Beef « eatingRD.com

December 18, 2009

lots of comfort & the winner is . . .

Filed under: Blog,Comfort foods — Tags: Beef, casserole, coconut water, green bean, potato, rotisserie chicken — Kristen :) @ 5:04 am

Hello everyone! How is your week going so far? I was so impressed by how many of you are on top of all your gifts this year! I am still way behind, ugh! But I’m not going to freak out about it. I am also feeling much much better, still kind of coughy in the mornings, but much better thank goodness. Humidifiers help me tremendously and I usually sleep with a sheet over my nose so I have moist air to breathe. Is that weird? . . .

I really enjoy the foods of winter because they are warm, comforting and mighty tasty! It seems like I’ve been on a roll lately with the down home country cookin’. These kinds of foods are also the best for leftovers and can be transformed to other dishes.

I just wanted to share a couple nice recipes that I enjoy during the winter and also announce the coconut water giveaway winner!!

The first one is cornbread-topped chicken pot pie mmmm! Chris and I really enjoy this one and the addition of the leeks gives it such a wonderful flavor. Give it a try it’s really yummy.

The next one is my version of Italian-style meatloaf. Gotta love all that gooey cheese in the middle! This time I paired it with sautéed haricot verts with caramelized shallot and pecans, along with some roasted fingerling potatoes. You know I never really eat ketchup unless I’m at a restaurant or if I make meatloaf! For me I have to have ketchup with meatloaf 🙂

Mix this all in a big bowl:

2 lbs lean ground beef
1 jar TJ’s bruschetta mix
1/3-1/2 cup quick oats
1 egg
1/2 onion, diced & sautéed in a pan (I threw in some mushrooms too)
seasonings: Herbs de Provence (or Italian Seasoning), garlic powder, salt, pepper
topped with a bit of ketchup
Mozzarella cheese for stuffing

Pre-heat oven to 375 F. Take about a handful of the meat mixture at a time to form about four, 1/2 mini meat loaves on a foil lined broiler pan. Place some mozzarella cheese down in the center and then top with the rest of the meat mixture. Make sure there aren’t any seams open, or the cheese will ooze out when baked.

Bake until a thermometer registers 155 F, take them out of the oven and let rest until the temperature raises to 160 F. Enjoy!!

It looks like it has a giant tongue!

You can also make stuffed meatloaf burgers!

With the leftover meatloaf this time I chopped it up and threw it in some tomato and roasted red pepper soup from TJ’s, along with some veggies and pasta. It was great & easy!

Ok, now on to the fun stuff . . .

—–> COCONUT WATER GIVEAWAY! <——

Thank you for your interest in my post about coconut water. I find it fascinating! I also agree with many of you on the downside of its expense. It is pretty darn pricey at $1.99/per 8oz carton and a bit less if you buy the larger bulk carton. It’s also not as accessible as regular sports drinks and can be very hard to find at grocery stores here in the US. It sure is a refreshing treat though.

The two winners of 5 individual coconut waters are . . . (generated by RANDOM.org)

*Naomi* & Lori

Congrats guys! E-mail me kristen@eatingrd.com with your address and I’ll try to get that out before the holidays. Let me know if you like it or even hate it 🙂

On Friday we are having some friends over for a pizza-making party! I’m excited because I love these kinds of parties. Everyone gets to make their own pizza and chose from different toppings. It’s not really holiday themed, but it’s fun & will involve some vino! Saturday I’m going to be baking like a mad person for the cookie exchange I’m going hosted by Kristen, the swanky dietitian. I’m looking forward to it! It’s going to be tough with all those cookies around calling my name, but we’ll see how I do. I’m thinking about making a gluten-free chocolate chip cookie from Tam, but I can’t decide on the other? I was thinking either chocolate baklava or mint chocolate cookies. What do you think I should make?? There are too many good recipes out there, help me decide!

