Sweet and Sour Meatballs

Speaking of meatballs--my sister makes sweet and sour meatballs for her family and serves it as the main dish with rice. I've always used a this recipe as an appetizer, but decided to try it as a main dish. You know, it was pretty good. The sauce made a great gravy and my family loved it. Oh, and I put 2 scoops of Mila in the meatballs so I felt it was more healthy for everyone.

Sweet and Sour Meatballs

In a pot, mix together:

2 jars of chili sauce

2 1/3 cups grape jelly or jam

2 Tablespoons of lemon juice

Cook on stove top, stir until blended and let it come to a boil.

Mix together and shape into balls (about the size of a walnut):

2 pounds ground beef

2 eggs

2 Tablespoons dried minced onion

Add meatballs to pot and cook on low. Simmer for 1 - 1/2 hours. Serve on rice.

**You can cook this in a crock pot, too.

Meatballs and Rice

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving with your families. So, are you tired of eating turkey yet? Let's check out some beef recipes.

I was looking through an old cookbook and found this recipe for meatballs and rice that sounded interesting. It gave ingredients for making your own meatballs, but in this day and age you can go to the frozen food section of the grocery store and get meatballs already made.
Well, I had the frozen meatballs and I just followed the rest of the recipe and it was delicious! Even my picky grandchildren loved it.

Meatballs and Rice

Before you begin, you need to make some white rice. I put 2 cups of water with salt and a pat of butter in a pot on the stove and let it come to a boil. Add 1 cup of long grain rice, bring it back to a boil, put a lid on the pot and cook for 20 minutes (don't peek!) Set aside.

Frozen Meatballs (about 30)
1 - 2 slices of bacon
2 Tablespoons of chopped onion
2 Tablespoons of green bell pepper, chopped
1 can (8 oz.) tomato sauce
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 teaspoon salt

Cook bacon in a skillet. Add onion and bell pepper and saute' together for a few minutes. Add frozen meatballs, cover and cook until meatballs are done. Stir and turn meatballs occasionally. Remove the bacon. Add the tomato sauce, water, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and bring to a boil. Add the precooked rice, mix well and bring to a boil. Cover and cook 5-10 minutes, fluffing the rice once or twice with a fork. Remove from heat and let stand 10 minutes.

Turkey Pom Poms

So, what do you do with all the left-over turkey after Thanksgiving? If you're like our family, we never have any left-overs! But, it you do, here's a delicious recipe you should try.

Hope you and your family have a Happy Thanksgiving!


Turkey Pom Poms

3 cups cooked rice (that's about 1 cup uncooked rice)
1 1/2 Tablespoons flour
2 Tablespoons finely chopped green onion
1/2 teaspoon poultry seasoning
1 stick margarine
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup slivered almonds
1/2 teaspoon salt
Dash of pepper
2 cups diced turkey
2 eggs
Seasoned Bread Crumbs

Mix all ingredients together. Refrigerate for at least an hour. Form into balls (I usually use a 1/4 cup measure so the balls are about the same size.) You'll need to press firmly as you are making the turkey balls (pom poms) so they stick together well. Roll in bread crumbs and put on a pan. Bake (uncovered) at 325 degrees for 30 minutes.

Serve with sauce:
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/3 cup milk
Bring to a boil and put on top of Pom Poms.

Lemon Bars

Here's a dessert recipe my sister-in-law always brings for holiday family gatherings like Thanksgiving. She makes them especially for our 96 year old mother-in-law who loves anything lemon. I think you'll love these, too.

Lemon Bars

1 box lemon cake mix

3 eggs

8 oz. cream cheese (softened)

1 stick butter

1 box powdered sugar

Mix 1 egg and box of cake mix and press into greased 9x13 pan. Next mix cream cheese, butter, 2 eggs and powdered sugar and pour over the crust mixture. Bake 45 minutes at 325 until browned on top. (I had to bake mine a little longer.)

Mom's Sweet Potatoes

Our favorite food at Thanksgiving (besides the turkey) is sweet potatoes--especially the way I make them. We need to call them Sweet, Sweet Potatoes. But the Sweet is what makes them so good. Here is my recipe. I can taste them now!

Mom's Sweet Potatoes

Boil 4 - 6 sweet potatoes (with skin still on) until soft when pricked with a fork--about 30 - 45 minutes. Let the sweet potatoes cool, then peel and mash in a large bowl. Skins should peel off very easily.

Add and mix in the following ingredients:

(I use a hand mixer to mix it.)

