all vegetables are soft 10 min. Add tomatoes and bay leaf and simmer uncovered over low heat until sauce thickens and your house smells wonderful, 1 hr. Remove bay leaf, season with more S&P to taste.

Clean Brown Rice and Bean Love!

So there's this "Clean" Brown rice and Bean dish that my mom made a few months ago, and I wanted the recipe so I called my mom and asked if I could get the recipe from her. She could hardly remember it!!! And she couldn't find the recipe anywhere!!! :( So she told me, I think there's this in there and that and I think I did this. etc. etc. Poo! Like that'll work, I thought!! So disappointedly, I wasn't going to make it! But then I thought, Hey wait! I am a decently skilled cook, with exceptional seasoning abilities (in common dishes ;)! So I decided to give it a shot and if it failed, oh well.

Oh my goodness! YUM!!!! YUM! YUM! YUM!!! I was making it for a potluck and everyone loved it and wanted the recipe! I had to tell them, sorry, there isn't one.... Mwaahahaha! But I at least wanted to write down the ingredients so that I could make it again! So here it is. MMMM!!! So good!! And good for you! :)

In Olive Oil saute:

red onion

green and red bell pepper

garlic (a good amount. let's taste it!)

adobo pepper and some sauce

salt and pepper

smoked paprika

anything else in your vast spice cupboard that looks like it might make it promising!! :)

Add:

can diced tomatoes

agave necter

balsamic vinegar

Then add:

black beans (or whatever kind you want. you can even mix different types)

cooked brown rice

top with cotija cheese.

Oh yum, yum, yum!!!

It's awesome hot, it's even good cold!