Meatball Subs

     While grocery shopping this weekend we came across some very appetizing sub rolls with cheese baked in and on top of them. Christine said they looked perfect for meatball subs, I agreed. Once we got home I looked up a recipe for meatballs. I have a pretty good recipe that I normally use but for the sake of the blog, I wanted to try something new. I found this meatball  recipe on Allrecipes.com, one of my favorite websites for finding new things to try.

     I followed the recipe exactly as listed even though I prefer to caramelize the onions before adding them to the meatball mixture. After putting the meatballs in the oven, I warmed up some left over pizza sauce because I didn't have any homemade sauce in the freezer. Once the meatballs were done cooking, I cut open the rolls and put them under the broiler for a few minutes to toast them a bit to prevent the sauce from making them soggy. Next, I spread some sauce on each roll, put three meatballs on each one, topped with more sauce and some Italian blend cheese. You could start eating them at this point but I put them back under the broiled until the cheese bubbled and browned a little.

1 pound extra lean ground beef

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1 small onion, diced

1/2 teaspoon garlic salt

1 1/2 teaspoons Italian seasoning

3/4 teaspoon dried oregano

3/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1 dash hot pepper sauce

1 1/2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

1/3 cup skim milk

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 cup seasoned bread crumbs

1. Preheat an oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
2. Place the beef into a mixing bowl, and season with salt, onion, garlic salt, Italian seasoning, oregano, red pepper flakes, hot pepper sauce, and Worcestershire sauce; mix well. Add the milk, Parmesan cheese, and bread crumbs. Mix until evenly blended, then form into 1 1/2-inch meatballs, and place onto a baking sheet.
3. Bake in the preheated oven until no longer pink in the center, 20 to 25 minutes

     These came out really good but I think the meatballs need a little work. For one, there was way too much onion. If the amount of onion was cut in half or if they were cooked down, I think they would have been better. I put the leftover meatballs in the freezer for later use. The left over pizza sauce I used was good but homemade sauce would have taken these to the next level. The star of the show was definitely the roll. I’ve never come across a loaf of bread or a roll that has cheese baked into it that wasn’t good. The ones we bought came four to a package and we liked them so much that we ate the other two toasted with butter and garlic salt.

Rating: Yummy – Meatballs need work but a decent recipe

SportZone - Crabby Fries and Beef on Weck

     The first out to eat meal I’m reviewing for this blog will be formatted differently than I did them on Syracuse Sandwich. Instead of giving you the who, what, where, and other information I’m only going to list the name of the place and a link to their menu. 

     After picking Christine up for school, we were on the way home when I asked her what she wanted for dinner. “It’s your day to pick,” she responded. Yes, we've split up the days to decide what’s for dinner, but that’s another story for another time. I've been craving crab fries for a few weeks and the best ones we've had are from SportZone, a sports bar near our house. SportZone reminds me a lot of Tully's from back home. They don’t have delicious Tully's tenders, but they've got a decent menu full of sandwiches, burgers, hot dogs, and a few regular entrees. Their appetizer menu is rather large and the best thing we've had off of it are the Crabby Fries.

     A mixture of blue crab meat and J.R.’s queso cheese dip is poured over a plate of Zone fries. Zone fries are their double fried seasoned French fries. As you can see from the picture there is a ton of crab meat topping the fries. I really appreciate that you can actually see the crab, something that isn't always possible when you order crab dips. Old bay seasoning finds its way into the mix which compliments the crab. Between the seasoned fries, the Old Bay, and the salty cheese sauce, there’s no lack of flavor. The blue crab meat is rich and sweet, its sweetness helps balance the saltiness of the fries and cheese sauce. It is the perfect sized appetizer, not so big that’ll you’ll be full before finishing your entree but not so small that you’re left wanting more.