Hope you all have a great weekend! I can’t believe Christmas is just about here, but I’m just excited about going to visit my mom 🙂

Comments (0)

September 25, 2009

in a funk

Filed under: Blog,Comfort foods,Dinner,Recipes in a Flash — Tags: Beef — Kristen :) @ 5:37 am

This week was certainly not my best as far as fitness goes. So far I haven’t made it to the gym this week! I think all the studying/working and fitting in the fun last weekend with lack of sleep really started to get to me. I think it was Tuesday when I started to feel like ick and my body was definitely trying to tell me something. After having to get up for work at 4:30 that day, I came home, took an hour long nap, ate dinner and then went to bed for a total of 10 hours! This is totally not like me. If I take a nap after 3pm I usually can’t sleep at night. I think I’m just running myself down right now and really need to take it easy somehow. It was really weird, I felt nauseous tired and my muscles didn’t want to work. Has anyone else had this feeling?

I loved college because at least when we stayed up late studying and working (and occasionally a fun time?), we got to sleep in to at least 7 or 8am. I’ve been taking my daily vitamin as an insurance policy right now, especially with the season of germs starting and going out to the middle schools (germ factories) now. My iron levels are normal since last visit, so I don’t know what’s my deal. Ah well, hopefully the funk will pass and sleep will miraculously just not be needed. I think that would be wonderful if I didn’t have to sleep because so many things could be accomplished in those 5-7 hours!

I am looking forward to the month of October though because my hours are being cut back. It’s just for one month based on my contract position which is kind of weird. This really isn’t a good thing as far as the paycheck goes, but I think it will be nice to have a tiny bit of extra time. It seems right now my time is worth more than what I’m getting paid. Unfortunately, I think I will have to request less hours with my next contract. Just for me, I don’t think I can do this and work on my thesis and research. Half the time I’ll be working on something only to look down and see that it’s already 11pm and wonder where the heck the time went and why didn’t I accomplish more?

Anywho, I turned in my first very rough draft outline to my chair today and hopefully we can get my committee formed! I’m excited, yet nervous!

This weekend doesn’t look as exciting as last 🙂 I’m going to try to at least get a bike ride in on Saturday morning and then I’m not sure if Chris has any plans Saturday night for our 3-year anniversary (the non-wedding type)? I told him we don’t have to do anything, especially since we splurged on dinner and the concert last weekend. Sunday will be reserved for lots of school stuff!

Lately, I’ve been going for easy dinners 🙂 Tonight we had some good ol’ sloppy joe’s! Kind of reminds me of childhood when my mom would use that packet or canned stuff. As I got older, I really didn’t like those pre-prepared packages, and making sloppy joe’s from scratch isn’t too bad.

I adapted the recipe only slightly from the blog Pinch My Salt. This blog has some great photography and recipes 🙂

Sloppy Joes

1 onion, diced
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
3 garlic cloves, pressed
1 T. Olive Oil
1 pound lean ground beef
2 t. chili powder
1.5 t. ground cumin
1/8 t. cinnamon (this is so good!)
1/8 t. freshly ground black pepper
1 t. kosher salt
1 small can tomato paste
1/4 cup fruity balsamic vinegar
1 T. brown sugar
1/3 C. ketchup
1/2-3/4 C. water

Sauté onions, peppers and garlic in olive oil until softened; add beef and cook until browned.

Make a circle in the middle of the pan, add tomato paste and balsamic vinegar and cook down for 10 minutes.

Add all other ingredients to the ground beef mixture and cook, stirring, over low heat until thickened (about 10 minutes). Add more water if it gets too thick.

Serve in whole wheat buns and get messy!

I like to serve a big salad along side. This time mine had goat cheese, cranberries, heirloom mater and carrots.

Also topped it with some gooey cheese . . .

What’s a food you remember from childhood? What do you do when you get in a funk?

Have a great weekend!

Comments (0)

September 14, 2009

just one more day

Filed under: Blog,Dinner — Tags: Beef, coconut water, muffin, pancake, pasta — Kristen :) @ 4:04 am

Sunday always rolls around too fast and I’m left wishing I just had ONE more day, one more day would make all the difference in the world! Last weekend when we did have the 3-day weekend, it was just glorious, and I felt like I got a lot of things accomplished.

This weekend, well not so much . . .

