Meal Monday: Paleo Zoodles and Meatballs

So, in my quest for more paleo-ish friendly recipes, I found this gem!  I've been struggling with missing out on our usual Friday night pasta dinners and this substitute might be even better.  

Have you heard of "zoodles"?  Zoodles are basically zucchini noodles made with a spiralizer or julienne slicer.  I used my love of Amazon shopping to buy this spiralizer and it worked great. 

I tried it out on my daughter since she's the most adventurous eater in my family and it was a real winner.  Our only complaint was that I didn't get the zucchini noodles cooked quite enough.

This is a mix of a couple different paleo recipes I found on line, so I'm going to just post the links instead of typing them all out.  This way, you can pin them or whatever you want.

The Meatballs came from Change of Pace (discovered on Ziplist).  The only change I made was using dried minced onions instead of fresh onions because those are a little easier on my stomach.  I probably used about a pound or a little more of ground chuck and I got 18 good-sized meatballs out of this.  Easily enough for 4 people.  Baked in the oven for 20 minutes they were perfectly done.  I put about 1/2 in the sauce and the rest in the freezer.

The Sauce I used was a brand I saw on somone's site (I think the same page as the meatballs).  Rao's Homemade Marinara sauce was delish and is paleo/gluten free.  Granted, it's 3x the price of Ragu, but also tastes about 50x better.

The Zoodles were so easy to make with my spiralizer!  I ended up using 3 zucchini between Kay and myself because they were really small.  I read on Against All Grain to lay them out on a piece of paper towel, sprinkle with salt, and put in a 200* oven for about 20-30 min. This will get them to sweat some of their liquid so they don't water down whatever sauce you use.  The noodles were pretty hot when I took them out of the oven, so I didn't cook them further, but I should have.  They were a bit crunchy still but very yummy.

Kay and I laughed at our attempts to put the zoodles onto our plates.  The strings were VERY long!  She ended up putting some shredded cheese on her zoodles and meatballs but I didn't add anything else.  I'm 99.9% sure my son would NOT eat this, but it would be easy to make some pasta for him, as well as throw in garlic bread for those in the house who can still eat bread.

Have you ever used a spiralizer?  

Meal Monday: Reuben Casserole #recipe

So, Sunday night I made what is probably one of the un-healthiest meals EVER.  Sometimes you have to live dangerously.

Like when you open the can of crescent rolls. Living on the edge, baby!

 

Reuben Casserole

 

Ingredients: (for an 8x8 pan - serves 4, double for a 9x13)

 

1 tube refridgerated Crescent Rolls (or make your own if you are afraid of the can)

8 oz sliced baby swiss cheese

1/2-3/4 pound sliced deli corned beef (I used 3/4 and it might have been too much)

1/2 can (about 7 oz) sauerkraut, rinced and drained well (I will use more when I make this again)

1/3 cup Thousand Island dressing

1 egg white, lightly beaten

a couple tsp caraway seeds

 

1.  Unroll crescent dough and place half in the bottom of a greased 8x8 pan.

2.  Seal the perforations and bake at 375* for about 8-10 min or until starting to brown.

3.  Layer 4 slices of cheese and then all the corned beef over crust.  Combine kraut and dressing in a bowl and spread over beef.  Finish with the other 4 slices of cheese.



4.  Unroll other half of dough, seal edges and lay on top of the meat/cheese layers.

5.  Brush with beaten egg white and sprinkle caraway seeds on top.

6.  Bake at 375* for 12-16 min or until heated through and crust is golden brown.

7.  Let stand for 5 min before slicing.

This was better than I thought it would be.  Definitely going into the recipe book.  I would imagine, it would also be great as a California Reuben with turkey and cole slaw.  

 

Reubens are one of those sandwiches I never make at home but order when I go out.  What's your favorite restaurant sandwich?

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Meal Monday: NOT a healthy choice

Today I bring you my daughter's favorite meal. She likes this so much that she now makes it on occasion. It really isn't very healthy, is full of sodium, and needs a side of vegetables to balance it out, but the kids seem to like it.  It's based on a recipe from my MIL and I've adapted it to fit our tastes a bit better.

Tater Tot Hotdish (or Casserole if your husband is not from Minnesota)

1. Brown a pound of hamburger, drain well & put in a 8x8 dish. Sprinkle with minced onion & a little seasoned salt.


2. Put frozen peas on half or on the whole thing if your kids aren't picky.  I'm sure you could use another frozen vegetable if you want, but I always use peas.  My MIL doesn't put any veggies in hers.


3. Sprinkle some shredded co-jack cheese on next. However much you want. I only use about 1/2-3/4 cup to try and cut down on the calories, but you can put in more if you want it cheesier.


4. Arrange frozen tater tots on top. Make sure they look perfect or if you aren't a bit OCD, just throw them on there in a single layer.


5. Pour a can of reduced fat/lower sodium cream of chicken soup over the tots & spread it out.


6. Bake in the microwave for about 17 minutes or in a 350* oven for 30-40 min (I'm guessing) until heated through. I always nuke it.


