Easy Somewhat Homemade Meatballs (with spaghetti!)

I'm sorry about the terrible photo. I left my camera at home and I took this on my phone.

If you can't eat dairy, you probably don't eat meatballs (or you do, and feel the pain later). This recipe is easy and dairy-free, and totally delicious. I got the idea for using sausages from some cooking show. It works great because the sausage is already pre-spiced and full of fat, so you don't get the golf-ball like dense meatballs that sometimes happens when you use really lean meat. I tend not to measure anything, so this is all approximate. If you like your meatballs softer and less dense, add more breadcrumbs.

Ingredients

• 2 cups uncooked sausage (I used mild Italian pork sausage. DO NOT get sausage that is smoked, or otherwise pre-cooked)
• 2 cups ground beef (I got extra lean. Don't worry, the sausage will provide the fat you need to keep it juicy)
• 1 cup part bread crumbs
• 1 egg

Let's do it!

1. First of all, know that this is going to get messy. Take off any rings you're wearing and maybe put on an apron. And wash your hands, for goodness sake!
2. Squeeze the sausage meat out of its casing into a large mixing bowl. You should have a whole bunch of raw meat with fat and spices. Yay!
3. Add ground beef, bread crumbs and raw egg.
4. Mush it all together with your hands until it's all mixed up.
5. Form balls and put onto baking tray. You can put them close together, but don't let them touch. They will get slightly smaller. Use a baking tray that has a somewhat high lip on it, because these will put out a LOT of grease.
6. Put in the oven and turn on to 350ºF. I rarely preheat my oven, as I feel like it's a waste of energy. Particularly for something like this, where you're not worried about a crisp skin.
7. If the meatballs were small (golf ball or less), 30 minutes should do it, but make sure you test by cutting them with a fork. If the inside is cooked, they're done!

Tip: Let the grease cool down and put it in a small bag and throw it in the garbage or municipal compost (if your city does that). DO NOT put it down the drain, as it will destroy your plumbing. Yes, even if you put it down the toilet. Seriously. You want to hear some horror stories, talk to a plumber. Don't flush dental floss either. Just... don't.

Lunch it up!

I packed the meatballs in a container with some pasta sauce and packed the pasta separately. You can also make meatball sandwiches or cover them in BBQ sauce and serve them as hors d'oeuvres at a party. Or whatever it is people do with meatballs.

Paella!

Mmm... iPhone photo...

This dish is based on this recipe from the LCBO Food and Drink Magazine. For those of you who don't live in Ontario, you're missing out on a great, free magazine. 

Anyhow. I needed to make some changes since I was dining with a friend who doesn't eat land animals, plus I had merguez sausage, not chorizo, and no black cod.

Ingredients

• 900ml vegetable stock
• 1/2 tsp saffron threads
• 2 cups frozen shrimp, thawed and deveined, shells reserved
• 1/2 lb sausage
• 1 cup crushed tomatoes
• 1 tsp paprika
• 2 small onions, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup rice (I used basmati. Next time I'd go for regular short grain brown rice... less mushy)
• 2 tbsp chopped cilantro

Let's do it!

1. Heat up a bit of oil in a pan and fry the sausage until cooked, turning halfway through cooking. Put aside for later. Slice into bite-sized pieces when cool.
2. Place veggie stock in a pot and bring to a simmer. Meanwhile, deshell and devein the shrimp, putting the shells in the veggie stock to create a seafood stock. Crumble in saffron. Keep this simmering, covered, while you do the other stuff.
3. In a large pan/pot with a lid, heat up some oil and add in garlic, onions and paprika. Cook until softened.
4. Add tomatoes and scrape up any bits that might have stuck to the bottom of the pan.
5. Add rice and stir for a couple of minutes. If you're not serving pescatarians, you can add the sausage in here.
6. Strain stock and add a couple of ladles at a time. Simmer, covered. Check on it every once in a while to see if it's done. When it dries out, add more stock. Keep going until the rice is cooked. You may not use all the stock. If there isn't enough, add water.
7. Add shrimp  and stir until cooked.
8. Add chopped cilantro. Add salt and pepper to taste.
9. This is where I added the sausage, after separating a portion for my friend.

Lunch it up!

This dish is really easy to bring for lunch. Just put it in a dish. No extra work needed. I made a side of broccoli to make this meal a bit more well rounded.

Lainey-style Gumbo

That's right, I have a pretty sweet cutting mat at work.

Full disclosure: I've never had gumbo anywhere else but my own home. For all I know, this recipe tastes NOTHING like the real deal. But it's loosely based on a gumbo recipe I found online, that also mentioned that everyone's gumbo is different, depending on the ingredients you like to use. So I'm going for it.

Call it what you like, it's definitely tasty. So here we go!

Ingredients: 

1/3 cup flour

1/3 cup oil

1 large onion, diced

5 garlic cloves, minced

1 cup veggies (I used a turnip)

3 bay leaves

1/3 tsp cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp smoked paprika

6 sausages (I used chorizo), sliced into rounds

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed (but use whatever beans you like)

3 cups or so chicken stock

1 can/jar diced tomatoes

Let's do it!

1. Heat up a soup pot with oil until it moves around the pot really quickly if you tip it. Add flour and whisk/stir with a wooden spoon for at least 25 minutes in low heat until it gets nice and dark. This is the roux that will thicken the gumbo.
2. Add all veggies into the pot and stir until onions are translucent. 
3. Add spices.
4. Add sausage and let them cook in the bottom of the pan for a few minutes.
5. Add beans, tomatoes and enough chicken stock to cover everything. Bring to a boil and let simmer for an hour or so.
6. Serve over rice.

Makes about 6 servings.

Easy? So easy. Yummy? SO YUMMY.

Fajita-rama

Note, the white things are leftover brown rice thrown in.

Fajitas are always a winner in our house, due to the husband's fondness for wraps. They're also pretty easy to make. Here's a recipe I made yesterday that yields about 4-5 servings.

Ingredients

3 large red peppers, seeded and sliced into strips

1 large green pepper, seeded and sliced into strips

2 medium red onions, peeled and sliced into strips

2 chicken thighs, deboned and sliced into strips

1 cup diced smoked sausage

3 tablespoons or more of Tex-Mex seasoning mix (recipe to follow)

Tex-Mex seasoning mix:

1 part paprika

2 parts cumin

1 part cayenne

1 part oregano

2 parts garlic powder

Put it all in a jar with a tight fitting lid. I like to keep a batch of this in the kitchen to quickly throw together tacos, fajitas or chili.

Let's do it!

Put the meat in a container with a tablespoon of Tex Mex powder. Mix well and let marinate while you're cooking the veggies.

Heat a large pot/wok to medium high and add enough oil to lightly coat the bottom. 

Throw in the veggies and saute, stirring until really soft. This took an agonizing amount of time because I started with low heat. Don't make my mistake. Start high and keep stirring! I also threw the bones in with the veggies for added flavour.

When the veggies are soft, throw in 2 tablespoons of seasoning and stir until well mixed. Add the meat and cook until cooked, maybe another 10 minutes. At this point, taste and adjust for salt and seasoning. Add hot peppers if you like it spicy.

Lunch it up!

I pack the fajita mix in a tight-fitting container and put a couple of tortillas in a ziploc bag. To eat, heat them up separately. The tortillas take about 10 seconds, the filling will take about two minutes, since it's got meat in it.

Optional: If you're a fancy pants, bring along some sprigs of parsley, a couple wedges of lime and an avocado (cut it up at work to reduce grossness)

Enjoy!