1 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 beaten eggs

1/3 stick of butter melted

1/2 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

Put mixture in a greased 9x13 pan. Cover with mini-marshmallows. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes until marshmallows are melted and browned. Then take a spoon and mix the marshmallows into the sweet potatoes. Put more marshmallows on the top and bake again (about 20 - 30 minutes) until marshmallows are melted and browned.

By the way, can anyone tell me why my picture turned out flipped like it is. I couldn't get it turned around. Does anyone know how I can correct this problem? Thanks!

Homemade Cranberry Sauce

Last Thanksgiving my daughter-in-law, Mandy, taught me how to make homemade cranberry sauce. It was so easy and sooooo good! And you gotta have cranberry sauce at Thanksgiving!

Homemade Cranberry Sauce

1 bag fresh cranberries (12 oz.)

1 cup sugar

1 cup water

Bring water and sugar to a boil in a medium sauce pan. Add cranberries and return to a boil. Reduce heat and boil gently for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Pour sauce into a bowl, cover and cool completely at room temperature. Refrigerate until serving time.

**By the way, the recipe is on the back of the bag of fresh cranberries. I always wondered what you did with those cranberries in the bag :-) Duh!

Giblet Gravy

You have the turkey and stuffing recipes, now you need the gravy--Giblet Gravy!

Giblet Gravy

Boil the giblets in salted water for about 45 - 60 minutes. Chop and set aside.

Put the broth from the turkey (add Swanson's chicken broth if needed), in a pot. Add the chopped giblets and 2 - 4 chopped hard boiled eggs. Heat and bring to a boil. Add 1/4 to 1/3 cup gravy flour ( I use Wondra) to thicken. Stir and keep warm to serve with your turkey and stuffing and put some on your rice. Ummmm!

Turkey Stuffing and Dressing

Dressing? Stuffing? What's the difference? Well, dressing is made outside the turkey and stuffing is stuffed inside the turkey. I always do it both ways. My sister-in-law makes the best dressing, but every time I make it, it's just not as good as hers. But my stuffing is pretty good. My family likes it because it is so moist--after all it is baked inside the turkey with all those delicious turkey juices. Here are the recipes. Choose one or make both. See which one your family likes best.

Turkey Stuffing

1 small bag (8 oz) of Cornbread Stuffing (I use Pepperidge Farm)

2 - 3 Tablespoons butter

1 onion chopped

1/2 cup chopped celery

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 cup dried cranberries

hot water

Put the cornbread stuffing in a large bowl. Saute the onion and celery in the butter until onions are clear. Add to the stuffing and toss together. Put in cranberries and toss again. Add salt and pepper and enough hot water to get the stuffing mixture to stick together (about 1-2 cups). Then stuff the mixture into the breast cavity of the turkey. Pack tightly. When your turkey is cooked, take out the stuffing and put in a serving bowl. You can microwave it before serving.

Aunt Elaine's Dressing

Make cornbread below:

2 cups self rising white cornmeal

1 cup self rising flour

1 egg

Milk (about 1 - 1 1/2 cups--consistency is a little thicker than pancake batter

Put some butter and cornmeal in skillet to prepare for baking. Heat 1/4 cup oil in an iron skillet. add cornbread mixture. Cook in oven at 400 degrees. When brown on top, flip over (take a plate to flip it) and brown other side.

In a large bowl, crumble cornbread and add 8 oz. package of herb stuffing mix. Saute 2 cups chopped celery and 2 cups chopped onion with a stick of butter. Add 1 raw egg. Add enough turkey broth (use Swanson Chicken broth if need extra) to make mixture moist so that it sticks together. Put in 9 x 13 pan. Bake at 350 until bubbly and brown (about 30 -45 minutes).

Roasted Thanksgiving Turkey

Where did the time go? Thanksgiving is just around the corner. This past weekend I decided to make a Thanksgiving dinner so I could share some of my favorite recipes and have some pictures to share, too. The main thing about making a delicious turkey is seasoning, seasoning, seasoning! There is really no recipe I can give you, but I will give you directions on how you can make a delicious turkey for Thanksgiving, too.
Roasted Thanksgiving Turkey

1. Thaw frozen turkey in refrigerator for about 5 days.

2. Remove the giblet packet and the neck, and rinse turkey with water. Undo turkey legs from the metal prongs, but leave the prongs in the turkey. I usually pull off any fat around the openings of the turkey and I cut off the little tail on the end (but you don't have to).