     For my dinner I order the Beef on Weck, which is listed as an Upstate NY Favorite on the menu. If you read my Syracuse Sandwich blog, you’d know that this is one of, if not my favorite sandwich. Hafner's in North Syracuse makes a wonderful version of this sandwich that they call Beef on a Wick. Both sandwiches are the same; the only difference is the spelling of the roll. A Kimmelweck roll is a white roll topped with coarse grain salt and caraway seeds. Inside this tasty roll is roast beef that has been soaked au jus. On the side they serve horseradish and more au jus for dipping. Because we already had the Crabby Fries, I opted for the homemade Zone chips that come standard with all of their sandwiches. They make their own potato chips which I think is a nice touch. For a little extra you can order Zone fries or sweet potato fries. The roast beef was cooked to medium well which was good but I prefer my meat to be cooked to more of a medium rare to medium for more flavor. Between the salt and caraway topped roll and the au jus I was dunking it in, this is a very salty sandwich. I slathered horseradish on it to give it some kick, and also to cut the salty flavor. It’s a simple sandwich with great flavor but I’d have to give the nod to Hafner's if I was comparing the two. Not to take anything away from SportZone, because this is the third time I've ordered it there.

Ratings: Crabby Fries – Delectable         Beef on Weck - Yummy

Sliders Three Ways

     For our weekly meal with Matt, I decided to make sliders and salt potatoes. On the way home I decided I wouldn’t pick up salt potatoes and that we had a ton of chips to eat instead. But while at work I decided to make sliders three different ways. So the meal turned into sliders three ways and a variety of chips. I came up with cheddar/bacon and American/pickle for the sliders quickly but the third style took a bit of thinking. The problem with sliders is they can’t hold much because of their size to whatever you do choose to top them with, needs to be small or cut down to fit on top. Ultimately I decided to go with mozzarella/pizza sauce. I wanted to add pepperoni as well but I didn’t have any at home. I ended up with three sliders of each variety for a total of nine. Here are the ingredients if you want to try making any of these:

Slider buns

1 pound 80/20 ground beef

Salt and pepper

½ cup cheddar cheese

2 strips bacon, crumbles

½ cup mozzarella cheese

¼ cup pizza sauce

1 ½ slices American cheese

3 pickle slices

     Cook the bacon in a pan first and crumble it up, set this aside. While the bacon cooks, toast the insides of the top and bottom buns in a pan or on a griddle until golden brown. Place them open on each plate to make transferring the burgers to the buns easier. Take the ground beef and roll it into golf ball sized balls and then press them to about 1 inch in thickness. Sprinkle a little salt and pepper on the tops of the burgers and then add them top side down into the pan and then sprinkle more salt and pepper on the other side. Let them cook on a medium high heat for about 2 minutes and then flip them over. Immediately start topping these with the cheeses, dividing the amount listed over the three sliders. I add an ice cube to the pan and cover it with a large bowl, this helps melt the cheese quickly. Cook it this way for another two minute and they will be in between medium well and well. Obviously cook them for less time if you want them a little less done. Move them burgers to the buns and top with the other ingredient. I got them ready on the counter beforehand so I could finish them up quickly.

     It was nice to have a variety of smaller burgers because I normally get bored with the same taste throughout a larger burger. We all liked each burger but there was some discussion on which was the favorite. Christine liked the American cheese with pickle on top while Matt and I were both taken with the mozzarella and pizza sauce burger. The cheddar bacon burger was good but we’ve all had it before, so the sauce topped one was the star of the night. If it had just been tomato sauce I don’t think the burger would have been as good. But because I used left over pizza sauce from the pizza we had the night before, I think that made a huge difference. If you read my post about the pizza you might remember me saying I’d eat that sauce with a spoon, so I think the sauce is just that good to make the burger be great. I don’t know if I could eat a whole burger with those toppings but there is only one way to find out.

Rating: Yummy - Three burgers were three times the fun.

