Meatball and Onion Stew

Who doesn't love meatballs? Combined with whole, juicy onions, chunky vegetables and all the classic flavours of beef stew and you've got the perfect meal for National Meatball Day!

Ingredients for meatballs:

1 lb beef (or trio: beef, veal and pork)

1 slice white bread, torn in small pieces

1/4 cup milk

3 tsps dry onion soup mix

1 egg

black pepper to taste

1 tsp dry oregano

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

 

Ingredients for the stew:

1 tbsp olive oil

1 1/2 cups diced potato

6-8 small onions

2 tsps minced garlic

2 tbsps flour

1 tbsp tomato paste

2 carrots, sliced thick

2 celery stalks, sliced thick along with any leaves

1 bay leaf

1 1/2 cups diced turnip

4 cups beef broth

1 tsp dry thyme

salt and pepper to taste 

 

Start with the meatballs. Soak the torn bread in milk for 20 minutes then add the meat and mix well. Mix in the rest of the ingredients and roll into 16 balls. Bake in a conventional oven at 350°F on a lined baking sheet for 30 minutes. Or air fry at 390°F for 12 minutes. You can flip them halfway through but it's not necessary. The internal temperature when cooked should read 165°F.

While the meatballs cook, prep the stew. Heat olive oil to medium high heat in a skillet. Add the onions and brown for 4-5 minutes.

Stir in the garlic for 30 seconds before adding the flour and tomato paste. Add the remaining ingredients, cover and reduce heat to a simmer for 45 minutes to 1 hour or until the potatoes/carrots/turnip are tender. Finally add the meatballs to the stew and simmer another 15-20 minutes.

Serves 4

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Old Bay Air Fried Chicken

Just as juicy and tender as traditionally fried chicken, but without the oil. Gotta love that!

Ingredients:

1 egg

3 chicken legs, split or 8 drumsticks

1/2 cup milk

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 cup Panko crumbs

3 tsps Old Bay seasoning

spray oil

1/4 cup flour

 

First add lemon juice to the milk and set it aside for 2-3 minutes. Then prepare your breading station. In a bowl beat the egg and milk/lemon juice together. Place the flour in another bowl. Mix Panko and Old Bay together in a bag or bowl. I like to use saved waxed cereal bags for this purpose. Pat the chicken pieces dry with paper towels and dredge in the flour. Next dip and coat in the milk and egg mixture. And finally toss to coat in the Panko.

Preheat the air fryer to 370°F for 3 minutes

Place the finished pieces in the air fryer basket that has been sprayed with oil. You may have to work in batches.

Give all the chicken pieces a light oil spray.

Air fry for 15-20 minutes. Flip them, spray again and return to fry for 18-20 minutes.

The internal temperature should read 165°F.

Serves 4-5

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Date Filled Oatmeal Cookies

With the help of my husband whose specialty is date squares we put together two recipes in one to make these tender date filled oatmeal cookies. He made the filling usually made for date squares or matrimonial cake and I made the oatmeal cookies. It turned out to be the perfect marriage of sweet filling and chewy, perfectly textured cookies!

Ingredients for Oatmeal Cookies:

3/4 cup butter, at room temperature

1/2 cup white sugar

1 cup lightly packed brown sugar

1 egg

2 tbsps water

2 tsps vanilla

2/3 cup flour

3/4 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

3 cups rolled oats

 

Cream butter, sugars, egg, water and vanilla together until fluffly. Combine the flour, baking soda and cinnamon and add to the butter mixture. Stir in the oats. Scoop onto parchment lined baking sheets leaving 2" between each ball. I used a 1" scoop here. Gently press just to flatten the dome of the ball.

Bake at 350°F for 12-15 minutes.

Ingredients for Date Filling:

1 lb pitted dates, chopped

1/2 cup hot water

1/4 cup orange juice

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 tsp lemon juice

zest of 1/2 orange

1 tsp vanilla

 

Combine everything except the vanilla in a saucepan. Cook over medium heat until the dates soften and the liquid is absorbed. Remove from heat, stir in the vanilla and cool. Or you can even prepare the filling the day before. 

Assembly:

Turn the cooled cookies upside down and pair them off with equally sized partners. Even though I used a scoop the cookies were not all the same.  Evenly distribute the date filling on half the cookies. Start with about 1 tsp each at first then go around and add more.

Place another cookie on top of the filling and they're ready for snacking! Store in air tight containers.

Makes 28

And here's the link to our Date Squares (Matrimonial Cake):

https://www.hotandcoldrunningmom.ca/2014/05/date-squares-matrimonial-cake.html 

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Mongolian Beef and Peas

Tender, saucy strips of steak with crispy peas and on the table in way less than 30 minutes! Yes please!

