Sweet & Sour Meatballs and Chocolate Rockets

Another busy week has come to a close.  The housework is largely done again and I have a little time to sit and write. Emily is quite sure we have done the meatball recipe before, and this may be true.  If it is a repeat, I apologize.  She does like meatballs though, and sweet & sour sauce, so it was an easy go to.
Emily was asked to babysit Monday night, so we put the meatballs off until Wednesday night and I grilled a couple of chicken breasts and made baked potatoes instead for a quick supper before she left.
On Wednesday when Emily called me to tell me she was home from school she told me her day had been "sad" when I inquired.  I asked why, concerned about the usual preteen angst of some issue with one friend or another (I wouldn't go back to those years for anything!). Turns out it was sad because I didn't give her money for the monthly bake sale.  Except that I had, and when she stopped insisting I had not and looked she found the pair of quarters on the table, right next to the hot lunch money she was supposed to take to school two days before. If she looked up from her electronics now & then she'd know, but she still claims I never told her it was there.  I did.  I know I did.  She thought I should provide some kind of "make up" treat, but her opting to not immediately put the offered monies in her bag is no reason I should reward here.
She called me again a few minutes later to ask if she could make cupcakes for dessert, since Aunt Nancy was joining us.  I agreed she could prepare the batter, but was not to start baking until I got home.  Another 20 minutes later and she called again, asking where the cocoa was.  I thought she had discovered a cake mix, but no, she was making something from scratch.  I have taught her well.....I think.

When I got home Emily was sweeping the kitchen floor and there was a huge bowl of chocolate batter on the counter.  I unpacked my lunch things and found the cupcake papers for her.  She filled a couple, and then asked me if I would help.  I told her to start the rice and began ladling out cupcake batter.  I have started making cupcakes in a large measuring cup, the spout makes dividing the batter so much easier.  I reminded her again about the difference between liquid and dry measures as I supervised the rice measuring.  Once the cupcakes were in the oven and the rice was boiling I let her start her meatballs.  She asked me to mince the onion for her, and I sliced the rest of the onion into larger pieces for the sauce rather than have half an onion in the fridge.  The original recipe says to bake the meatballs, but because we had cupcakes in the oven I had her brown them in a large frying pan, removing them to a bowl once they were  mostly done.
Once the meatballs were cooked Emily measured brown sugar, corn starch and vinegar into the pan along with a can of pineapple chunks and juice.  Once this was mixed and simmering I told her to return the meatballs to the pan to finish cooking in the sauce.

As always dinner was good, and there were plenty of leftovers for lunch the following day.  She is not only becoming a proficient cook, but she has taken to doing the dishes afterward.  She missed a few things this time around, and she still needs to learn to put the ingredients back into the cupboard when she's done, but we're getting there.

Sweet & Sour Meatballs

1 lb lean ground beef                                    1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup dry bread crumbs                              1 tablespoon cornstarch

1/4 cup milk                                                  1 can pineapple tidbits in syrup (540 ml)

1 egg                                                             1/3 cup vinegar

2-3 cloves garlic, crushed                             1 tablespoon soy sauce

2 tablespoons finely chopped onion             1 green pepper, coarsely chopped (optional)

1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

rosemary (optional)

Mix together ground beef, crumbs, milk, egg, garlic, onions & Worcestershire sauce.  Form into balls (about the size of a ping pong ball)  Place on a baking sheet and bake at 350F until brown (about 15-20 minutes, or brown in batches in a little hot oil in a large pan.

To make the sauce mix brown sugar and corn starch in a skillet.  Stir in pineapple with syrup, vinegar and soy sauce.  Heat to boiling stirring constantly, then reduce heat.  Add meatballs, cover and simmer 10 minutes.  

Serve over rice or noodles, or make smaller meatballs & serve as an appetizer.

Chocolate Rockets

These moist, and almost foolproof cupcakes have been a favourite in my house since my boys were small.  If I have the right combination of time and patience I make them in mini cupcake tins for a bite sized treat.  They are great unfrosted, frosted with Nutella, or any other frosting you might like. The recipe also doubles well.

1 1/2 cups flour                              1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup sugar                                  5 tablespoons vegetable oil

1/4 cup cocoa powder                    1 tablespoon vinegar

1 teaspoon baking powder             1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon baking soda                  1 1/4 cups water

Preheat the oven to 350F

In a large bowl combine all the dry ingredients.  Stir until there are no lumps and the mixture is one colour.  Add all the wet ingredients.  Stir until batter is smooth and all one colour.

Spoon batter into prepared (greased or papered) pan.  Bake for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Cool 10 minutes before removing from the pan.