Delaware

Normally this blog is for food I make but I decided to share what others made for us while we were on vacation. The sandwiches are reviewed on the Syracuse Sandwich blog. So here are some pictures of the food we enjoyed in Delaware:

Grilled Ham Cheese and Tomato at Robin Hood's

Seafood Scampi at Irish Eyes

Shepherd's Pie at Irish Eyes

Doughnuts at The Fractured Prune

Onion Rings at Dogfish Head Brewings & Eats

Asparagus Peppers and Chicken Pizza at Dogfish Head Brewings & Eats

Vegetable Omelet at Sunrise Restaurant

Eastern Omelet at Sunrise Restaurant

Pretzel Sticks at The Greene Turtle

Chick N Ranch at The Greene Turtle

The Chesapeake Chicken at The Greene Turtle

Taco Salad at Dos Locos

Spicy Pork Burrito at Dos Locos

French Toast at The Penguin Diner

Breakfast Burrito at The Penguin Diner

Breaded Ravioli

     Friday was one of the cooler days last week which in turn allowed me to use my oven without sweating to death. I’ve made these breaded ravioli a few times and thought they would be nice to serve to the guests we had coming over. I had about 20 minutes before Christine’s sister and boyfriend would be over which gave me enough time to bread the ravioli, get them in the oven, and clean up the mess I made breading them. Since I was short on time and I had to make a double batch, I didn’t bread these individually like I normally do, I used the shake and bake method. Here’s the recipe before I go any further:

2 tablespoons whole milk

1 egg

3/4 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 25 ounce package frozen cheese or beef ravioli

1 16 ounce jar spaghetti sauce

     If you double this recipe it will yield about 40 ravioli or so. Start by combining the salt, parmesan cheese, and bread crumbs on a plate and set aside. I put this in a freezer bag so I could shake the ravioli in it to save time. Beat the egg and milk in a deep bowl and begin to coat the ravioli with this mixture. Coat about half of the ravioli(a quarter if you double the recipe) and put them in the bag with the dry ingredients. Seal the bag shut and shake until sufficiently covered. As you take them out of the bag, brush off excess coating. Place the ravioli on a large cooking sheet sprayed with butter flavored non stick spray. Continue coating and breading until all of the ravioli are done. Once arrange on the cooking sheet, lightly spray the ravioli with the butter spray; only spray enough to dampen the breading. Place the sheet into the oven at 400 degrees. Allow the ravioli to cook for about 20 minutes, flipping once halfway through. You’ll know they are done when they have a golden brown crust to them.

     You can serve them with the sauce directly over the ravioli or on the side. I chose to pour a quarter of the jar of sauce in each of the bowls and then pile the ravioli on one side. This allowed us to use as much or as little sauce as we liked. I used Wegmans Italian Classics Puttanesca Sauce which contained Kalamata olives, portabella mushrooms, artichoke hearts and capers which went well with beef ravioli. The ravioli should have a buttery crunch to them as if they were fried. The recipe originally called for oil to fry them but that can become messy and isn’t nearly as healthy for you. This is one of my go to quick meals when I want pasta but don’t want just sauce and noodles.

Rating: Yummy – A quick recipe that always turns out great.

Crock Pot Chili

     Chili is a dish that you can do so much with because you can add virtually anything to it and it will still taste good. You can make chili is a stock pot but I use my crock pot to make chili so I can let it cook while I am not home. Most crock pot recipes for chili make a lot of servings so I made sure to invite Matt over to help eat it all. I didn’t have a lot of time to prepare the chili so I went with the recipe on the back of the seasoning packet I bought. Here is the recipe, with a few changes, if you would like to try it out:

1 packet McCormick Crock Pot Chili Seasoning

2 lbs ground beef

2 14oz can diced tomatoes

1 14oz can dark red kidney beans - drained

1 14oz can light red kidney beans - drained

1 12oz can tomato sauce

1 large onion – chopped

     I have a large crock pot that tends to cook hot so I put it on low even though it was only going to be 4 hours until I got home. Start off by browning the beef in a large pan so you can drain some of the fat. While the beef browns, open all the cans, drain the beans, and then pour the contents into the crock pot. Roughly chop the onion, don’t worry about large pieces because they will soften during the cooking process. Once the beef is browned for the most part, drain as much fat out of the pan as you can. Add the ground beef to the crock pot and pour the seasoning packet on top. Stir until all the ingredients are mixed thoroughly. I didn’t think there was enough sauce when I mixed everything but the tomatoes will break down and there ended up being plenty.

