I've been making Swedish Meatballs for years. Wait. Let me rephrase that. I have a RECIPE for Swedish Meatballs that I've had for years. I used to make these tasty nuggets all the time when my kids were younger and it was always a hit with them...so I'm not sure why I stopped making them. But the other day as I was going through my recipes, I ran across the recipe for these little guys and I got all misty-eyed and reflective about when my kids were little and....okay, not really...but I did think....I should TOTALLY make these! So I did! And you know what? They are just as good NOW as they were THEN!

I have to say, though...the whole time I was preparing them, I had the vision of THIS guy in my head!



Don't you just LOVE The Muppets??

Swedish Meatballs

2 pounds ground beef
1 small onion, finely chopped
½ cup water
1 egg
½ cup breadcrumbs
1 ½ teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon nutmeg
5 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons butter
BowTie Pasta

Combine ground beef and onion. Add water to bread crumbs and stir. Add moistened crumbs, egg, salt and nutmeg to meat. Mix well with your hands but don’t overdo it. Shape meat into about 40 meatballs. Dredge in flour. (Save remaining flour for gravy.) Melt butter in large skillet. Brown meatballs on all sides. Cover and cook slowly for about 20 minutes. Remove meatballs and add remaining flour to make a roux.

Add:

1 ¼ cups water
1 cup milk
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon nutmeg

Cook and stir until thick and bubbly. Add meatballs back into skillet with gravy and heat through. Serve over cooked pasta.

Let's get started.

 

Add the water to the breadcrumbs.

 

Combine this stuff and mix.

 

Form the meatballs. Mine were about 

the size of golf balls. Dredge in the flour.

 

Fry 'em up!

 

Fer 'da gravy.

 

Make the roux. And stir!

 

Add the rest of the gravy ingredients....

 

...then add the cooked meatballs.

 

Serve over BowTie pasta. Or whatever 

kind of short cut pasta you like. 

But I think the BowTies are cute.

Apple Tart with Puff Pastry

Apples, apples everywhere. I made a yummy apple pie last week for company...and for my IT Guy....but today I was in the mood for baking something a little lighter...but still apple-ish. So...a tart it was. Instead of a traditional crust I used puff pastry....because, well...because I wanted to. Don't you just love puff pastry? It makes you look like such a talented baker. This little gem turned out so nice. I'm sure IT Guy will enjoy it with a little vanilla ice cream or a drizzle of caramel sauce...or both!

Apple Tart with Puff Pastry

1 Puff Pastry Shell (they normally come in a two-pack...just keep the other one in the freezer for future use)
2 Granny Smith apples - peeled, cored and thinly sliced
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon cinnamon
splash lemon juice
butter

Thaw and remove puff pastry from packaging and place on floured surface. Give it a quick roll with a rolling pin and place in a 8-inch tart pan (the kind with the removable bottom) or a pie tin. Tuck the pastry into all corners and trim off excess. Prick the bottom all over.

Combine sliced apples and lemon juice in medium sized bowl. Combine sugar, cornstarch and cinnamon and sprinkle over apples. Arrange apples on pastry in tart pan. This won't be full like an apple pie...you'll just have a couple of layers of apples. Top with a few dabs of butter.

Combine:

1/4 quick oats
1/4 cup flour
1/4 brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
3 tablespoons chopped pecans (optional)

Cut 5 tablespoons butter into oat/flour mixture with a pastry cutter until mixture resembles crumbs. Sprinkle over apples.

Bake at 350 degrees for 40 - 45 minutes or until lightly golden on top. Allow to cool.

Here's all you need for the yuminess

I added a little lemon juice to the apples to perk them up a bit



Roll your rolling pin over the dough after you tuck it in the pan for a nice edge.



Prick the bottom of the dough with a fork

Arrange the apples in the tart pan. You'll only have a couple of layers.

Stuff for the toppping

All baked!

So last night was one of those nights where I was drawing a blank for dinner. Nothing sounded good....really wasn't in the mood to be creative....basically I just didn't want to cook. I know, how unlike me, huh? Anyway....I needed to go to the grocery store for unrelated grocery items so my IT guy and I went on a very exciting date to Walmart. Little did I know when I walked into that store, that I would find something that would make my IT guy so incredibly happy....and therefore make ME happy. It was green....it came in a can....and it's something that we can't find a decent variety of here in the south. But no more!!! As I was reaching for my normal brand of this item...I spied another brand. A new brand. A brand sent from heaven above. None other than whole Hatch Green Chilies!! Some of you may scoff...some of you may think I'm a green chili snob...and maybe I am...but until you've lived somewhere that doesn't sell a favorite item of yours....don't judge!! This is a find of gastronomic proportions! I snagged a can...thinking I'd get just one...just in case they weren't any good (oh ye of little faith). But when my IT guy saw the one can in my cart...he made a bee-line over to the international food aisle and grabbed another one. We smiled all the way out the store...all the way home..all the while planning on using these little lovelies for our dinner...which I was all of a sudden very excited about. But would they live up to our expectations? Can I just say? Yes. Yes, they did. And the nice thing about this "recipe" is you can make them for one person or for a crowd. Please, please....if you are in any way a green chili fan...try this. You'll love it.

Chili Cheese Burritos

Flour tortillas – 12 inch
Whole green chilies
Sharp cheddar cheese slices
Salt

Place one flour tortilla on a paper plate. Place three pieces of sliced cheese (1x3 inches) on top of tortilla. Slice open one whole chili and remove seeds.Or leave them in if like to walk on the wild side. Place chili on top of the cheese slices and give it a GOOD dose of salt. Green chilies need salt!! Place in microwave for 45 seconds to 1 minute. Roll flour tortilla burrito style and eat up!

This is all you need right here.

Fillet the green chili and remove the seeds. Or leave them in if that's how you roll.

Place the cheese on the tortilla.....

Add the chilies on top of the cheese. Make sure you have a good chili to cheese ratio. And don't forget the salt!!!

Roll up burrito style......

....and eat up!