Tag: food

Updated Meatball recipe

I made meatballs again, but added more veggies and spices, so here it is.

Like before, the easy way is to use a food processor (that’s what I did), but you can chop the veggies up yourself too. You can see above they’re just diced. I upped the amount of red and black pepper and they’re a bit spicy. If you don’t like pepper, reduce it back to 1/4 teaspoon each.

Silver’s Eat Alone Meatballs

1 lb ground turkey
1 lbs ground beef
1 cup-ish bread crumbs (about two slices of bread)
2 eggs
1 small onion, diced
4 or so cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 cup-ish carrot, diced or shredded
1 green pepper, diced
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
1 tsp salt
1/3 tsp black pepper
1/3 tsp red pepper
2tsp oregano
2 tsp basil
2 tsp parsley

Mix and form into 2 inch balls. It was a pretty wet mixture and I should’ve squished some of them more than I did, but they all turned out fine.

Cook at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. I lined the pan with foil and just put them straight onto that and there was no problem.

Let cool and freeze.


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Food is Hard: WAFFLES

These are the best waffles you’ll ever eat*

* your mileage may vary, no guarantee implied. But they are really REALLY good

Cue up Waffle King by Weird Al

I got the original form of the recipe from The Woman’s Companion Cook Book, then one night I didn’t realize we were low on eggs. But I knew you could substitute apple sauce, which we had. And they were AMAZING. So that’s the recipe you’re getting here.

delicious, delicious waffles

Yes, you can also make them into pancakes, but waffles are better.

Makes about 12 waffles or a shit load of pancakes

Ingredients:

Dry:

  • 4 cups all purpose flour
  • 6 tablespoons granulate sugar
  • 3 teaspoons baking powder
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 3 teaspoons cinnamon

Wet:

  • 3 cups milk
  • 3 eggs
  • 3/4 of a cup of unsweetened applesauce
  • 1 cup Canola oil (or similar neutral tasting oil)

Mix all the dry ingredients well, then add the wet ingredients. The batter will be a bit lumpy. Make into waffles (or pancakes, if you’re a heathen)

They’re so good you don’t even need to add any topping (I prefer brown sugar)

You can freeze these. Just put a bunch of them into a large ziploc, no paper between them necessary. Heat in the toaster. I have no idea how long they last, because I always eat them within a week.

They’re not super filling, so eat with something else (some juice and a handful of nuts would probably make a pretty good breakfast. I usually have one waffle and then some cereal and berries)


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Food is Hard: My meatball recipe

Edit: Updating this for the food is hard series

Meatballs are basically meatloaf in ball form, but I don’t like meatloaf and I do like meatballs. *shrug* I dunno. This is a composite of a couple different recipes I’ve seen.

half eaten meatball

Silver’s Eat Alone Meatballs

1.25 lbs ground turkey
1.25 lbs ground beef
1 cup-ish whole wheat bread crumbs (I did two pieces of bread in the food processor. Pretty sure it was more than a cup)
1 egg
1/2 onion, diced (threw it in the food processor too. Onions kill me)
3 or so cloves of garlic, minced (in the food processor.)
1/2 cup-ish shredded carrot (I did a double handful of baby carrots, in the food processor)
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
2 tsp basil
2 tsp parsley
1/2 tsp red pepper

Mix, form into 2 inch balls, cook at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. I put mine on wire racks on foil lined cookie sheets, but they didn’t make as much of a mess as I expected.

meatballs out of the oven and cooling

Mess with these! I’ve used white bread instead or saltine crackers. Pretty sure the bread is a filler so you can leave it out to be gluten-free, or replace with rice.

If you don’t have a food processor, just cut stuff up as small as you can.

I’ve tried putting zucchini in it, but it didn’t turn out well. The zucchini was too wet. You may have ideas on how to fix that (maybe just the peels?)

These freeze really well, last a long time in the freezer, and taste good cold or hot.


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Food is Hard: Books & Tips

If you’re like me and deciding what to eat is HARD and making anything that’s more than two steps is SUPER HARD, then this is for you.

Tips:

Make things you can freeze (I’ll be posting some recipes soon). A lot of things can be frozen if you think you can’t finish all of it before it spoils. Can’t finish that loaf of bread? Divide it into bits you can finish in a week, wrap it up in plastic, and chuck it in the freezer. Defrost in the fridge later.

Convenience foods are your friends. Whether that’s a frozen meal, pre-cut veggies, canned chicken – that’s all stuff that makes getting food into you easier & that’s all that matters.

If you can afford to and you have the space, canned foods are great. Canned chicken or tuna, some frozen veggies, and some bread, rice, or pasta is a good meal.

Make a list of foods you like that are easy and keep it on the fridge so when you can’t think of stuff, you can look at the list. Mine would include miso soup, peanut butter & crackers, bread & cheese, and rice & veggies.

Two books I like:

Cooking is Terrible: This isn’t recipes so much as ideas. But they’re good ideas.

Just Bento: She just came out with a second one, but I haven’t read it yet. It’s full of recipes that are yummy, many of which you can freeze. Browse through the website for lots of recipes too. Most of them are Japanese inspired. Warning: there is some talk of “health” and calories. I ignore all of it because I’m more concerned with getting food into me, but you may not be able to.