     When we got home, the chili was done so I turned the crock pot off. I used a packet of corn bread mix and made corn muffins. I was only able to make six muffins with the one packet so if you have more than three people, you will need at least one more packet. Just about the time that the muffins were done, Matt arrived, he was just in time. I ladled two large scoops into each bowl, served them with sour cream and shredded cheddar cheese. We all enjoyed this simple recipe and like I said you can add whatever you want. Next time I will add green pepper and maybe some mushrooms.

Rating: Yummy – A great base chili recipe.

Taco Soup

     I love, love, love, making soup or anything for that matter in my crock pot. There isn’t much more satisfying than coming home to a home cooked meal that is hot and ready to eat after a long day. Soup is a great meal to make because you can throw virtually anything in the pot and it will come out well. I had a recipe for taco soup that Christine got from a customer of hers. There were no directions on the paper, just ingredients, so I decided dumping them all in the crock would work. ANYONE, can make this soup because it is primarily canned vegetables and requires little prep work. Here is the recipe for those of you who want an easy soup to make:

1½ cups water

1 pound lean ground beef

1 large onion - chopped

1 12oz can crushed tomatoes

1 8oz can tomato sauce

1 4.5oz green chilies

1 14oz can whole kernel corn

1 packet ranch dressing

1 packet taco seasoning

     I didn’t have lean ground beef because I primarily buy 80/20, so I browned the beef in a pan until most of the fat had cooked out. But didn’t cook the beef completely through, because it would continue to cook while in the crock pot. Once the fat was drained I added the beef, water, and onion into the crock pot. There isn’t much water in the recipe because there will be a lot more coming from all of the cans. Next, I poured in the contents of both of the cans of tomatoes and the green chilies. I drained most of the water out of the canned corn because there is a lot in there and I didn’t want the soup to be too watery. Finally, I poured both of the packets’ contents on top of everything and mixed until combined. Large crock pots tend to cook hot so I set mine on low even though I would be home after a few hours since I did all of this on my lunch.

     When I got home the kitchen smelled wonderful with a spicy-tomato aroma in the air. All the vegetables had broken down and had become soft. The beef, while normally tough if cooked too long, was very moist. I topped each bowl with some cheddar cheese and a dollop of sour cream. Instead of crackers, I served tortilla chips on the side which provided a salty crunch to the meal. Christine and I both mixed the cheese and sour cream around in the soup which thickened it up a little bit but not too much. It is hard to describe the taste other than liquid taco filling but that is how it tasted. It didn’t turn out spicy like I had expected with the taco seasoning and chilies mixed in. That wasn’t a bad thing because it made the soup very light tasting despite its thickness. I will definitely be making this easy soup again, especially during the cold winter nights.

Rating: Delectable - One of the best soups I've made thus far. 

Beef Cutlets

    One of my favorite comfort foods is breaded beef cutlets. I picked up some cutlets cut from sirloin at Spera’s on Sunday night. I have said this before on my sandwich blog: Spera’s has the best meat around, whether it is cold cuts, beef, chicken, pork, or anything else they carry. The package I bought had a little over 6/10ths a pound which was perfect for the two of us. Six sand dollar sized pieces were cut to about a quarter of an inch in thickness. For the breading, I use Italian style bread crumbs which you can buy in any grocery store. If you just have regular bread crumbs like I did, just add some Italian seasoning, onion powder, garlic powder, and some extra parsley. Use one egg per pound of cutlets to moisten them enough for the bread crumbs to stick. I added a bit of milk to the egg instead of water when making the egg wash just as a personal preference. Heat up about three tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet and add the cutlets after breading them. Since the cutlets come so thin, I only cook them for about 3 minutes on each side at a medium high heat. Do NOT turn your attention away from them because they can burn very easily. Mine came out to the dark brown I was looking for.

