Cheese Stuffed Bacon Meatballs

I like a good meatball recipe, but this marinara is AWESOME!

Ingredients

Meatballs:

• 8 to 10 slices applewood smoked bacon
• 1 pound ground chuck
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 package onion soup mix
• 1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
• 1 tablespoon coarse black pepper
• 1 tablespoon beef stock
• 8 to 10 bocconcini mozzarella balls

Marinara:

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 yellow onion, finely diced
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic
• 2 tablespoons freshly chopped basil leaves
• 2 tablespoons freshly chopped oregano leaves
• 1 tablespoon coarse ground black pepper
• 2 (14-ounce) cans crushed tomatoes
• 2 (14-ounce) cans diced tomatoes in puree
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 tablespoon chicken bouillon

Directions

Meatballs:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Arrange the bacon slices on a sheet pan. Put in the oven and bake until crisp, about 8 to 10 minutes. Remove the bacon from the pan to a cutting board and chop. Set aside.

In a large bowl, mix together the beef, Worcestershire, onion soup mix, bread crumbs, black pepper, stock and the chopped bacon.

Form portions of the meat around bocconcini to make smooth balls. Arrange the meatballs on a sheet pan with a rack and bake until thoroughly browned, about 10 to 15 minutes.

Marinara:

Add the oil to a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot add the onion, garlic, basil, oregano and pepper and saute for a few minutes. Stir in the crushed and diced tomatoes, red pepper flakes and the bouillon. Lower the heat and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes.

Remove the meatballs from the pan to a serving platter and serve with the marinara sauce.

Tips from a Kitchen of Reality:

- You can buy the special mozzarella balls at Whole Foods, but save yourself some money and just cube a block of mozzarella into 1/4 inch cubes.

- The marinara makes A TON!! Be prepared to have something with marinara the next day too! :)

-

Smothered Beef Burritos

I found this recipe on Pinterest and it's quickly becoming a favorite in my house!

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 to 2 pounds stew meat or other beef cubed (top sirloin is great)
• 1 large can mild enchilada sauce* (at least 19 oz.)
• 2 beef bouillon cubes
• 1/2 can refried beans (optional)
• 5-7 burrito size flour tortillas
• 1 cup or so of shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:
Put beef, bouillon, and enchilada sauce into a crock pot and cook on low for 7-8 hours, or until meat is very tender. (Can also cook on high for maybe 3-4 hours.) 

When beef is done (very tender and flakes off when stirred), taste and add more salt, if desired. Heat up refried beans in the microwave (covered and in a microwave-proof dish, of course)and put your oven on broil. On an oven-proof plate, or cookie sheet even, lay out a tortilla.  Place on tortilla about 1/2 cup of the meat, drained by using a slotted spoon, and a spoonful or two of beans. Roll into a burrito (hopefully you know how to roll these). Pour some of the remaining enchilada sauce from the crock pot over the burrito to cover it. Sprinkle with some cheddar cheese. Broil until cheese is bubbly, about 2-4 minutes.

Serve.
Makes 5-7 burritos, depending on how full you make them.

Notes from Kitchen of Reality:
-We hate beans so I omit this part.
-I use a slotted spoon and remove all of my beef from the crock pot and put it in a large bowl where I shred it with two forks.  Then we found the broth to be too thin to get a nice coating on your rolled burritos, so this time, I did a corn starch/water mixture to thicken it.  I did maybe a Tbsp of corn starch in a little bowl with cold water.  Mix well and then I added it to the cooking liquid left in the crock pot.  I turned the crock pot to high while I shredded the beef.  It made it more gravyish in consistency and really did a great job of staying on the burritos after I rolled them. 
-block cheese melts WAY better than preshredded stuff.  Buy the block and shred yourself, you will be happy you did.

We eat this with Spanish rice and the Chili's copy cat salsa recipe right below this one.  DELICIOUS!  And beyond easy with basically ingredients I always have! 

Crockpot Beef Stroganoff

Always on the lookout for good crockpot recipes, I came across this recipe for Beef Stroganoff, which is a dish I generally don't like. We had it all the time when I was a kid, and it wasn't one of my favorites even back then. This piqued my interest because it had some different ingredients from the normal recipe I am used to so I thought I would give it a try.

2 pounds cubed stew meat
2 cans Condensed Golden Mushroom Soup
1 large onion diced
4 T of Worcestershire
1/2c water
couple of dashes of Garlic Salt
couple dashes of Hot Paprika
8 oz of cream cheese

Combine all the ingredients in the crockpot except the meat and cream cheese. Once they are combined add in the meat and mix again. Cook on Low for 8 hours.

Cube the cream cheese and add to the crockpot. Turn on high and cook for 10 minutes or until the cream cheese "melts" into the sauce.

Serve over egg noodles or maybe mashed potatoes.