Friday night is always a chill night for us. It’s a time when we can cook a little something together and/or enjoy a little vino. Chris rode his bike to work, since he is training for a century race in October (118 miles!) and got home a little later, so I got started on dinner with this recipe. I changed it a little bit and added some goat cheese to the sauce and also used this pasta I recently discovered at TJ’s. It was sooo good! I normally don’t like to buy packaged long pastas because it can be so much cheaper to make it on my own, but since it was late and Chris wasn’t home, I thought it would be perfect in an emergency 🙂

I think I’m going to add lemon to my pasta from now on because it gives it a nice refreshing and subtle yumminess. This pasta would also work really well with seafood. I didn’t know if it would go well with a tomato-type sauce, but it actually was really nice.

First I made the meatballs . . . and used oatmeal as the binder instead of breadcrumbs this time.

It really helps to form the balls beforehand and get them ready for the hot pan.

Once they are nice and golden around the edges, I added the sauce with the additional goat cheese to make it creamy. It will look a little loose, but don’t let it reduce down too much because the pasta will absorb all that goodness.

Then I added all the pasta (I used 1.5 bags of the lemon pepper pasta), basil and parmesan and mixed it all up 🙂

At this point I decided that, yes I would like to have a glass of wine, please!! Since Chris (crazy bike man now) was going to ride again tomorrow, he decided to abstain 🙁 So I thought I didn’t really want to open up a whole bottle of wine only to waste 3/4 of it. Hmmm . . . wait I had a bottle of barefoot chard in the fridge, yes!! Perfect for any occasion when you can’t drink the whole thing because it’s only about $4 /bottle. To tell you the truth it wasn’t that bad and actually good! I really don’t spend more than $10-15 /bottle most of the time anyway, and you really don’t have to to get a decent bottle 🙂 I saved the rest in the fridge, but the quality just isn’t the same after several days.

And with that dinner was served! I had to take the picture outside because the lighting inside was just terrible by the time dinner was ready.

Hello, my name is Kristen and I’m a pasta-holic 🙂

Saturday was a big frustrating whirlwind for me. I decided to go to the library to get focused and get things done, but it really felt like a waste of time, well sort of. I spent most of the time trying to figure out how to print since I had my laptop (well, my hard drive in Chris’ laptop since mine fried itself) and their printers aren’t supported by vista, and I forgot my unlv password, and then I had to figure out the scanner to send something and then . . . . ok I’ll just stop hehe I did find a few articles for my thesis that sound interesting. One of them compared 4 different drinks on hydration. I’d like to do something like this with coconut water, just not have so many variables. I just feel like I keep searching and searching, but still don’t feel completely confident. I e-mailed a few professors, so we’ll see what they think and if it is doable.

Since I got myself so flustered, I decided to bake a batch of banana muffins! I like to watch them poof in the oven, it’s very therapeutic 🙂 This recipe is from the blog Pinch My Salt. I really like her pumpkin pancakes too.

Sunday was spent mostly cycling! woo-hoo! Breakfast was a quick omelet with tofu, black beans, corn and spinach (leftovers from the week) on a flatbread and of course a muffin 🙂 I went on a women’s ride and then they had a little clinic afterwards on how to change a flat and clean your chains. They also had bagels, juice and coffee. I completely forgot my camera! Riding back home was really HOT and soooo windy! This was the worst wind I’ve ridden in and I thought I was literally going to blow off the bike, yikes! It is still blowing like crazy out there as I type.

While the ride was pretty easy, when we finally rode back home around 1pm, I was sweating like crazy from pushing against the wind in the heat and decided to re-hydrate with coconut water!! Oh my gosh, I think I’m in love.

It has such a wonderfully sweet, yet very subtle flavor that sat well on my tummy. I love that it has more potassium and 230% vitamin C compared to your conventional electrolyte replacement drinks, and it’s natural. No red #40 in here. Love that! I’m going to look at different brands because this one didn’t have that much sodium, which is a key to rehydrating when working hard in the heat. Yes, you need sodium! When I looked on Nutritiondata.com, they said there was 252 mg of sodium in coconut water. Has anyone seen this in a brand??