Honey BBQ Meatloaf; Popcorn-Crusted Shrimp & Spaghetti Squash with Peanut Sauce

I was about to make a comment about how quickly January seems to have passed when I realized I seem to always start these posts that way.  Yes, time is passing quickly, and watching my little girl grow up in leaps and bounds underscores that fact, as does a rapidly approaching birthday.  It's funny, to me, anyway, how I can believe so fully in taking each moment as it comes & taking time to smell the roses; making time for myself and all those things motivational posters are made of and yet find the hours slipping through my fingers like so much sand.  Life is good.  There aren't many things I'd change.  A few things, sure, but not many.
I'm a week behind with my posting; last weekend was spent with Peter, writing was not a priority.  We get little enough time these days.  In light of that I'm going to combine two weeks of Emily's forays into the kitchen into one post.
A couple of weeks ago I came across a new meatloaf recipe.  It looked easy enough, and since Emily loves meatloaf I suggested this recipe to her.  Unfortunately she has decided going into the garage when I'm not home is "creepy", so she delayed on some (most) of her chores until I got home, which meant she did not start making said meatloaf until almost 5.  We didn't eat until half past six and the meatloaf was not satisfactorily cooked all the way through.  We carved a couple of slices off the ends and put the rest back into the oven for an extra 45 minutes.  Live and learn.
Nonetheless Emily was happy to don a pair of latex gloves and knead together ground bison, crushed Ritz crackers, an egg, minced onion, garlic powder, honey, part of a can of diced tomatoes and barbecue sauce.  She shaped the mixture into a loaf, patted it into a loaf pan and topped with the rest of the tomatoes mixed with more barbecue sauce.
While the loaf baked I cut some parsnips and carrots into matchsticks to saute in butter, finished with a little honey to really bring out their inherent sweetness.  Emily made mashed potatoes (from a package, I let her cheat) and packaged gravy, another cheat.
As I said, the meal was good, if a little late, and by the time we were done I think every pan in my kitchen was in the sink.

Honey BBQ Meatloaf with a Kick

2 lbs extra lean ground beef                                        2 tablespoons honey

24 rich round crackers, crushed (about 1 cup)            1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 egg, beaten                                                               1 can (540 ml) diced tomatoes, drained

2 tablespoons minced dried onions                             1/4 cup barbecue sauce

1 tablespoon garlic powder                                         4 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

Heat oven to 350F.  

Combine meat, cracker crumbs, egg, onions, garlic powder, honey and pepper.  Mix in half the tomatoes, half of the barbecue sauce and half the Worcestershire sauce until just blended.

Shape into a loaf in a 9x5" greased loaf pan; flatten top.  Combine remaining tomatoes, barbecue sauce and Worcestershire sauce.  Spoon over meat.  Cover, place on a rimmed baking sheet.

Bake one hour, or until done, uncovering for the last 15 minutes.

The following Sunday evening I asked Emily if she intended to cook again come Monday.  She said  she was, and shortly thereafter brought me my most recent copy of the Food Network Magazine.  She said she wanted to make the Popcorn-Crusted Popcorn Shrimp and Spaghetti Squash with Peanut Sauce.  Both recipes sounded good, and looked relatively simple.  I was pleased too the recipes she had chosen looked like a good compliment to each other, and they were not listed together.  She is beginning to learn how to pair foods....I think.  Maybe it was a fluke.

I suggested she invite her aunt to join us, and she was eager to do so.  I made a brief trip to the store for shrimp and spaghetti squash and settled in for a quiet Sunday evening.

When I got home from work on Monday I suggested she begin prepping her shrimp, although they would not take long to cook I knew breading them was going to be time consuming for an inexperienced chef.

I had put the spaghetti squash in the oven to steam while I was at work, putting the cut, seeded halves into a baking dish with a little water and covering it.  I set the timer to cook it for about 35 minutes ate 400F.  It was cooked, and cool enough to handle when I got home.  While Emily made popcorn in the microwave* I scooped out the flesh of the squash for her, returning it to the oven to stay warm while she worked on the shrimp.

She measured the popcorn into my blender along with dried bread crumbs, cornstarch, salt & pepper, pulsing the mixture to make coarse crumbs.  She began to coat the shrimp with this before I was able to tell her she needed to combine, in a separate dish, flour, salt & pepper, and beat an egg into a third bowl.  I then showed her how to dredge the shrimp in the flour, then dip it into the beaten egg, before finally breading it with the crumb mixture.  By the time she was done there were crumbs & flour everywhere.

While she deep fried the shrimp in hot oil I melted some butter with cayenne and lemon zest and combined mayonnaise with more lemon zest and some lemon juice to make a dipping sauce for the shrimp.  When the shrimp were fried she drizzled them with the melted butter.

While I had been helping her with the blender, not the best tool for making crumbs, Emily made the peanut sauce for the spaghetti squash.  She stirred together peanut butter, soy sauce, rice vinegar, lime juice and water.  To this she added ground ginger, a garlic clove and red pepper flakes.

When the shrimp was ready she tossed the squash with this mixture and dinner was served.

Despite the apparent hurricane that had hit my poor kitchen dinner was very good.  While my sister and I visited Emily cleared away the leftovers and even did all the dishes.  It was a big job, probably more than the cooking.  I had to smile when read the caption of the photo of dinner she sent to her dad & to Peter listing the menu with the notation "it was hard".  Maybe, but it was delicious too.

