What I Ate: Asian Inspired Meatballs

What I Ate is a Friday series that is so easy (but delicious!) that it doesn’t really require a recipe! Check out the category (to your right) to see other super easy ideas.

Did you cook your tuckus off for Thanksgiving and now it is time to adapt to the winter season? These Asian inspired meatballs are super easy and work with any pre-made meatballs.

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Ingredients:

12 turkey meatballs (3 meatballs per person)
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp minced ginger
1 tsp minced garlic
2 tsp honey

Directions:

Defrost meatballs (or make your own!)
Mix soy sauce, brown sugar, ginger, garlic, and honey over medium-low heat.
Stir well, then add meatballs.
Cook for about 10 minutes then turn to low so it can thicken.

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Serve over rice and top with some green onions.  They have a nice sweet/salty flavor. The brown sugar and honey help thicken it up and poof! You’re done and clean up is pretty minimal.

Bolognese

Let’s continue on with the very non-thanksgiving-y foods, shall we? I messed around with a bolognese-like sauce. It isn’t truly a bolognese but I’m not Italian, so I figure I can get away with it. I cooked my meat sauce very low and slow and it was thick and delicious. It seems close enough, right? Even if I didn’t serve it with a wide flat noodle?
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I made a lot and froze leftovers. I’m thinking I came up with about 8 servings-ish.

Ingredients:

¾ pound ground sausage
½ pound ground turkey
1 onion, diced
1 tbs garlic, diced
1 (6oz) can of tomato paste
1 cup kitchen ready, peeled canned tomatoes
⅓ cup red wine
½ cup water (if needed)
1 tbs italian seasoning
1 tbs salt
1 tsp grated parmesan cheese

Directions:

Brown the sausage over medium heat and drain.
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Brown the ground turkey over medium heat.
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Cook the onions until translucent.
In a large stockpot or dutch oven, over medium-low heat, stir the onions, garlic, canned tomatoes, wine, and spices.
Add the 2 meats and stir occasionally.
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Cook over medium low heat covered for 45 minutes to 1.5 hours.
Add some water if it is too thick for your liking and sprinkle in the parmesan.
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Serve over pasta or in your favorite lasagna.
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I loved it. I think it had just the right amount of texture and a good ratio of meat-to-tomato. I of course used pork and turkey, but any 2 ground meats would do. I thought it was a good use of some leftover ground turkey hanging out in my freezer. Since I’m cooking for 2, I end up with leftovers that really needs to be cooked into something (like lasagna or tacos, etc) since it isn’t fresh anymore.

Chicken Spinach and Artichoke Nachos

You read that right. I took everything good about nachos and spinach and artichoke dip and married it. Happily. Ever. After.
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I had a bunch of apps on my ever running “to make” list of ideas so a few became dinner one night.

Ingredients:

3 cups fresh spinach, chopped fine
1 pkg frozen artichoke hearts (not jared in oil)
8 oz cream cheese (or plain greek yogurt)
½ cup prepared alfredo sauce
1 tbs chopped garlic
1 chicken breast, shredded
8 oz shredded mozzarella
multigrain tortilla chips

Directions:

Cook chicken breast and shred when cooled slightly.
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Add artichoke hearts, cream cheese, alfredo sauce, and garlic to a large large saute pan over medium heat for about 5 minutes.
Once the cream cheese is melted, add the chicken and ½ cup of the shredded cheese.
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Stir the dip well, turn the temperature to low, and begin layering chips, dip and shredded mozzarella. Make one layer with about ⅓ of the dip, cheese, and chips.
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Melt in the oven at 375 degrees until melted.
Layer more chips, dip, and mozzarella.
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Melt in the oven at 375 degrees until melted.
Top with remaining.
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Trust me. The layers melted before more layers are crucial. If you layer, layer, and layer and then melting will mean your bottom layers aren’t going to be melted and the top will be cooked too much.
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I had some leftover chicken and sundried tomato alfredo pasta with lots of leftover chicken. I shredded it up which made for a wayyy better use of the leftovers than I planned!
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Thankful and Full

Are you still feeling full of thanks? I’m feeling ever so thankful lately. I love this season of thanks, kindness, and giving.

Mr. J and I spent some time last weekend handing out turkeys and Thanksgiving fixings with our local food pantry. It was a wonderful day and felt so good to know 130 deserving families in our area would have a meal to share with their families. They were so thankful. I was brought to tears when one woman I was helping to her car told me she hadn’t turned her heat on yet.

The food pantry had a great system in place and I was thrilled to see how much the recipients got. In addition to the turkey, they got to choose a pie, then they got a roasting pan for the turkey filled with sides. I was glad we could help since we’re so lucky ourselves. I’ve never been hungry and it breaks my heart to think about it.

My sis and I are signed up to deliver baskets to critically ill patients in a few weeks. My office has taken on filling these wish-list baskets before, and Mr. J and I did some last year. Community Servings delivers 395,000 meals to critically or chronically ill patients and their families annually. They offer nutrition counseling and hands-on job training. Their mission is inspiring. I love how much they fill gaps real people face and how genius they are in using what they already have to help others.
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It is lovely to read facebook posts expressing gratitude rather than complaints. I have so much to be thankful for and I this season is a great reminder of how lucky many of us are.

Apple Cheesecake Dip

It is almost Thanksgiving and I have an easy 3 ingredient dip/dessert for you to have on hand if you’re worried about what you’ve planned to make. Or maybe you need one more thing to keep the masses fed.
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I saw this apple cheesecake dip on pinterest and thought it sounded awesome. It is one of those foods that just can’t LOOK as good as it tastes. I added it to a dinner of appetizers and it was awesome.

Apple Cheesecake Dip

Adapted from Cooking Classy

Ingredients:

8oz cream cheese
¼ cup caramel ice cream topping
¼ cup toffee pieces
apples for dipping

Directions:

Allow the cream cheese to soften slightly.
Beat cream cheese, caramel sauce, and toffee bits.
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Serve with sliced apples.

This has such great flavor for just a few ingredients. I liked the apple dippers but graham crackers would be good, or animal crackers.

The original recipe has the apples dipped into the cream cheese dip and then into crushed graham crackers. I added the toffee in the dip instead for a pop of crunch.
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This is a crowd pleaser and a super easy one to whip up. Something about it says fall to me, but apples are available all the time so I’m not sure where my season-ness is coming from. I definitely recommend this dip for an easy appetizer or light dessert. I love to be sure there are a few simple items when I’m hosting for an easy check mark on your list.

Tip: a few drips of lemon juice will help the apples not to brown. Prep the dip and refrigerate until you serve it. Slice the apples when you’re ready to eat!

(Plus, this one got Mr. J eating some fruit. Shhh! Don’t tell him!)