The version that I bought had 60 kcals, 15g CHO, 680 mg potassium, 40 mg sodium and more vitamin C than the one on nutritiondata.com. I’ll have to look into that. I didn’t know if brands are different?

I can’t wait to experiment with more because I really liked how it made me feel and settled on my tummy. I usually can’t drink Gatorade and such because they are so darn sweet.

Whew! Long recap 🙂 I hope you all had a more productive weekend than I did and have a good week! Lots of things to do.

How do you best stay hydrated, and rehydrate after endurance activity?

Comments (0)

April 22, 2009

it’s getting hot in here . . .

Filed under: Blog,Comfort foods,Dinner — Tags: Beef, cheese — Kristen :) @ 3:29 pm

We signed papers on Monday! Woo-hoo! We are still waiting for final arrangements from the bank, but it should be official by the end of this week. Just crazy to think we could own a house, well townhouse that is, but it’s still ownership! We are really into crunch time right now, and the other half and I are wondering what we got ourselves into trying to get situated in a house and take on projects at the end of the semester along with work??? We may have to hold back on some things.

I put some paint up on the walls from the colors we thought we would like and. . .whoa, they are so different! Some of them turned out to be winners, but how anyone can tell what a color will look like on an entire wall from a tiny square I will never know. Pretty soon our walls will look like all the colors of the rainbow before we can decide on a dang color!

I wanted to make meatloaf for dinner, but being that it’s been in the 90s here in Vegas already, I’ve been trying to avoid that inefficient oven like the plague. So I decided to make a quick alternative . . . stuffed meatloaf burgers! I just had to mix the meat, form the patties, turn on the stove and sauté for a fraction of the time. I served it with a fresh green salad on the side, although I really wanted some sweet potato fries!

Stuffed Meatloaf Burgers

Yield: About 6 patties

Ingredients

A little over 1 pound of extra lean ground beef (96% lean)
1/3 – 1/2 cup quick oats
1 egg
1/2 jar TJ’s bruschetta mix (this makes them so moist!)
1 tbsp crushed Italian herbs
salt, pepper and garlic powder
1 small shallot, minced
cubed mozzarella for stuffing
whole wheat buns and all your favorite burger toppings

Directions

Place the first 7 ingredients (through shallot) in a large bowl and incorporate. Place a handful of meat in the palm of your hand and form half a patty. Place about 2 cubes of cheese on top and cover with another handful of meat. Form a tight seal.

Repeat with remaining meat and cheese. Heat a large saute pan over medium-high heat. Cook patties until 160 degrees or until desired doneness, about 5-6 minutes per side. Place on a clean plate and cover with foil until all batches are done. Serve with buns and your favorite toppings!

I also used these burgers crumbled on top of some leftover pesto pasta for a quick dinner . . . yum!

For 6 servings (analyzed with 95% lean beef), one patty has about 180-200 kcals, 8g of fat, 23g of protein, 10% calcium and 15% iron, along with good doses of zinc, riboflavin, B6 and B12.

Gotta love that ooeey, gooey cheese! We put a little more bruschetta mix on top.

Any painting dilemma stories? I’d love to hear that I’m not alone!

Comments (0)

April 10, 2009

sloppy, yummy and a sweet ending

Filed under: Blog,Comfort foods,Dinner — Tags: Beef, sweet potato — Kristen :) @ 2:46 am

Sloppy Joe’s! I haven’t made these in ages and I always feel like a kid again when I make them. They’re the perfect thing because they are so easy to make and also very versatile to add into other recipes.

It was so messy that I had to eat it with a fork!

On the side I went for another simple thing . . . sweet potatoes! I didn’t feel like running our oven from h*&l, because it gets too darn hot, so I just micro’d them on the potato setting which was super easy and they came out just fine. They aren’t as ‘carmel-y’ tasting as when they bake in the oven, but it was pretty darn good to me 🙂

And look what was there to greet me when I got home!

I was so lucky to win a gift certificate to mix my granola from Emily and it finally arrived all the way from Florida. I’ll use this a little later for a sweet surprise . . .

