meatball marinara pita pocket

Recipe name: Meatball marinara pita pocket
Source: Meet Me in the Kitchen
Servings: 4


Meatball Marinara Pita Pocket

12 lean turkey meatballs with Italian seasoning

1 jar marinara sauce

1-15 oz can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

1 1/2 cups shredded zucchini

4-6 pitas, cut in half

shredded mozzarella cheese

Place sauce and beans in blender and puree. Put sauce into a large skillet and add meatballs and zucchini. Heat until warm over medium heat. Cut meatballs in half (makes it easier to eat). Open a pita half and spoon a few meatball halves and sauce into the pita. Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese and serve.


So this recipe didn't turn out well, but it is mostly my fault (big surprise).
First, I didn't use turkey meatballs (couldn't find them). We rarely eat ground beef, to the point where we don't really like the taste anymore. So that part of the dish was not so good. Second, I don't like zucchini, but I thought I could trick myself into liking it because the zucchini bits are so small. But there's no fooling me, people! Still, the recipe idea is really cool and if you either like meatballs made from ground beef or can find/make turkey meatballs AND you like zucchini, give this a try, because it did come together quickly.

The only reason I decided to post this dish at all is because I thought the idea of putting pasta sauce and cannellini beans together in the food process was pure genius. I thought the pasta sauce with the beans tasted terrific, and I will add beans to my sauce the next time we do spaghetti. We typically eat meatless spaghetti, but the meal is usually disappointing and a bit on the puny side. Now I can add some protein on the cheap!

Italian Beef Patties with Balsamic Cream Sauce

Recipe name: Italian beef patties with balsamic cream sauce
Source: Recipe Zaar
Servings: 4-6
Cookbook date: August 20

Ingredients

• 1 lb ground round
• 1 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
• 2 egg yolks
• salt & fresh ground pepper
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/4 onion, thinly sliced
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, mix together beef, cheese, egg yolks, salt and pepper and form into 6 patties.
2. Heat 2 tbls butter in a heavy skillet over medium high heat, brown patties on both sides, reduce heat to medium and cook until juices are pink.
3. Remove patties and cover with foil.
4. Add oil, 1 tbls butter and onion to the pan and cook over medium heat until onion is golden brown.
5. Add cream and vinegar and cook on low 2 minutes.
6. Pour sauce over beef patties and serve

The debate over balsamic vinegar continues and I fear that I ended up on the losing side this time. Let me say as one aside that I didn't add quite as much vinegar as it called for. That being said, the sauce with the vinegar turned out great. The tanginess from the vinegar went great with the burger.

I followed the recipe almost to the T, with the only change being reducing the amount of vinegar and using the George Foreman instead of a pan. As I said the sauce was great but what really did it for me was how the cheese was slightly burnt on the outside of the patty. I'm not talking black burnt but ultra crisp burnt, the way cheese gets when you overcook it. Think of the cheese on the outside of a nice loaf of cheese bread. We crisped the buns too because that is just how we roll. The leftovers were great. This is definitely a keeper.

Crockpot Meatball Taco Soup

Recipe Name: Crockpot Meatball Taco Soup
source: no idea
servings: 4
Cookbook date: May 5
Date prepared: May 14

16 oz package frozen Italian meatballs
1 onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 (14 oz) cans beef broth
1 (16 oz) jar salsa
1 tbsp chili powder
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1 cup short spiral pasta
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Combine meatballs, onion, green pepper, garlic, beef broth, salsa, chili powder and cumin in a 3-4 quart Crockpot. Cover and cook on low for 5-7 hours. Add pasta, stir well, cover and cook on low and additional hour or until pasta is tender. sprinkle with cheese and serve. 4-6 servings.

I made this without the green bell pepper and I cut the onion amount in half. I also used 1 can of beef broth and 1 can of vegetable broth. The next time I make it I will do 2 cans of vegetable broth because the dish was just too beefy for our taste. I would also recommend only topping individual bowls with cheese rather than the whole thing . That way, everyone can choose how much cheese they want. I should also note that I forgot to add the chili powder and the cumin until the last hour, but that didn't really seem to matter. The pasta only needed about 20 minutes, and not an hour as directed.

Rarely have I had success with CrockPot recipes, even though I so desperately want them to work. Who doesn't like the concept of throwing a bunch of stuff into a pot and having it transform into a delicious meal when you get home from work? Unfortunately, 90% of the CrockPot meals I have tried have either burned by the time I got home, or turned into a gross pile of mush.
With some tweaking, this dish will actually turn out to be a winner, saving my CrockPot from the donation pile!

expense: ***
time: * (but remember, all the work is done while you are away)
taste: **