Today's Meatballs

Meatballs with Heart and Liver

This is one of my favorite meatball recipes yet. It forms very nice meatballs that cook evenly in the oven. And you really can't taste the liver!

Ingredients:

1 pound ground beef
¼ pound chicken liver, pureed in food processor
½ pound ground beef heart
15 ounce jar Marinara Sauce
1 package ground pork rinds
1 T soy sauce
1 tsp dried onion flakes
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp basil
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp salt

Directions:

1. Mix together all ingredients except marinara sauce.
2. Form meatballs.
3. Cook in the over at 350 for 30 minutes.

4. Remove from oven and add marinara.

Ginger Cauliflower Rice

I've tried to make cauliflower rice a few times over the years, and it has always been passable, but not so much like rice. This recipe was so much better. When combined with the chicken and veggies I don't even think I would have known it was cauliflower. Plus I have tons of homemade chicken stock in the freezer and this is a great way to use it up.

We grated the cauliflower the slow way, using a cheese grater. I have a food processor and a "ricer" at home which might save time.

Ingredients:

• 2-3 cups cauliflower rice (cauliflower grated in the food processor)
• 2 cups chicken broth

• 2 tablespoons coconut oil

• 5 peeled and minced shallots

• 5 peeled and minced garlic cloves

• 1 tablespoon peeled and finely chopped ginger

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:

Process about 1/2 of a medium sized head of cauliflower in a food processor until the texture is rice like. Heat coconut oil in a saucepan. Once hot, add shallots, ginger, and garlic and stir-fry until fragrant and soft. Add cauliflower rice and stir-fry another 3 to 4 minutes. Add salt and chicken broth. Bring to a boil over high heat. Boil until the liquid evaporates to the level of the rice and steam holes appear. Turn heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes until liquid is absorbed.

We ate the rice with chicken, this yummy Sweet Chili Sauce, and a tomato cucumber salad.

Sweet Potato & Black Bean Chili

Ingredients:

1 pound ground turkey
4 T coconut oil
1 red onion, finely diced
1 small sweet potato, peeled and diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon chili powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground chipotle chile
1/8 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1 1/3 cups water
1 15-ounce can black beans, rinsed
1 cup canned diced tomatoes
Zest and juice of 1 lime

Garnish:
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
Sour cream
Shredded cheese

Preparation:

Heat 2T oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Saute ground turkey then remove. Add 2T more oil, onion and potato and cook, stirring often, until the onion is slightly softened, about 4 minutes. Add garlic, chili powder, cumin, chipotle, lime zest and salt and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add water, bring to a simmer, cover, reduce heat to maintain a gentle simmer and cook until the potato is tender, 10 to 12 minutes. Add turkey, beans, tomatoes and lime juice; increase heat to high and return to a simmer, stirring often. Reduce heat to maintain a simmer and cook until slightly reduced, about 4 minutes.

Garnish with cilantro, sour cream, and shredded cheese.

Chicken Curry Clafouti

This is what the Clafouti looked like in the online recipe:

And this is the one we made:

The edges in ours didn't puff up quite as much, but we also used a much deeper pan. We used my mom's new Le Creuset dutch oven, which worked great. We ate the Clafouti for breakfast and it was delicious, more delicate and flavorful than a regular quiche.

Ingredients:

 6 eggs
 6 tablespoons melted butter cooled to room temp. + 1 pat for greasing pan
 3/4 cup coconut milk
 4 cups cooked, chopped chicken
 2 tablespoons curry spice
 Salt & Pepper 1 tsp each

Directions:


Preheat oven to 400° F.
Butter a 10” round or 13×9” baking dish.
Whisk together eggs, butter & coconut milk until frothy.
Mix in chicken and spices and pour into baking dish.

Bake about 30-45 minutes or until top is golden brown and puffy. We cooked it for 45 minutes, I think it would cook more quickly at lower altitude. (We cooked this in Aspen)

Middle Eastern Dinner

This was our dinner in Aspen last night.

First we made the falafel:

2 cans chickpeas, rinsed and drained

1/2 red onion

1 garlic clove

1 tsp coriander

1 cup parsley

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cumin

We mixed it all up in the food processor, made little falafel balls, and fried them in coconut oil.

The falafels didn't hold together too well, so they really didn't taste like falafel. We're going to try them again tomorrow, with more of a deep frying method.

This is the yummy salad my mom made, with spinach, tomatoes, olives, and green peppers. We were going to put feta cheese in there, but we forgot.

I made the tahini, which was probably the biggest success. I never knew that tahini and tahini sauce were two different things. I bought raw organic tahini, and I was surprised when I opened the jar and it didn't taste good. I looked up this recipe online at the last minute and it was delicious.

1/2 cup tahini

3 cloves garlic

1/2 tsp salt

3 T olive oil

1/4 cup lemon juice

1 T parsley

1/4 tsp cumin

1 T cilantro

2 T water

Mix it all up in the food processor, it was great with the falafel and we dipped orange pepper slices in it too.

Fiddlehead Ferns

No recipe here. Just wanted to say I made fiddlehead ferns for dinner. How often do you get to eat a veggie you have never eaten before? They are like little corkscrew asparagus. Sarah didn't want any, not sure why.

Chocolate Candies

I got this nifty little silicone candy mold from Amazon and decided to make chocolate coconut candies with it, sort of like little almond joys.

 

For the chocolate I used sugar free chocolate from Maine Cottage Foods, which I ordered online. It's made from erythritol, unlike the stuff you buy in the stores. For the coconut layer I mixed shredded coconut with coconut oil.

I melted the chocolate and put a layer in each heart, then a layer of coconut, then another layer of chocolate. Then I refrigerated them overnight.

 

These were yummy. The sugar free chocolate by itself is not that great, but made into the coconut candies it was much better. Plus, they were really pretty!