Ingredients:

 2/3 lb (300g) stir fry sliced steak

salt and pepper to taste

2 tbsps cornstarch

1 tsp minced garlic

1/2 red onion, sliced

1 small yellow onion, sliced

2 tbsps vegetable oil, divided

200g snow or snap peas (about 1/2 lb)

pinch red pepper flakes

 

Sauce:

1 1/2 tbsps brown sugar

1 1/2 tbsps soya sauce

1 tsp oyster sauce

1/4 cup warm water

 

Toss the steak, salt, pepper and cornstarch together to coat the meat and set aside. Mix the sauce ingredients together and set aside.

Heat 1 tbsp vegetable oil in a skillet or wok to medium high heat. Add beef and cook until no pink remains then remove to a plate. Add 1 tbsp vegetable oil to the pan and toss in the onions, garlic, peas and red pepper flakes. Cook for 5 minutes, return the beef to the pan and pour in the sauce.

Cook until sauce is reduced, about 1-2 minutes.

Serve it with rice or noodles.

Serves 2

Adapted from theeastcoastkitchen.com

 

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Welsh Cakes

In recognition of my husband's background (his grandparents came from Wales), I thought I would give these traditional Welsh cakes a try for St David's day. St David's motto "Be joyful, keep the faith and do the little things in life". Sounds good to me!

Ingredients:

2 1/8 cups flour

1 1/2 tsps baking powder

1/2 tsp allspice

1/2 cup cold butter

1/3 cup sugar

1/2 cup currants, raisins or dried cranberries

1 egg, beaten

3-4 tbsps buttermilk or 10% cream

spray oil

 

First sift the flour, baking powder and allspice together. Then use a box grater to shred the cold butter and toss it into the dry mixture with a fork. Add the sugar and raisins. (I used raisins but currants are used in the traditional recipe).

Finally, add the egg and milk. Stir, then use your fingertips to blend and just hold together. You don't want to overwork the dough and warm the butter. Dust a work surface with flour and roll the dough to 1/3" thickness and use a 2-3" cutter to cut out the cakes. Gather the scraps and fashion them into cakes as well though they won't look quite as nice.

If you are not quite ready to fry these up pop them in the fridge a few minutes to keep the butter cold.

Heat a griddle or pan to medium and spray with cooking oil. Fry the Welsh cakes on one side for 3-4 minutes then flip and fry an additional 3-4 minutes watching that they don't burn. The internal temperature should read about 195-200°F when cooked.

You can sprinkle some sugar over top the warm cakes and serve right away. Store leftovers in an airtight container and gently re-heat in air fryer or microwave.

Makes 18

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Braised Celery with Black Olives

Has that celery in your fridge seen better days? Braise it to raise it from sad and forgotten to a simple and savory side dish!

Ingredients:

1/2 lb celery (4 stalks with leaves)

1 tbsp butter

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp minced garlic

salt and pepper to taste

2 pinches red pepper flakes

1/4 cup pitted black kalamata olives

1/4 cup chicken broth

 

Using a vegetable peeler, remove the stringy bits from the celery stalks. Reserve the leaves then cut the celery diagonally into 3-4" pieces. Heat butter and oil in a pan on medium high and add the celery, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes. Cook about 4 minutes then add the garlic for 30 seconds. 

Add the broth, cover and reduce temperature to low for 5 minutes. Uncover, add the olives and cook on medium heat until liquid is reduced to lightly glaze the celery and olives, about 3-4 minutes.

Top with chopped celery leaves and serve with a roast or chops.

Serves 2

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Saucy Slow Cooker Beef Ramen

Love, love, love me some easy peasy beef ramen! And so flavourful! Not from that ramen flavour packet (toss that out!), but from the vegetables and seasoning simmered together in the slow cooker.

Ingredients:

1 lb ground beef

1 1/2 cups julienned carrots

1 bell pepper, sliced

3 green onions, sliced

3 tsps minced garlic

1/2 cup soya sauce

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 cup chicken broth

2 ramen packages (just noodles, throw out the flavour packet)

Garnish with sesame seeds, green onion slices and hot sauce

 

Brown the ground beef in a pan, drain fat then place in the bottom of the slow cooker. Add the carrots, bell pepper, green onion and garlic. Combine the soya sauce, brown sugar and chicken broth and pour over the vegetables and ground beef. Mix together and cook on low for 4-6 hours.  Now turn up to high and place the ramen bricks in and cover with sauce. Break up the bricks if needed. Cover and cook on high for 30 minutes. Stir together and serve garnished with green onions, sesame seeds and if you like, some hot sauce.

Serves 4

Adapted from myincrediblerecipes.com

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