Sloppy Joe’s

Yield: 6 (about 1/2 cup serving)

1 lb extra lean ground beef (95-96%)
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped bell pepper
2 tbsp tomato paste
2 cups low-sodium tomato sauce (I used my crock-pot sauce) I still have more of this left to make pasta later!
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp dried oregano, crushed
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tbsp brown sugar, packed
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp black pepper
giant handful of chopped spinach
6-8 whole wheat hamburger buns

Directions

Sauté the onion, bell pepper and lean beef in a large sauté pan over medium heat until cooked through and crumbled.

Form a circle in the middle and plop tomato paste in pan and cook for 5 minutes to develop the flavor. Add the tomato sauce and next 6 ingredients (through pepper); stir and let simmer for 20 minutes. Turn off the heat and add the spinach, let wilt.

Place about 1/2 cup of beef mixture onto each bun. I also added some mozzarella cheese and a side of yummy sweet potato. I have a little bit of ground beef and pasta sauce left over, so I’ll use that for some baked pasta tomorrow, love versatile leftovers!

Approximate nutrition stats to the left are just for the beef mixture.

And as for the sweet surprise! . . .

I really wanted to try out the granola, and while it wasn’t breakfast time I knew I could find some way to use it! I took one healthy choice fudge bar and chopped it up and layered it with the granola. Then the bar got kind of melty and it was like indulgent ice cream contrasted with the chewy texture of the oats, so good!

Here’s my granola mix:

I thought it was really good! It’s just not as formed and crunchy as I like my granola to be. I think it would be better as a muesli? I prefer more of a plank type granola that almost breaks your teeth off. It is also pretty expensive (about $13) and took 7 days to get to me, so I don’t know if I would get it again just for those two factors. I did love the flavor and the idea of mixing your own to make it unique because they had plenty of yummy mix-ins to choose from. Thanks Emily!

What’s your favorite sweet ending to the day, food or otherwise?

Comments (0)

March 19, 2009

get stuffed

Filed under: Blog,Dinner — Tags: Beef, squash — Kristen :) @ 11:19 pm

Stuffed Squash that is! Many vegetables can be the perfect vehicle for stuffing practically any kind of filling you can imagine inside. I use lean ground beef in this recipe, but there is also quinoa, brown rice, cous cous, oatmeal, barley, lentils, and the list goes on and on. Grains and such have such a wonderful natural binding ability that using them as stuffing can be the perfect compliment to something as neutral and naturally sweet as summer squash. Plus summer squash cooks relatively quickly which is always a plus.

Another great vehicle for stuffage is bell peppers. Check out my bell peppers stuffed with quinoa, chicken sausage, walnuts and fontina on this post. These are a yummy package. Gotta love that ooey-gooey cheese!

Tex Mex Stuffed Squash

(adapted from Everyday FOOD)

Ingredients

Serves 4

4 yellow summer squashes (try to look for ones more conducive to stuffing)
Coarse salt and ground pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 red bell pepper (ribs and seeds removed), diced
2 scallions, thinly sliced, white and green parts separated
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 teaspoon mild chili powder
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 pound extra lean ground beef (96% lean)
1 cup canned corn (no salt/sugar added)
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese plus more for sprinkling

Directions

Heat oven to 400 degrees.

Halve each squash lengthwise; slice a sliver from the rounded part of each half so it sits flat. Leaving a 1/4-inch border, scoop out halves with a small spoon; roughly chop flesh, and reserve. Place squash halves, skin side down, in a shallow baking dish. Season with salt and pepper, and set aside.

In a large skillet, heat oil over medium-high. Add reserved chopped squash, bell pepper, scallion whites, and garlic; season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until bell pepper begins to soften, about 5 minutes. Add spices. Add tomato paste to the center of the pan; cook for at least 5 minutes to intensify the tomato flavor. Add beef; cook until no longer pink, breaking up meat with a spoon. Cook everything together for about 15-20 minutes so the flavors really develop and deepen. Remove from heat. Stir in corn and 1/4 cup Parmesan; season with salt and pepper.

