Meatball recipe (with variations)

Meatball scoop, originally uploaded by Adventures of Pam & Frank.

We had meatballs the other night. I used to make lousy meatballs but finally figured it out. We don't use pre-made mixes or dry soup blends because we want to avoid sugar and MSG in our food. Here's my recipe:

1 lb ground beef
1 lb ground turkey, pork, or lamb
1 c dry bread crumbs (or if you're on the Atkins diet like we are, substitute crushed pork rinds)
1 egg
1 tbs worchestershire sauce or anchovy paste
1 tbs yellow mustard
salt and pepper to taste
seasoning such as:
Italian - rosemary-oregano-basil-garlic powder-fennel seeds
Tex Mex - oregano-lime juice-onion powder-garlic powder-cumin-dried red pepper-chili powder
French - oregano-rosemary-tarragon-thyme
Swedish - nutmeg
BBQ - garlic powder-onion powder-celery seed-chili powder-honey or molasses (just a tbs)
Middle Eastern - garlic powder-onion powder-shawirma (if you can find it)

Mix together gently with your fingers. Don't squish with your hands or they'll be little rock meatballs. Form into balls on a large baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes at 350.

Add your favorite sauce...

We love this commercial style scoop for making the meatballs. They're all uniform and cook up great. Also perfect for portion control if you're dieting or serving lots of people at a party. This little scoop makes 2 doz meatballs per lb of ground meat.

Here is a photo of how nice and uniform they all look on the pan:

Meatballs, originally uploaded by Adventures of Pam & Frank.

This picture show you how nicely uniform the meatballs are when we use the scoop shown in the other picture. Not only that but it keeps my hands clean so I can do other things like grab an oven mitt in a jiffy. I wouldn't make meatballs without that handy tool ever again.

Vanilla Bottle tip

Here's a quick little tip if you bake a lot and you tend to usually slosh out too much vanilla into your measuring spoon:

Vanilla bottle, originally uploaded by passitonplates.

When I peel the entire seal off the top of a new vanilla bottle, I leave the seal intact. To control how much vanilla pours out of the bottle, I just poke a little slit in the seal at the top. When I add vanilla to something, I just squeeze the bottle and it comes out in a little stream.

(Yes, this is imitation vanilla. So sue me.)

(And true, you can never have too much vanilla. Save some for the next batch...)

Shenanigans at Denny's

It's been three weeks since the last blog post here but that doesn't mean we have been hibernating. Quite the opposite. One Thursday, a couple of weeks ago, Rachel and I went to hang out at the local outlet mall. Yes, we live outside the big city far enough where we are not far from an outlet mall.

After trying on every cute shoe in our size, we went over to Denny's for supper. Since we're on the Atkins diet, we both decided on breakfast.

We have so much fun when we're out together that we set a new rule whenever we go out somewhere, even on a quick run to the grocery store: bring a camera.

Here's the rest of our evening, after we ordered dinner...

Starting a Hangman game, originally uploaded by passitonplates.

Starting a Hangman game...
When mom and I went out to a restaurant when I was a kid, she would always start a hangman game on a napkin to keep me busy while we waited for our order to arrive.

We continued that tradition with Rachel and found it was a great way to help her learn the sign language alphabet.

Thursday night, after doing our shopping, we had breakfast for dinner at Denny's and she started the game.

Sorry G-ma. You're a square., originally uploaded by passitonplates.

Sorry G-ma. You're a square.
"(Rombuses) Diamonds aren't very square, unlike your mom."

And yep, I clarified this with Rachel. She said it's my mom, her G-ma Donna.

Does she get points for coming up with a sentence like this at age 13?
Or does she lose points for being a smarty pants?

(Did you notice I guessed every letter? No hanging body parts. Silly kid hasn't learned that the longer the phrase, the easier it is to guess. Shhh! Don't tell her.)

The knife and fork's view of Pam, originally uploaded by passitonplates.

The knife and fork's view of Pam
I'm being good. It's club soda, not 7-Up.

This is hot sauce, originally uploaded by passitonplates.

This is hot sauce.
What is she up to?

Eating the lemon, originally uploaded by passitonplates.

Eating the lemon...
Rachel, is that plain lemon? Or...?

(Coughing), originally uploaded by passitonplates.

(Coughing)
Yep, I think she dipped her lemon in hot sauce.

Hot sauce dip for lemons?, originally uploaded by passitonplates.

Hot sauce dip for lemons?
Ugh. I think you're nuts, kiddo.

Another taste, originally uploaded by passitonplates.

Another taste.
Which flavor prevails? Hot or sour?

Oh, she's adding hot sauce, originally uploaded by passitonplates.

Oh, she's adding hot sauce.
The picture's blurry because I'm laughing at this point and can't hold still long enough to get a good shot.

Taste #3, originally uploaded by passitonplates.

Taste #3
That almost looks painful.

Uuuughhh. Ack., originally uploaded by passitonplates.

Uuuughhh. Ack.
She's gagging at this point. Nobody at Denny's has mentioned our shenanigans or uncontrolled giggling yet...

I don't think that's gonna help..., originally uploaded by passitonplates.

I don't think that's gonna help...

Bite #4, originally uploaded by passitonplates.

Bite #4
And holding the napkin tight in her fist for strength, I guess.

Her technique, originally uploaded by passitonplates.

Her technique:
Dip the lemon slice in the hot sauce...

That's a big blob of hot sauce, originally uploaded by passitonplates.

That's a big blob of hot sauce
What's that look on her face?

Lemon juice + paper cut, originally uploaded by passitonplates.

Lemon juice + paper cut = an end to the fun.
The lemon juice finally found a paper cut and the fun came to an abrupt halt.