Popcorn -Crusted Popcorn Shrimp

3 cups popped popcorn               pinch cayenne pepper

1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs        Zest of 1 lemon

1 tablespoon cornstarch              1 tablespoon lemon juice

salt & pepper                               1 lb medium shrimp, peeled & deveined

1/3 cup flour                               1/2 cup mayonnaise

2 large eggs                                2 tablespoons (unsalted) butter

Pulse popcorn, panko, cornstarch, 1/2 teaspoon salt & a few grinds pepper in a food processor until coarsely ground.  Transfer to a rimmed pan.  Combine the flour with 1/2 teaspoon salt & a few grinds of pepper in a medium bowl; set aside.  Beat the eggs in a separate bowl, set aside.  Melt the butter with the cayenne, half the lemon zest and a pinch of salt.  Set aside.

Heat 2" vegetable oil in a large, deep skillet.  Working in batches toss the shrimp in the flour, dip in the eggs then coat in the popcorn mixture.  Fry the shrimp until golden, about 2 minutes a side.  Remove with a slotted spoon & transfer to a platter.

Mix the mayonnaise with the remaining lemon zest & the lemon juice.  Drizzle the shrimp with the melted butter right before serving.  Serve with the mayonnaise.

Spaghetti Squash with Peanut Sauce

Steam a spaghetti squash until tender.** Cool slightly then scrape into strands with a fork.

Puree 2 tablespoons peanut butter with 1 tablespoon each  soy sauce, rice vinegar, lime juice & water, 1 teaspoon grated ginger, 1 garlic clove & 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes.  Toss with the squash.  Season with salt.  Top with peanuts, mint & cilantro.

*Microwave 1/2 cup popcorn in a brown paper lunch bag for about 2-2 1/2 minutes.  

**Spaghetti squash can be steamed in the microwave, covered, with about 2 tablespoons of water for about 15 minutes.  We had a larger one that would not fit in our microwave in a pan.  I put it, cut side down, in a baking dish in the oven with about a 1/2 inch of water & covered it. It steamed for about 30 minutes at 400F.

Quick Chicken & Spinach Skillet

As much as I love Christmas, with all its trappings and inherent busyness I must confess I am pleased to be getting back to our routine.  The holidays were good, for the most part, although our family suffered an unexpected and terrible loss just before Christmas, which sent all of us reeling.  Christmas then was quite subdued, but still every tradition found its place once more.
Still the busyness, late nights, holiday parties and just being away from home meant cooking here was minimal and often catch as can.
This past Monday though Emily was back at school and I was back to work, and meal times again took on a more normal routine.  For her first day back in the kitchen Emily decided to make this easy chicken dish.  I invited my sister to join us, and Emily was doubly pleased to be cooking for someone outside our little household.
When I got home from work I had her start the rice, since brown rice takes 40 minutes to cook, and then helped her trim the stems from the bag of spinach.
Emily protested when I insisted I cut the chicken breasts in half horizontally, but I thought it was more knife skill than she has yet acquired.
Emily browned the chicken in hot oil.  While it was browning she mixed a can of diced tomatoes (we used the cracked black pepper & garlic flavoured ones) with three tablespoons of roasted red pepper with Parmesan salad dressing.  The original recipe called for tomato & oregano dressing, which I was unable to find in our local grocery store.
Once the chicken pieces were browned Emily put them on a plate, drizzling them with another tablespoon of the dressing.  To the pan she added the tomatoes and brought it to a boil.  Once it was boiling she added the spinach, cooking it for about 3 minutes.  Although the recipe says to put the spinach mixture on the chicken Emily, at my suggestion, added the chicken back to the pan.
We each spooned a piece of chicken with the sauce over the cooked rice.
Dinner was flavourful, and very good.  There was a great deal of the sauce leftover, once  Emily made a couple of lunch time containers for each of us, using up the remaining chicken & rice.
I told her to put it in the fridge.  The following day I browned a pound of ground bison with an onion and some garlic, add the leftover spinach and tomato mixture to this with  cooked noodles (I used the leftover few noodles from our last couple boxes of lasagna, broken up.  I always seem to have a few noodles left every time I make a lasagna.  Either I need a different pan, or there needs to be a re-think on the packaging)  It was also a great meal. topped with a little Parmesan cheese.

Quick Chicken & Spinach Skillet

2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 can diced tomatoes (540 ml)

1/4 cup tomato & oregano salad dressing, or roasted red pepper with Parmesan 

2 teaspoons oil

8 cups packed spinach leaves (one bag of baby spinach)

2 2/3 cups cooked brown rice

Cut chicken breasts in half horizontally.  Combine tomatoes and 3 tablespoons of dressing (any non creamy would work,) 

Heat the oil in a large skillet, add the chicken and cook 2-3 minutes on each side.   Remove from the pan and drizzle with the remaining tablespoon of dressing.  

Add the tomato mixture to the pan and heat to boiling.  Add the spinach leaves and cook 2-3 minutes.

Return the chicken to the pan and heat through.  Serve over rice.