Dividing evenly, spoon mixture into squash halves. Sprinkle with remaining Parmesan. Place a little bit of water in the bottom of the pan to help steam the squash. Cover with aluminum foil, and bake until squash is tender, 30 minutes. Uncover, and bake until top is browned, 10 minutes more. Garnish with scallion greens, a dollop of non-fat greek yogurt and a side salad.

If you have any of the filling left over, use it for a quesadilla/tostada, in an omelet, as a layered casserole or in a taco salad. Lots of possibilities with this easy filling!

Stuffed squash = stuffed tummy 🙂

Comments (0)

January 27, 2009

fajitas, just like in a restaurant!

Filed under: Blog,Dinner — Tags: Beef, Mexican — Kristen :) @ 5:34 pm

Well, my workout schedule fell off the bandwagon last week, but I am determined to get back on and keep truckin’ this week for sure. It just didn’t seem like I could catch up last week, especially with the new recipes I wanted to make. A good rule of thumb for me is to try one new or more time consuming recipe a week, otherwise if there is too much prep work or weird ingredients to get, it’s hard to get it done along with other things. So, I’ve made that realization and tried to get as much prepping done this weekend, so I wouldn’t be straggling during the week or forced to grab fast-food last minute. Planning is everything!

One of the things I did prep for was fajitas, adapted from Tyler Florence’s recipe. The marinade for these is perfect and you can use either flank steak or chicken. I also made some of his guacamole. I was so happy to get a good batch of avocadoes because sometimes you buy some hoping for a nice green, buttery center to be disgusted with a brown, rotting one! Yuck! I’ve had that happen too many times. But these ones were all great 🙂

Fajitas

(adapted from Tyler Florence)

Ingredients

1 orange, juiced
2 limes, juiced
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
3 chipolte chilies, in adobo sauce
3 tablespoon roughly chopped fresh cilantro leaves
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon salt
1-1.5 pounds skirt or flank steak, trimmed of fat or chicken breasts
Salt and pepper
3 red bell peppers, thinly sliced
1 large onion, thinly sliced
Lime juice, olive oil, optional
12 whole-wheat tortillas, warm
Guacamole, recipe follows
Good quality store bought salsa (optional)
Non-fat greek yogurt
2% cheddar cheese

Directions

In a bowl combine all the marinade ingredients (up to 1 tsp salt). Using an immersion blender, puree the marinade until smooth. You can also use a food processor. Transfer to a re-sealable plastic bag and add the steak/chicken, seal and shake to coat. Refrigerate the meat for at least 8 hours or overnight to tenderize and flavor the meat.

Preheat a ridged grill pan on high heat.

Drain the marinade from the meat. Lightly oil the grill or grill pan. Season liberally with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Grill the steak or chicken over medium-high heat and cook for 5-7 minutes on each side (140 degrees for the beef, 165 for the chicken) and then transfer to a cutting board and let rest to redistribute juices and carryover cooking.

Once the meat is off the grill pan and resting, add the bell peppers and onions tossed with lime juice and olive oil, if using. Grill the mixture for 7 to 8 minutes until the vegetables are just barely limp.

While the peppers and onions are cooking, heat up the tortillas on a warm pan or in the micro with a damp pamper towel.

Thinly slice the meat against the grain on a diagonal.

To serve:

Spread some guacamole on a tortilla, top with a few slices of steak, peppers and onions, cheese, salsa and greek yogurt if using. Roll up the tortilla to enclose the filling. Enjoy!

Guacamole:

4 ripe Hass avocados
3 to 4 limes, juiced (I like it tangy)
1/2 small onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1 serrano chile, diced fine
1 small tomato, seeds removed and chopped
1 big handful fresh cilantro leaves, roughly chopped
1 tsp cumin
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Halve and pit the avocados. With a tablespoon, scoop out the flesh into a mixing bowl. Mash the avocados with a fork, leaving them still a bit chunky. Add all of the rest of the ingredients, and fold everything together.

Lay a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the guacamole so it doesn’t brown and refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving.