3. Place turkey on some paper towels and pat dry. Be sure to dry inside the turkey, too.

4. Season turkey really well, all over, with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Then put Catalina French Dressing all over the turkey. You can also sprinkle a little paprika over the turkey, but I always forget to do that and it's still good. You can stuff the turkey (recipe to follow next post) if you'd like.

5. Take a whole onion and put it in the neck cavity. Put the legs back in the prongs.

6. Put the turkey in a roasting pan, add about 1/2 cup of water along the sides and cover with heavy duty aluminum foil. Make sure your roasting pan is deep enough. You don't want the juices to run out into your oven. Not only will it make a mess, but it could start a fire. (I always put enough foil to cover the bottom of the roaster as well as the turkey. This saves me some clean-up.)

7. Start baking the turkey at 425 degrees for about 30 minutes to get the turkey going. Then turn down to 275 degrees and bake about 30 minutes per pound. I usually put it in the oven before I go to bed (because I'm always up late the night before Thanksgiving getting everything ready anyway) and get up early to finish it. When it is done (juices run clear when pricked with a fork), uncover the turkey and brown at 325 degrees for 20 - 30 minutes. Recover and let cool.

8. Remove the onion and throw it away. Save your turkey broth to make gravy (this recipe is going to be posted, too). Slice your turkey--actually it will almost fall apart it's so tender--and serve.

Be sure to keep looking on my blog for the rest of our Thanksgiving recipes. I plan to do the next several posts just on these recipes so you can use them for your family's turkey feast.

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Now, what did you do with all those pumpkin seeds you dug out of your Halloween Jack-O-Lanterns? I bet you threw them away like I usually do. Well, this year I decided to try to roast them. My husband loves pumpkin seeds, so I made them especially for him. They were delicious. Saved me a lot of money, too--pumpkin seeds are about $5.00 a pound at the health food store.

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

2 1/2 - 3 cups raw pumpkin seeds

3 Tablespoons melted butter

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 Tablespoon seasoned salt

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Mix all ingredients above until pumpkin seeds are evenly coated. Spread in an even layer on a cookie sheet. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes until toasted. Cool completely on the baking sheet. Put in a serving dish and enjoy!

**Let the pumpkin seeds dry overnight before roasting. I rinse them off and then put them on a paper towel on a cookie pan to dry out. Thanks, Brandi, for reminding me to make note of this :-)

Turkey Chili

Well, if it's "soup" weather, then it's "chili" weather, too. This a the chili recipe that Brandi's mom makes. I add more beans than Brandi's mom does, but it is basically the same recipe. My husband loves for me to make this chili because it is made with turkey rather than beef. He always says, "I don't eat red meat because it's not good for me." Now, ask my kids if that is true--that he doesn't eat red meat. NOT! We're glad he says he doesn't eat it because if he said he did eat it, we would never get any. But you can make this with beef instead of chicken. Either way, it's our favorite chili!

Turkey Chili

1 pound of ground turkey

1 small onion chopped

2 cans petite diced tomatoes

1 heaping Tablespoon chili powder

1 heaping teaspoon sugar

1 heaping teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

2 - 3 cans pinto beans

1 can light red kidney beans

1 can dark red kidney beans

Brown turkey (I add salt, pepper and garlic powder to the turkey) and onions. Then add everything except the beans and simmer for 1 hour. Add the beans and warm thoroughly. I drain the juice from one can of pinto beans and the can of light red kidney beans. I leave the juice in the other beans. I just don't want my chili too soupy.

**We like to eat the chili with corn bread. Now, my friend Verlene, has a great corn bread recipe. It's real buttery and sweet like a cake. I will plan to post it in the future. In the meantime, it's so easy just to pull out a box of Jiffy corn bread mix. Some days I'm lazy--just plain lazy! By the way, this Jiffy mix makes really good corn bread.

Taco Soup

It's getting to be "soup" weather. Here is one of our favorites--Taco Soup!

Taco Soup

2 - 3 chicken breasts

1 can Mexi-corn

1 can black beans

1 small salsa or picante sauce (mild)

2 cups chicken broth

Boil the chicken in water with salt, a piece of celery and a small onion. Takes about 30 minutes to cook. Save 2 cups of broth and put into a pot. You can use canned or boxed chicken broth if you'd like, but I figure if you're boiling chicken anyway, you may as well use the broth. Right?

Cut chicken breasts into pieces and put into pot. Add 1 can of Mexi-corn. Drain beans and add to soup (you can rinse beans if you'd like or put the beans in, liquid and all). Pour in the small salsa or picante sauce. Mix together and bring to a boil. Simmer for about 10 minutes.