Kitchen of Reality Tips:
- I didn't have Hot Paprika so I used some regular Paprika and a little cayenne. I could probably use more of both next time.
- I think I accidentally cooked it on High instead of Low - oops! My meat definitely fell apart in the sauce as I stirred in the cream cheese.
- Mine was a tad runny but this could have to do with the wrong cooking temperature.
- Doesn't call for salt and pepper, you can add to taste.

What a delicious meal! It makes enough for some leftovers which will be great reheated. I really preferred the cream cheese to the normal sour cream recipe.

Spinach and Bacon Stuffed Pork Loin

This is one of the recipes the guys cooked for the 2nd Annual Slivensky Iron Chef competition. It was AWESOME. Totally recommend this recipe, and since our 3 typically-not-in the kitchen husbands made it… it should be pretty easy for all you cooks out there.

Roast
6 slices side bacon or pancetta, chopped
2 shallots, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup (50 mL) dry white wine
1 pkg (10 oz/300g) spinach, trimmed
1 cup (250 mL) fresh bread crumbs
3 to 4 lb (1.5 to 2 kg) boneless pork single loin roast
1/2 tsp (2 mL) salt
1/4 tsp (1 mL) freshly ground black pepper

White Wine and Rosemary Cream Sauce
2 shallots, finely chopped
1 tsp (5 mL) finely minced fresh rosemary
1/2 cup (125 mL) dry white wine
1 cup (250 mL) whipping cream
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Preheat oven to 325°F (160°C).
2. In a large frying pan over medium-high heat, fry bacon until crisp. Drain off fat. Reduce heat to medium and add shallots and garlic. Sauté for 1 minute or until translucent. Add wine and spinach and sauté just until wilted. Transfer to bowl and let cool completely. Stir in bread crumbs.
3. Meanwhile, place pork on board with fat-side up. Starting at right side and knife parallel with board, cut pork in half, almost but not all the way to left side, to butterfly. Open up loin so it lies nearly flat in one layer. Pat flat. Starting in the center of opened loin and knife parallel with board, cut in half on the left side to butterfly again, almost but not all the way to the end. Butterfly again on the right hand side. Lay open. It will unfold like a fold-out section in a magazine, with four segments. Lightly pound with a meat mallet to make even thickness. Sprinkle both sides of pork with salt and pepper.
4. Spread cooled spinach mixture evenly over cut side of pork, leaving about 1 inch (2.5 cm) at one short side bare. Starting opposite bare edge, tightly roll up jelly-roll style and tie with kitchen string. Heat clean frying pan over high heat until hot. Add roast, fat-side down, then sear on all sides. Place in roasting pan; set frying pan aside. Roast the pork uncovered for 50 minutes or until meat thermometer reads 155° to 160°F (68° to 70°C) and a hint of pink remains in pork. Place on cutting board and tent with foil. Let stand for 10 minutes before slicing.
5. To make sauce, heat reserved frying pan over medium heat. Add any juices from roasting pan and bring to a boil. Add shallots and rosemary and sauté for 2 minutes or until soft. Add wine and bring to a boil, stirring. Boil until wine is reduced by half. Add cream and boil until slightly reduced and thickened. Season with salt and pepper. Serve slices of roast drizzled with sauce.

Recipe from LCBO.

Pancake Pork

I feel like Anna is always the one submitting here and so I'm going to try to make more of an effort to get some more recipes out there.  After all, I'm sure Anna would like some new ones to try :)

This is more of a method than a 'recipe.'  It came from my Dad.

My favorite application:

bone in pork chops
Aunt Jamima ORIGINAL (NOT complete) Pancake Flour
butter
garlic salt

1.  Line a sheet pan with Non-stick Aluminum Foil.  Yes, it's expensive, but it makes this so easy to remove.  I've tried regular foil with non-stick spray but it still has the tendency to stick.  Coupon + HT doubles = cheap non-stick foil :)
2.  Pour the pancake flour into a zip lock bag.  The amount depends on the amount of pork.  Add your pork chops and shake it like a polaroid picture ;)
3.  Place the coated pork chops on the aluminum foil.
4.  Cut a small pat of butter and put on each pork chop.
5.  Sprinkle with just a touch of garlic salt.
6.  Bake at 350 for 45 minutes to an hour. 

Notes from Kitchen of Reality:
-If your pork chops are frozen, there is no need to thaw.  They will coat with the flour even when frozen!  Bake for a full hour if they are frozen.
-I do this application to bone in pork chops, boneless pork tenderloin slices, boneless skinless chicken breasts, and even split chicken breasts.
-It's my go to when I can't come up with a meal.  The pancake flour just gives it an extra flavor that I can't describe and it gets crispy with the little bit of butter.
-I have not tried this with any other brand of pancake flour.  I have no idea what that would do or taste like.  I do know that you must NOT use the complete kind.  You need the kind that requires you to add oil/eggs if you were making pancakes.

I hope you fall in love with this as much as I have!  Enjoy!

