Lamb and Feta Meatballs

Kevin has been begging me for quite some time to allow him a day to cook dinner. Since during the week is usually a bit hectic, we settled on Sundays. You see, Sundays are a good thing. It's a nice relaxing day, I've grocery shopped on Saturday, and if there are leftovers we get them for lunch on Monday. Very win/win, if you ask me.

After some searching, we found a recipe and after changing things around and tweaking it a little here and there, we have come up with the BEST lamb and feta meatballs you will ever eat. Really. Would you believe we lost the link to the source? If you recognize this, please let me know so I can properly credit the person where our inspiration came from.

1 lb ground lamb

3 oz feta cheese, crumbled

1/3 cup fine breadcrumbs (dry)

1/2 tsp dried oregano

1/2 tsp dried basil

1/2 tsp pepper

1/4 tsp salt (the feta is pretty salty)

3 cloves minced garlic

Put all the ingredients into a large bowl and mix together with your hands. I added about 2-3 Tbsp water because it was a little dry. Don't work the meat too much, but try to get all the spiced and cheese mixed in. Roll a tbsp of meat into a ball and place on a lined cookie sheet. Repeat until all the meat is used up. Bake the meatballs in a 400 F oven for about 15 minutes. (I love this because I hate the mess that frying them creates).

Serve with a nice rice pilaf or cous cous and some veggies!

Makes 30 meatballs

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Party Pizza Pinwheels

Who doesn't like a pizza bun? Bake these up and throw them in the freezer to enjoy with soup or stews, make ahead for the lunch boxes, or get the kids to cook with you as an afternoon activity. Either way, these buns are really delicious!

1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
2 Tbsp sugar
3 1/2 Tbsp butter, cubed and kept cold
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
approximately 1/4 cup milk

Pizza sauce or spaghetti sauce
Mozzarella cheese, grated

Pre-heat oven to 400 F.

Stir together the flours, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Using a pastry blender or two knives, cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse bread crumbs. Slowly add the milk, stirring, until the mixture comes together and forms a ball.

On a lightly floured counter, knead the mixture five or six times until the dough is smooth. Roll out dough so that it is in the shape of a rectangle. Be SURE to have the counter dusted with flour before you go onto the next step.

Top the dough lightly with some pizza sauce, and sprinkle mozarella cheese on top. With the longest side facing you (as in the picture), gently roll the dough so it looks as pictured below. It may be a bit gooey, as the pizza sauce adds a lot of liquid. If you haven't floured your counter, it may stick.


You should end up with one long roll of dough. Cut into 12 pieces and place them about 2 inches apart on a greased cookie sheet (mine is non stick so it was okay not to grease it.)

Bake for about 10-12 minutes, until they are golden brown. These are delicious with soup, on their own in a lunch box, or for a party.

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Applesauce Oatmeal Cookies

Back when we used to scuba dive, these were the cookies I'd take out on the boat. The night before we'd go I'd whip up a gigantic batch, mostly because the Hubs would call our friends and say, "she's making cookies!". They would arrive just as the first pan was coming out of the oven and scoop them before I could set a cookie on the cooling rack. Needless to say, if I didn't bake a tonne we'd have none left for diving the next day.

Recipe originally from Mrs. Fields Cookie Book
Makes 2-3 dozen

1 ¾ cup quick oats
1 ½ cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp nutmeg
1 cup brown sugar, packed
½ cup white sugar
½ cup butter, softened
1 large egg
¾ cup unsweetened applesauce
1 cup (6 oz) chocolate chips (I use 8 oz semi sweet chocolate, cut into chunks)
1 cup raisins (or you could sub 1 cup dried sour cherries, soaked in hot water for a few minutes to soften, and drained)
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)


Preheat oven to 375 F.

In a medium bowl combine oats, flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Mix well with a wire whisk and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine sugars with an electric mixer at medium speed. Add butter and beat to form a grainy paste. Add egg and applesauce, and then blend until smooth. Add the flour mixture. Blend at low speed until just combined. Do not over mix. Fold in the chocolate chips/chunks, raisins, and walnuts until distributed through the dough. This is more of a wet dough, so don't be concerned. Drop dough by tablespoons onto lightly greased baking sheets, 2 inches apart. Bake 12-14 minutes or until light brown. Immediately transfer cookies to a cool, flat surface.