Serve with tortilla chips. Delicious and Easy! We always double the recipe because everyone eats seconds or thirds--even fourths!.

My kids love to put sour cream and cheese in their soup before eating. Me--I'm just a plain Jane and eat it like it is. I always scoop it up with tortilla chips. I don't use my spoon until the very end so I can get every last drop!

Orange Pineapple Cake

For the fish fry, we were also asked to bring a dessert. I took this as an opportunity to try something new. I've had this recipe for Orange Pineapple Cake for quite a while, but have never had the chance to make it. Well, it was delicious--very moist. I will definitely make it again.

Orange Pineapple Cake

1 package of Butter Cake Mix ( I used Duncan Hines)

1 egg

1 can of mandarin orange sections

1 large can of crushed pineapple

1 container of Cool Whip

1 (3 oz.) package of instant vanilla pudding

Make cake mix using package directions plus the addition of 1 egg. Fold drained orange sections into the cake batter. Bake in 2 greased and floured 9 inch pans according to directions on cake mix. When cool, fill and frost with mixture of undrained pineapple and dry pudding mix stirred into the Cool Whip topping.

Creamy Cole Slaw

We had a fish fry at church and I was asked to bring some cole slaw. I was excited to make it because I have a delicious recipe for cole slaw. Everyone loved it and I hope you will too.

Cole Slaw

1 large head of cabbage, sliced and chopped

1 onion, chopped

1 cup mayonnaise

1 cup sour cream

1/4 cup vinegar

1/2 cup sugar

salt and pepper

Put cabbage and onion in a large bowl. Set aside.

In a small bowl mix together the mayonnaise, sour cream, vinegar, and sugar. Add mixture to the cabbage and onion. Blend together. Add salt and pepper to taste. Let it sit in refrigerator a couple of hours before serving.

**Since my husband doesn't like all the fat in mayonnaise, I will use Vegenaise instead.

Roast Brisket Recipes

My mom taught me how to make delicious brisket. I also use this same recipe when I make a sirloin tip roast. There are no measurements to give you, just the ingredients. But you really don't have to measure--just put everything together and let it bake. This is definitely a family favorite that is requested when Nana comes to visit the grands.

Moma Toby's Brisket

Brisket Roast (about 3 pounds)

Onion (sliced)

Carrots (I use the peeled bagged baby carrots)

Potatoes (how ever many you think your family will eat)

Ketchup

Salt

Pepper

Garlic Powder

In a 9 x 13 pan, put a large sheet of aluminum foil--enough to bring up the sides to cover the roast. Put sliced onion on the bottom of pan. Place the roast on top of the onion. Put peeled potatoes and carrots around the roast. Sprinkle (I have a pretty heavy hand when I sprinkle) salt, pepper, and garlic powder over the roast, potatoes and carrots. Then put ketchup on top and rub all over the roast, potatoes and carrots. Add about 1/2 cup water (I usually pour it along the corners of the pan so it doesn't wash away the ketchup from everything). Cover (fold over the foil) and bake at 350 for about 45 minutes a pound.

**This is a great Sunday dinner. I usually start this before I go to church at 350 degrees for about 15 - 20 minutes and then turn it down to about 275/300 degrees and let it bake until I get back from church (about 3 1/2 hours). I always make gravy from the cooked juices by adding 1 - 2 teaspoons of gravy maker (Kitchen Bouquet) or add a packet of brown gravy sauce. Slice the roast (opposite the grain) and put back in the pan of gravy. I usually stick it back in the oven to keep it hot. Then I serve it with rice.

The other brisket recipe I have is my sister Cathy's recipe. It is a sweet and sour brisket. Cathy usually makes this when the family gets together because it serves a lot of people. I must confess, this brisket is out-of-this-world!

Cathy's Sweet and Sour Brisket

In a roaster pan, cut 2 - 3 large onions. Mix together 2 cups of ketchup and 2 cups of brown sugar. Set this sauce aside.

Season a 5 - 6 pound brisket with salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder. Put brisket in pan on top of onions. Put carrots around pan.

Peel potatoes and put salt, pepper and ketchup all over them. Put potatoes around pan.

Put 1 cup of water in pan. Take sauce and pour on top of brisket. Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 350 for 4 hours.

Let cool. Slice brisket and put back in the gravy. You can darken the gravy with Kitchen Bouquet. Reheat before serving.

**My sister usually makes it the day before and heats it the next day before serving.