Bleu Cheese Steak Rolls

I am again on a crock pot kick! These were delicious served with homemade mashed potatoes, asparagus and a Charleston sunset. Enjoy!

Ingredients
1 1/2 lbs of flat beef (I used round tip)

1/2 cup red wine

1/4 cup soy sauce

2 T Worcestershire sauce

4 cloves garlic

1 package of blue cheese

Directions

- Make marinade out of the wine, soy sauce, worcestershire sauce and garlic. Soak your meat in it overnight.

- In the morning, dump everything into the crockpot.

- Slice your blue cheese into strips.

- One at a time, take the meat out of the marinade mixture and place strips of the cheese all over it.

- Roll it up.

- Place back into the crockpot, and repeat with the remaining slabs of meat.

- Cover and cook 4-5 hours on low.

Tips from a Kitchen of Reality
- I used a container of bleu cheese crumbles. Cheaper and worked great.
- If you have someone who doesn't like bleu cheese just roll it without the cheese-- the marinade is great regardless.

Pork Chops with Country Gravy

I'm a southern girl so anything with gravy is appealing to me.  These pork chops are quick and easy and the gravy is delicious!  We served it with mashed potatoes and a veggie.  My whole family eats it too which is rare because Noah is a picky eater!

Ingredients:
1/4 c. all purpose flour
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp dried marjoram
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp dried rubbed sage
4 (4 oz) boneless center-cut loin pork chops (about 3/4 inch thick)
1 Tbsp butter
Cooking spray
1 1/2 cup 1% milk

Directions:
1.  Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife.  Place flour, salt, and spices in a shallow dish.  Dredge pork in flour mixture, turning to coat; shake off excess.  Reserve remaining flour mixture.
2.  Melt butter in a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat.  Add pork to pan, cook 2 minutes on each side or until browned.  Reduce heat, and cook for 10 minutes or until done, turning pork once.  Remove pork from pan; keep warm.
3.  Combine reserved flour mixture and milk in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk until blended.  Add milk mixture to pan; place over medium-high heat.  Bring to a boil, scraping pan to loosen browned bits.  Reduce heat, and simmer 2 minutes or until slightly thickened, stirring constantly.  Serve with chops.

Yield:  4 servings
Time: about 30 minutes

Notes from Kitchen of Reality:
-I don't own sage or marjoram, so I only use 1/4 tsp of thyme and we love just that flavor.  It is plenty of spice for us.

French Dip Sandwiches

A couple of weeks ago I bought a chuck roast to make homemade beef and noodles. They were buy one get one free so I needed a recipe for the other roast, but one that wasn't "roasty." I found this on allrecipes.com and really liked it. I know some people say you should fix the recipe the written way the first time and then alter it on subsequent preparations, but I never follow that rule! So this is my version.

4 pounds beef chuck roast
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon dried rosemary
3 bay leaves
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/8 - 1/4 cup Worcestershire
2 cups beef broth (low sodium if you can)
3 cups water

Throw everything in the slow cooker and cook on low for 6 to 10 hours. Give time at the end to remove the meat from the liquid. Cool the liquid and skim off the fat so you can use the jus for dipping. Shred the meat and put it on a toasted sub bun. Really easy and quite inexpensive!

Brat Wraps

I LOVE Brats! I guess it is the German in me. People down south only know about Johnsonville Brats, but the best brats in the world come from Kern's in Frankenmuth, MI where my mom's family all lives. Every time we go to visit I take my cooler and buy a big box to freeze and so I can make it till our next visit. Mark didn't understand at first... but then he ate one. Kern's also sells the best brat buns-- very different from a hot dog bun. But they don't freeze well-- trust me I've tried-- and nothing here in NC is close.

So, I LOVE this recipe because it has a bun alternative. I HATE buying hot dog buns, because if you want them to taste good you really need to buy them the day you need them. Then, you only use 4 at most and end up throwing the rest away-- unless you're like my husband who will eat them as toast, sandwich bread, etc-- but he is weird. :)

This is a slightly altered Kraft Food Magazine recipe - hope you like it as much as we do!

Ingredients:
- 1 large sliced onion
- 1 tbsp oil
- 4 cooked brats (I prefer the grill or using my George Foreman)
- 1 tbsp A-1 sauce
- 4 flour tortillas
- 1/2 cup cheddar shredded cheese

Directions:
- In a skillet, cook and stir onions in hot oil until tender.
- Stir A-1 sauce into onions
- Top tortillas with cheese, bratwurst and onions; roll up.

Notes from A Kitchen of Reality:
- Some people (Diane) don't like it with cheese-- some like the addition of peppers.
- The original recipe called for Kraft singles-- but I like real cheese better.
- I have used the small tortillas and a large tortilla cut in half-- less bread is better for me but microwaving the tortillas about 15 seconds makes them easier to roll!
- Brats always taste best with an ice cold beer!

Schmeckt gut!!
(That means "tastes good" in German. I think!)