Melissa's Marinara with Meatballs

YUM! David and Alex and I made some pasta last night with meatballs and hot italian sausage and it was delectable.

for the meatballs:
• 1 lb. ground beef ( I used grass-fed from Whole Foods)
• 2 slices white bread (wheat is fine, but nothing nothing crusty- anything pre-sliced in a bag is good- eek!)
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 eggs
• a handful of chopped flat-leaf parsley
• a handfull of chopped basil
• a handful of breadcrumbs
• about 5 cloves of garlic, crushed
• salt and pepper


Soak the bread in the milk until soggy, add everything else, mix with your hands and form into balls. Brown outside in a frying pan before dropping into sauce to cook the rest of the way.

for the sauce:
• as many fresh tomatoes as you can get- any kind. I used Early girls and cherry tomatoes.
• 2 onions, chopped coarsely
• many cloves of garlic
• a handful of chopped basil
• a bay leaf
• a splash of red wine (optional)
• meatballs and sausage (optional)

Saute onions until translucent. Add garlic and cook until golden. Add tomatoes, basil, and bay leaf. Let cook until tomatoes break apart and it starts to look like a sauce. At any point you can add wine, meatballs, and sausages. make sure they cook through all the way!

Costa Rican Refried Beans

I made refried beans tonight using Salsa Lizano, which is a Costa Rican sauce similar to Worcestershire. If you don't have salsa lizano, you could add a bit of Worcestershire sauce and a bit more sugar and it would be similar. Or just skip the Salsa Lizano and it'd probably still be very good.

1 can black beans (drained and rinsed)
1 cup water
1 onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 tsp chopped fresh cilantro
1 tsp cumin
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons vegetable oil.
2 tablespoons salsa lizano (costa rican sauce)
1 teaspoon sugar

Open can of black beans, drain out the liquid, rinse thoroughly and drain again. Put beans in cuisinart and add one cup of water. Puree beans and water.

Meanwhile, fry onions and garlic in a saucepan w/ oil, cumin, salt and cilantro. When this is browned and ready, add the bean/water mixture into the pot. Add salsa lizano and sugar, and keep over medium heat. Simmer, stirring regularly, until enough water evaporates. You will be left with delicious pureed black refried beans (technically not refried I guess, since they are only fried once, but whatever.....) They tasted just like the beans that I ate this one time in Costa Rica.

Chayote Soup

I made this soup tonight and it came out great. This was my first time ever cooking a chayote - they are pretty weird when you cut them, but then they turn normal once they are cooked.

• 2 large chayotes, peeled and sliced into 2 inch thick pieces
  
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 1 potato, peeled and thinly sliced. I used a semi-sweet hybrid potato from Berkeley Bowl.
  
• salt and pepper to taste

Simmer chayote slices and potato slices in 2 cups salted water in a medium saucepan until tender, about 15 minutes. Puree chayote and potato in cuisinart, then add 1 cup of the cooking water and continue blending until smooth.

Meanwhile, saute onion and garlic in the butter in a large saucepan until the onion is soft. Pour in the chayote/potato mixture, and add more water until the soup is at desired thickness. At this point, chicken or vegetable broth could be substituted for water - this would make it better than the soup I made.

Season soup w/ salt and pepper. Serve in bowls with a plate of garnishes on the side to put into the soup. Garnish plate should include: chopped cilantro, finely chopped scallion, sliced fresh tomatoes and wedges of lime to squeeze. The soup would probably also be very good cold.

Overall, I was amazed at how easy this was to make (especially cause I semi-invented it) and it was quick and delicious.

DMP

Zucchini-Chard Pancakes and Homemade Buttermilk Ranch

Another exercise in using up whats's in the fridge: 1 huge zucchini/squash (about the size of a baby's head), 1 bunch of chard that's getting older every day, early girl tomates that need to be eaten soon, some buttermilk from the chocolate zucchini cupcakes.

Zucchini-Chard Pancakes
proportions and measurements were improvised, and can be varied to your liking.
1 giant zucchini
1/2 bunch chard
i smal yellow onion
handful of parsley
handful of chives
salt and pepper
3 eggs
3/4 cup unbleached all purpose flour

Grate the zucchini and the onion into a bowl. Chop the chard finely, or throw it in a food processor (I did the latter). Combine with zucchini and onion, and sthrow in the finley chopped parsley and dill. Add eggs, flour, salt and pepper. Mix!

Heat up a frying pan with a bit of olive oil. (I tried butter at first, but that didnt work as well). Cook them like you would cook pancakes.

We ate them with 2 different sauces:
this one, which was delicious and easy:


and Homemade Buttermilk Ranch Dressing:

• 1/2 buttermilk
• 1/3 cup mayonnaise
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives
  
• 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
• sea salt, to taste
• ground pepper, to taste

Baked Chicken Tawook

I found a recipe for Shish Tawook and adjusted it to fit my grill-less life. I baked it, and there were a lot of juices left over. I think next time I'll try it in a cast iron.

5 or so boneless chicken breasts (that's what i had- next time i might use thighs)

Marinade:
(all measurements are approximate- I didn't actually measure)
about 1 c yogurt
1/2 c olive oil
1 Tbsp tomato paste
some crushed garlic
2 -3 Tbsp sumac
1-2 Tbsp paprika
salt and pepper
juice of 1 lemon

Let marinate for awhile (mine went for about 2 hours).

Grill, bake, saute, whatever! (i baked mine for about 45 minutes at 375)

Next Day:
I took the leftovers and made chicken salad. I chopped it finely, used a few tablespoons of the juicy marinade that was left, a bit of mayo, salt, pepper, lots of lemon juice, and sumac. yum!

A Good Idea for Leftover Rice

I had a bunch of leftover rice, a whole bunch of cilantro, and a bit of basil. I threw the greens in the blender with some raw garlic, and then stirred it into the rice in a frying pan with a bit of olive oil to warm it up. A pinch of salt and pepper, and voila! Green Rice.

Would probably be really good with spinach or arugula, too. Or broccoli!

Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes!

I'm SO happy I found this recipe!

Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes

1 1/2 cups (360 mL) brown sugar
1/4 cup (60 mL) melted butter
3/4 cup (180 mL) vegetable oil (hs note: I used unrefined, scented, all-natural coconut oil)
3 eggs
1 tsp (5 mL) vanilla
1/2 cup (120 mL) buttermilk
2 cups (480 mL) grated zucchini
1 cup (240 mL) chocolate chips
2 cups (480 mL) unbleached flour
1 cup (240 mL) cocoa, sifted
1/2 tsp (2.5 mL) salt
2 tsp (10 mL) baking soda
1 tsp (5 mL) allspice
1 1/2 tsp (7.5 mL) cinnamon

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease large muffin pans and line with muffin cups.

In a medium bowl mix together the sugar, butter and oil. Beat in eggs, one at a time until well Incorporated. Stir in vanilla, buttermilk, zucchini and chocolate chips.

In a separate bowl mix together all of the dry ingredients. Add the liquid ingredients and mix until well combined. Spoon batter into large muffin pans. Bake in the center of the oven for about 35 minutes. Cool on a wire rack, while preparing the icing (hs note: I made these without the icing, also - don't overcook them or you will lose all the moist goodness - you want them to look almost done in the oven - they will continue to cook for a few minutes after you pull them from the oven from the residual heat).

Yields 9 large cupcakes or 20 standard cupcakes.