     For sides I had pierogies and mixed vegetables. The mixed vegetables were the steam in bag type so I didn’t do anything extra to them. The pierogies were also frozen but I decided instead of baking them like I normally do, I would sauté them per suggestion of my co-workers. So like most of the stuff I make, I started by sautéing some minced garlic in olive oil and then added the pierogies. They cooked for about 12 minutes which heated them through but didn’t give them the crunch that I had hoped for. Since the cutlets were already out of the pan and onto the plates, I had to pull the pierogies before they could crisp up.

     The pierogies were soft but tasted fine and the garlic added some extra flavor. I don’t think I will sauté them again without adding more to the pan like onions. The beef cutlets came out just the way my mom makes them which is how I wanted them to come out. The meat was tender but cooked through to the point there was little to no pink in any of them. The breading stayed together for the most part; more oil would have ensured that. The simple breading mixture used in this dish can be used on any meat really but it is just the best on beef cutlets. No changes are need to these cutlets, just more practice in the act of making them.

Rating: Yummy - A quick and easy comfort food.

Shepherd's Pie

     Shepherd’s Pie is a very involved dish with many ingredients and many dishes needed to make it. Because I was short on time and wanted to eat before 7, Christine was nice enough to assist me make this dish. I peeled about 2 pounds of potatoes while Christine chopped up a green pepper. Once I got a pot of water boiling, I threw the potatoes in and was lucky enough to be the one to chop up the onion. Tears welled up in my eyes as I was cutting the onion as Christine started peeling 3 carrots. I heated up some olive oil in a pan and sautéed about a teaspoon of minced garlic before adding the pepper, onion, and ground beef. I was waiting on the carrots but they joined the party a few minutes later. While the vegetable and beef mixture began to cook, I made a roux to start my gravy in small sauce pan. I melted two tablespoons of butter and added two tablespoons of flour. Once that was fully mixed, I added a cup of beef broth and two tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce. I dropped the heat to low and let that thicken up.

     Matt showed up around 6:30 and we weren’t even close to done so I had him join in on the fun and finish the mashed potatoes for me. I have never made the mashed potatoes like I did last night but they came out great so I think I will be making them like this from now on, but I will keep making changes until they are perfect. Once Matt had mashed the potatoes I added one egg yolk, ½ cup of chicken broth, two tablespoons sour cream and about a cup of Colby jack/cheddar cheese. Using a hand mixer, Matt mixed them up until they were silky smooth. Corn isn’t yet in season so I used a steamer bag from the frozen section and cooked that in the microwave.

     Finally, I could put everything together and throw it under the broiler to give the potatoes a little bit of a crust. I combined the gravy with the beef and vegetables and put that in the bottom of an oval pan. On top of that was the whole bag of corn followed by the mashed potatoes. I sprinkled some paprika on top of the potatoes and put it all in over for about 5 minutes until golden brown. It looked good once it was done, I just hopped it would taste as good as it looked. Everything mixed together when I scooped it onto our new plates, so it took some time to pick out the flavors from each piece of the dish. Like I said before, the potatoes were great. They were fluffy and had a light cheesy taste. The paprika added a little heat which went well with the heaviness once everything had combined. All of the vegetables gave the dish a lot of color and added a nice crunch to what could have been a mushy dish. The beef had little flavor which I think the gravy was suppose to make up for. The gravy didn’t really add much to the dish so I’ll need to fiddle with the recipe because it was after all, pretty basic.

     This definitely came out better than my previous attempts but I think I may switch out the ground beef for sirloin next time. Hopefully it will be worth the added expense that comes with the sirloin. Christine and Matt both seemed to enjoy it which is all that I could have hoped for. I thank both of them for assisting me; it was fun working with others on the same dish.