How do you keep motivated and on track with your workout schedule? Do you plan your meals before hand?

Comments (0)

January 20, 2009

easy yet elegant

Filed under: Blog,Dinner — Tags: Beef, pasta, wine — Kristen :) @ 4:00 am

There’s nothing like pasta and wine for a laidback weekend dinner. This recipe is fairly easy to put together, yet still nice enough to serve to dinner guests. Sweet basil and roasted cherry tomatoes are paired up with the hearty, juicy meatballs and gooey fresh mozzarella cheese! And what is better than that?

We also tried a new wine with this dish that paired really well: Layer Cake Malbec 2007. When you think of a layer cake you think of moist, chocolate cake, layered among rich, whipped butter cream, right? Well, if you can imagine, this Malbec actually has all those sweet and rich characteristics coming through the wine. I would have to say Layer Cake is the perfect name for this wine. Full of fruit and berry up front, yet rich with mocha and cocoa back notes as it goes down. It flowed beautifully with the sweetness of the basil and tomatoes and stood up to the heartiness of the meatballs. Make sure you serve this wine at 63-65 degrees at the most, because as it warms up the fruit disappears and more tobacco stands out. Weird as it sounds, serving wine at the right temperature makes all the difference in finding harmonious flavor notes and lip-smacking goodness in a wine.

Another great thing about this wine is that it was $15 at Trader Joe’s. I believe that most really great wines out there are $15 or less. You don’t have to spend a fortune on a wine to have it taste really great. Just experiment and find what kind of wine suites your palate. Don’t buy some $50 bottle of wine just because of the price tag and label. Make sure you speak to the store’s wine expert or sommelier before dropping that much cash. A lot of times they may have a personal pick of theirs that won’t break the bank. Don’t get me wrong, there are some amazing, really expensive wines out there (uh . .em . . Insignia), but it’s not necessary!

This says it all . . .

My old grandfather made and enjoyed wine for 80 years. He told me the soil in which the vines lived were a layer cake. He said the wine, if properly made, was like a great layer cake, fruit, mocha and chocolate, hints of spice and rich, always rich. ‘Never pass up a layer cake’, he could say. I have always loved those words.

A little candlelight to set the mood . . .

Pasta with Meatballs, Mozzarella and

Fresh Tomato Sauce

Ingredients

Serves 4-6

Coarse salt and ground pepper
1 pound ground beef (96 percent extra lean)
1/4 cup plain dry breadcrumbs (I used a leftover ciabatta loaf and ground it in the food processor)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp Various spices like Italian herbs, herbs de provence, Mrs. Dash (whatever you have on hand)
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for sprinkling
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
1/2 cup white wine or low-sodium chicken broth
1 tbsp flour
1 pint grape tomatoes, halved and seeds squeezed out
8 ounces orecchiette pasta (looks like little ears)
1/2 pint bocconcini (about 20 balls, cut in half)

Directions

Set a large pot of salted water to boil. In a large bowl, combine turkey, breadcrumbs, garlic, egg, 1/4 cup Parmesan, 1/4 cup basil, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper and spices; mix to combine. Form mixture into about 1-in meatballs, or what size you prefer.
In a large skillet, heat 1-2 tablespoons olive oil over medium. Add meatballs, and cook, turning occasionally, until browned all over and cooked through. You may have to do two batches.
Whisk the wine or broth with the flour in a small bowl and add this mixture to the meatball pan and scrape up all the browned bits just until thickened.
Place halved tomatoes on a foil-lined broiler pan and place under broiler until slightly charred and the skins start to come off, set aside.
Meanwhile, cook pasta in boiling water until al dente, according to package instructions. Drain, return to pot. Add bocconcini, meatballs with sauce, tomatoes, and remaining 1/4 cup basil to the pasta. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese to your liking and serve with a yummy wine!

Comments (0)

« Newer Posts

eatingRD.com Food. Fitness. Nutrition. Life!

December 18, 2009

September 25, 2009

September 14, 2009

April 22, 2009

April 10, 2009

March 19, 2009

Ingredients

Directions

January 27, 2009

January 20, 2009