This will serve 4-6 people. You can double everything & make it in a 9x13 pan if you're so inclined, it just won't fit in the microwave if you do that and you'll need to cook it longer in the oven.

Now, the big question...is this a "casserole" or a "hotdish"?

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Meal Monday: Guinness Stew

Since St. Pat's Day is coming up in a few weeks, I thought I'd give you all a nice stew recipe made with Guinness Stout. Y'all know how much I love a recipe that features beer - especially when you don't need the whole bottle and have a bit left to drink :)

Guinness Stew

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp olive oil
3 bay leaves
1 large yellow onion, sliced into 1/4" pieces
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 lbs beef stew meat
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried rosemary
2-3 Tbsp flour
3/4 cup (or more) beef stock
1/2 cup (or more) Guinness
1 pound (I use way more than this) carrots cut into chunks
4-5 medium potatoes cut into 1/2" pieces
2 celery stalks, cut up
1 Tbsp chopped parsley
Salt & pepper to taste


Heat 6 quart oven safe casserole, add oil, onions, garlic & bay leaves. Cook for a few minutes and then add the meat.

Brown meat on all sides and cook for a few minutes until onion is clear. Reduce heat to low & add thyme, rosemary, salt, pepper & flour. Stir until smooth. Add the beef stock & beer. Simmer, stirring until the stew thickens a bit.


Here is where you can finish this in 2 different ways. You can add the veggies, cover & cook in a 275* oven for about 2 hours, stirring a few times. Or, do like I do & use your crock pot.

Add veggies to your giant crock pot.


Carefully pour liquid from the meat mixture over the veggies & transfer the meat to the crockpot. Add the parsley & cover.


Cook on low for 6-8 hours or until veggies are done.


Do you have a favorite St.Pat's dish?

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Menu Monday: Dad's Goulash

This here is going to be an interesting recipe post.  There will be very few actual measurements.  This recipe is a throw-it-together and taste-along-the-way sorta recipe.  Every time I make it, it turns out slightly different, but is always good.  It makes a ton, so invite friends over or plan on eating leftovers (they heat up very well).  So, without further ado, I give you:

Dad's Goulash

Ingredients:

1 pound ground chuck

one onion, cut in large chunks

one green pepper, cut in large chunks

2 large cans stewed tomatoes

8 oz sliced mushrooms

brown sugar

ketchup

Worcestershire sauce

1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1 1/2 cups dried macaroni noodles

Step 1: assemble your ingredients

Step 2: saute hamburger, onions and green peppers until onion is translucent.  You probably won't need to drain the meat, but if you used higher fat beef and there is fat in the pan, drain it.

Step 3:  Add the rest of the ingredients except the noodles.  Squirt in enough ketchup (1/2 cup or so) and Worcestershire sauce (1/4 cup?) to add some more liquid.  Add brown sugar to taste (a TBSP to start?), depending on how sweet you want it.  Stir and then add the noodles.  Add more ketchup and sauce if it needs it.

Step 4: reduce heat a little and simmer until the noodles are cooked and the liquid is absorbed.  While it's cooking, taste it.  Add more Worcestershire or brown sugar if it needs it. 

Serve with some crusty bread and a salad, or just by itself. 

This is definitely one of our favorite skillet meals.  Do you have a favorite one-dish meal?  

PS: Tomorrow is the last day to enter my Clicktastic giveaway!





Menu Monday: Crock Pot Beef Soup

The original recipe for this soup was titled: Easy Slow Cooker Beef Stew and I found the recipe in the sale flier for our local grocery store.  It called for frozen stirfry peppers and onions, which sounded a bit strange to me, so I tweaked the recipe to suit our tastes.

Here's "my" version of what I'm calling Crock Pot Beef Soup

Ingredients:
4-5 medium red potatoes
2 large carrots
2 stalks celery
1/2 onion diced
1-1/2 lbs beef stew meat cut into chunks
1/3 cup flour
salt and pepper to taste
14 oz can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 cup water
1 cup beef broth

1. Scrub potatoes and veggies.  Cut potatoes into quarters and veggies into chunks.  Place in bottom of a 4 quart slow cooker.

2.  Mix flour, salt and pepper and toss with beef to coat.  Add to slow cooker.

3.  Add undrained tomatoes, broth and water and stir.

4.  Cover and cook on low for 8-9 hours until beef and veggies are tender.  Serve with a nice salad and some biscuits.

This turned out very well!  I think it was a little light on seasoning.  Next time I might throw in a few other spices, maybe a bay leaf.  Also, it reminded me of a beef barley soup my dad makes, so I might try adding some barley at the end of cooking and see how that works.  If you want to make it like the "original" recipe, omit the carrots, onions and celery and add 3 cups frozen stirfry peppers and onions in the last 30-40 minutes of cooking.

Do you have a favorite (code for EASY) soup or stew recipe you like to throw together when the weather turns colder? Please share!