Monday, June 22, 2009

The Walking Bells!

Sweet Bells decided to start walking recently. I'm so excited!! That means less of me toting her around everywhere. Go Bells! We love you!


Thursday, June 18, 2009

Williams-Sonoma Meatballs!!

Yesterday I had the chance to cook for another family that just had a baby girl!! Homemade spaghetti sauce and meatballs!

Last August when I was visiting my Grams in St. George she showed me how to make a very simple fresh tomato sauce. She had recently been to Italy and the family she stayed with made this for her! So..you know it's gotta be the best!!

Tomato Sauce

2 28 oz. cans of whole peeled tomatoes.
1 onion chopped
Olive oil
1 6 oz can of tomato paste
Parsley
Basil
Oregano
Garlic powder
salt
pepper
crushed red peppers
sugar

In the bottom of a large pot, drizzle enough olive oil to coat the bottom and let it heat up on medium heat. Throw in your chopped onion, saute until they start to brown up. Put your whole tomatoes in a blender or food processor until it becomes smooth and pour into your pot. Add spices that you want. let is simmer for and hour or so. I usually only use a pinch of sugar..it adds a little to the flavor. So...its simple..and homemade! You can tweak it however you want. The main thing is the tomatoes..whole canned Roma tomatoes!

There are a million recipes on making your own sauce, so do what you like and make a ton of it at once and store some of it for pasta dishes.


From this fancy little Williams-Sonoma pasta cookbook I found some amazing Meatballs!

3/4 cup crusted removed cubed bread
1/3 cup Milk
1 lb Ground beef
1 small shredded onion
2 tbsp fresh Italian parsley
1 tsp fresh thyme
1 beaten egg
3/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper
olive oil for frying

1) Prepare the meatballs

In a small bowl, combine the bread cubes and milk. Let stand about 3 minutes, then squeeze the bread dry, discarding the milk. In a bowl, cobine the softened bread, beef, onion parsley, thyme, and egg, 1/4 cup of the Parmesan, 1 tsp salt, and 1/2 tsp pepper. Mix gently with your hands. Form into balls about 1 in in diameter

2) Cook the meatballs

In a large frying pan over medium heat, pour oil to a depth of 1/2 in. When the oil is hot, add the meatballs, in batches if necessary, and cook, turning occasionally, until browned on all sides, about 12 minutes. Transfer to a plate lined with paper towels to drain.

I had some requests last night for this so I'm passing it along to you!! Have fun with it! Any neighbors that want to borrow this book, come get it!!