Rating: Yummy – Getting closer to a go to dish, needs work on the gravy though.

Meatballs

     I have made meatballs from scratch a number of times but they never come out the way I want them to. Last night however I think I got on the right track. Many of the recipes I find call for eggs and bread crumbs but with those you are making meatloaf. Yes meatloaf and meatballs are kind of the same thing but not quite. I decided to wing it and just start adding ingredients into the bowl. Here is the recipe for those of you who would like to try it:

1 lb. Ground Beef 80/20

¼ cup Bread Crumbs

3 tbs. Parmesan Cheese

¼ tsp. Garlic Salt

¼ tsp. Onion Powder

¼ tsp. Parsley Flakes

¼ tsp. Crushed Red Pepper

     I was able to get 11, one inch meatballs with the ingredients above. While I got the water coming to a boil, I put about 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large pan on medium high heat. Once the oil started to spread across the pan I added the meatballs. Only cook the meatballs enough to give the edges a bit if a crunch. Do not over cook them because you will let them simmer in sauce for about 15 minutes. This second round of cooking will get them cooked all the way through. I decided to add a whole jar of Wegmans Classics brand portabella mushroom sauce to the meatballs. Let the sauce and meatballs simmer until your pasta is done. I had a box of ziti in the pantry so I went with that instead of spaghetti like I had planned.

     The meatballs definitely had a kick to them, which I liked, but I agreed they were a bit on the spicy side like Christine said. They were cooked pretty close to where I wanted them but I think I left them in the pan too long during the first step. Next time I will have to make them bigger so I can get the crunch on the outside without cooking them all the way through. As for the spices, I think they need a little adjusting but these are definitely worth making a second time.

Rating: Yummy - A work in progress that will get better

Spaghetti Pie

Click Here For The Recipe

     When a recipe gets over 253 reviews equating to a 4 and 1/2 star rating on Allrecipes.com it is usually a pretty safe bet that it is going to come out well. I've had some recipes in the past with even more reviews and a higher rating come out poorly though. This recipe however fell in between the two. Christine and Matt thought it was good and that is as high as I would consider rating this recipe. After reading a good amount of the reviews, I made a few changes to tryand make this dish better.

     I only used 3/4 of a pound of spaghetti since there were only three of us eating and I thought a pound would be too much. While the pasta cooked I sauted a chopped onion and a few cloves of garlic in a tablespoon of butter. Once the onions cooked to a nice golden brown I added the ground beef, added the salt and pepper but omitted the garlic powder since I used fresh garlic. We don't really care for green pepper so we decided to skip that as well. Once the beef was cooked through I added a 24oz jar of Wegmans Select sundried tomato pasta sauce and let that simmer for about 20 minutes. While that simmered and the pasta was near completion I started on the most intriguing part of the dish. A white creamy sauce made up of sour cream, cream cheese, and green onions was to be spread over the pasta and underneath the meat and sauce. I had a taste of the white creamy mixture and thought it would be a great base for a dip. I tossed the pasta with some butter and parmesan cheese to keep it from drying out in the oven. The pasta then went in a pan that had been sprayed with olive oil non-stick spray. The white creamy mix was spread over the pasta and the meat sauce was poured on top of that. Finally, I sprinkled a good amount of mozzarella instead of the cheedar cheese that the recipe called for only because of personal preference. Baked the whole thing in an oven at 350 uncovered until the cheese had melted.

     When I pulled this out and started portioning it onto our plates I was really looking forward to eating it. As a finishing touch I sprinkled some parsley on for presentation. I'm not going to say this was a bad recipe because I had seconds but it tasted like spaghetti with sour cream on it. It wasn't a bad taste but it wasn't anything special either. When I got a second helping I decided to mix the layers all together and that for some reason gave it a better taste. I think this was because I wasn't able to get a taste of just the sour cream, cream cheese, and green onion mixture. Even though Christine and Matt liked it, I may or may not make this again.

Rating: Fair - This recipe needed some help to be good and it'll need more help to be great