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Almond Macaroon Brownies

Dense chocolate topped with a coconut almond macaroon, these are incredibly good.  If you like Almond Joy chocolate bars, they have many of the same flavours! They also freeze really well and make a nice gift for someone special. I'm not sure where this recipe came from, it was given to me by a friend.


Makes 2 dozen

Base:
4 squares (4 oz) unsweetened chocolate
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup butter
1 cup flour
2 cups sugar
1 cup chopped almonds
3 eggs

Melt chocolate and butter together in a saucepan over low heat, stirring. Set aside and allow it to cool. Whisk in the sugar and then the eggs one at a time. Stir in the vanilla.  Fold in flour and almond. Spread into a greased, foil or parchment lined 9x13 inch cake pan.

Topping:
8 oz (250 g) cream cheese
2/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 tbsp flour
1 cup chopped almonds
1 cup sweetened fancy flake coconut

In a bowl with an electric mixer, beat together the cream cheese, sugar, eggs, and flour until smooth. Stir in almonds and coconut. Gently spread over the brownie batter in the cake pan. Bake 35-40 min at 350 F, or until a toothpick in center comes out almost clean. Cool in the pan. For a finishing touch, drizzle the top with melted chocolate and top each square with a sliced almond. Feeling decadent? Try a chocolate coated almond on top!

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Chicken and Brown Rice Soup

Merry once, merry twice, merry chicken soup with rice!

Years ago I worked with a little boy and to help teach him the months of the year, we read the book "Chicken Soup with Rice" and made this. You can skip the marjoram if your little person doesn't like green things floating in their soup, but this makes for a delicious lunch. Kids can help chop the celery and carrot, or stir the broth. Tuck it into a thermos to send to school and you'll be assured that they are having something healthy and delicious!

6 cups chicken broth
1 small onion, diced
2 sticks celery, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 carrots, peeled and cut into coins
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 tsp marjoram
1/3 tsp thyme
1/3 cup brown rice
2 cups chopped cooked chicken
2 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary
1/3 cup frozen peas

Saute onion, garlic, and celery in olive oil until soft and translucent. Add marjoram, salt, pepper, and thyme and continue to saute about a minute or two. Add chicken stock, rice, and carrots. Bring to a boil. Cover and simmer over low heat for about 30 minutes. Add chicken, rosemary, and peas; bring back to a boil and then simmer about another 10 minutes.

Yummy!

Serves 4

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Giant No Roll Sugar Cookies

Raise your hand if you love sugar cookies, but hate the work of rolling out the dough and cutting them out, baking, cooling and icing. Me! Me! Drives me crazy. I love the cookies, it just seems like so much work. And I'm all for less work. These cookies bake up into massive, soft on the inside, chewy on the outside cookies with a bit of tang from the sour cream that's in the dough. You don't have to make them huge, you can make them smaller and just reduce the baking time.

Adapted from Everyday Food April 2007

2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup butter (or 1 stick/8 tbsp), softened
1 1/2 cups sugar, plus some for sprinkling on top (I found them a bit sweet with this much sugar, so I reduced it to 1 1/4 cups)
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup sour cream

In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. Set aside.

With an electric mixer, blend the butter and sugar until it forms a paste. Add the egg and vanilla, and blend well.

With the mixer speed on low, add in 1/2 of the flour mixture; followed by the sour cream, then the remaining flour mixture. Mix until just smooth. The dough will be stiff. You may have to use a wooden spoon and mix it by hand to get the flour really incorporated.

Drop approximately 3 tbsp (yes, you heard that right) of dough per cookie on an ungreased baking sheet 3-4 inches apart. Shape and flatten somewhat, and then sprinkle with sugar.

Bake at 350 F until the cookies edges and tops just begin to brown, about 18-22 minutes.

These cookies bake into HUGE, chewy on the outside, soft on the inside sugar cookies.

To make these smaller, more normal sized, I roll the dough into walnut sized balls, and then in sugar to coat, place them 2 inches apart on a cookie sheet and flatten somewhat. If you do this reduce the baking time to around 8-10 minutes and watch carefully.

These are for sure going to be a lunch box favorite in our house for a long time to come!

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