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My first harvest of 2018

Inside a kitchen sink. A small colander filled with about two dozen ripe cherry tomatoes. Around the colander are three white turnips with the stems still on.

The turnips are Oasis. I grew them last year and they’re mild and delicious

The cherry tomatoes are 100 Sweet, from a transplant. I overwintered the plant and we’ve probably got two times that many ripening.


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Burdock tsukemono

I made this from stuff I grew… 

Beige strips of burdock root smothered in sesame seeds, vinegar, and soy sauce.

I’ve eaten most of it.  It’s Japanese style pickles, made from burdock root and sesame seeds. And it’s delicious.

I have more pickling in miso right now.

This is half of the burdock I harvested on Saturday. I have one more I’m letting grow more because it was stunted by the other two stealing all the sun. 


This is an older picture. The burdock is in the blue things (because the root gets 12-16′ long with this variety – and other varieties get longer). Even with that they ended up below the level of the garden bed. At the end the leaves were bigger than my head (they got composted).

Also in this bed is cucumber, Mexican mint (tagetes lucida – a type of marigold), turnips, and round carrots. The carrots and turnips are gone now and there’s some flowers added. 


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Blogs I read – Vintage, Crafting, & Making Things

Retro Renovation – “Welcome to Retro Renovation – your daily dose of mid century renovation resources… design inspiration… fun finds… and a growing community of people all interested in cherishing their mid century and older homes.”

No Pattern Required – “No Pattern Required was started in February 2009 by Ruth in an attempt to vent her overwhelming enthusiasm for everything vintage and mid-century without driving her husband, Tom, crazy.”

Mid-Century Menu – ‘Have you ever looked at a recipe in a mid-century cookbook and thought, “Ew. That is so nasty.” But you couldn’t stop looking at the recipe. Or thinking about it. As time went on, you kept going back to the book, thinking, “I wonder what it tastes like?”‘ (By the same couple that does No Pattern Required)

1972: The Retro WW Project – “I am a Pittsburgh girlwith a passionate love for potatoes and carbs and butter. For some reason, I recreate long-forgotten Weight Watchers recipes from the 1970’s in my own kitchen. Sometimes they are surprisingly tasty. Most of the time they are dreadful. Often my house smells like boiled celery. I get way too excited about buying vintage Pyrex and unmolding gelatine.” (CN: despite being based on Weight Watchers recipes, it’s not really about weight loss. It’s mostly about how the recipes are terrible.)

Dinner is Served 1972 – This is a Julie & Julia type project, but with a hell of a lot more Jell-O – “Dinner is Served is a plastic, guacamole-colored box that contains cards that provide the menu for entire meals: entrees, side dishes and desserts. Sometimes there are even appetizers. They also supply a handy time-line so dinner can be served at 6pm (when your husband arrives home from work).”

Retro Recipe Attempts – Tasting the fare of yesteryear, the disastrous and the delicious.

Betty Crafter – “I am Betty Crafter, a vintage dealer and enthusiast, crafter of all things, and owner of a 1962 time capsule ranch house. ”

Ranch Dressing with Eartha Kitsch – “Hi! I’m Eartha Kitsch! Even though I DO enjoy a good salad, this site isn’t about that kind of ranch dressing. It’s about the restoration, decoration and revival of my 1956 ranch home. It’s also about things that I consider “dressing” like vintage housewares, clothing, recipes and everything else in this old world that makes life interesting and good.”

Scouting NY – “What always amazes me about New York is how much there is to see if you take the time to look. Every street has a hidden gem or two, and yet they go largely ignored by thousands of passersby daily who simply don’t have the time to pay attention.”

Just Hungry – “My primary focus on Just Hungry is Japanese food and home cooking. As a Japanese person living abroad, I do miss the cuisine I grew up with a lot, and that is what I mostly cook at home regardless of where I live.” (CN: talk about weight loss and food restrictions, such as gluten-free)

JustBento – “JustBento is dedicated to the subject of healthy, simple bento lunches, some traditionally Japanese, some not so traditional. The focus is on bentos for health and weight-conscious adults, but many of the recipes and methods are applicable to bentos for all ages.” (CN: recipes, talk about nutrition. It’s mostly recipes and reviews of bento containers)

Tricia’s Obligatory Art Blog! – “Trish is a hairy mammal that enjoys drawing feathered dinosaurs. She also enjoys giving silly answers when asked to describe herself.”

Pintrosity – “This isn’t a site to just laugh and make fun of projects gone wrong (although occasionally giggles and guffaws do come out), but also to help troubleshoot and learn from the Pinterest Fails we all have. “

Pintester – “failing at Pintester pins so you don’t have to” (CN: language, sexual humor, sometimes gross humor, occassional talk of weight loss. It’s funny though)

Atomic Shrimp – “This website is really just about the things I do in my spare time. My interests include wild food, experimental cooking, assorted crafts, multimedia work and the deliberate, but benign and mild-mannered pursuit of the absurd.”


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