Meatballs and Pudding

i have lots to post today since i have been slacking on my posts a bit. today we had a big fall cleaning day. lots of cleaning, dusting, vacuuming, decorating, etc.

the best news is we have our tree up!

we also celebrated E's mom's birthday tonight. M's birthday isn't until tomorrow but we celebrated tonight with E's aunt (and M's sister, AP). we snacked on some yummy brie that AP brought while i finished up the sticky toffee pudding for dessert. we then had field greens with tomatoes, feta, pecans, and balsamic vinaigrette. after salad, it was crab cakes. all finished off with the dessert.

the vinaigrette and crab cakes were my recipes but the pudding was from epicurious.com. you can find it here. i followed it to the letter. everything was fantastic!

crab cakes

i did add whipped cream sweetened with agave syrup

the sticky toffee pudding was delicious but very rich. the recipe would definitely 8 people easily. after dessert i got the sisters together for a photo.

AP and M

E snuggled with roxy

while dignan curled up under the tree

last night we had spaghetti squash with meatballs. i rarely make meatballs but i had some spaghetti squash to use so i decided to make some meatballs for protein with the squash. again, i used an epicurious recipe. epicurious spaghetti and meatballs

the meatballs turned out really well! i did change a couple of things. first of all, i halved the recipe (and it still made tons of meatballs!), then i used whole wheat bread crumbs instead of day old bread. i omitted the lemon zest and only used a fraction of the milk. instead of cooking them in a skillet in oil, i baked them. basically the recipe ended up looking more like this:

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Italian Meatballs

(makes 30-35 meatballs)

1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 tbs extra-virgin olive oil
5 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 c whole wheat bread crumbs
3/4 cup whole milk
3 large eggs
1 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/4 cup finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
3/4 pounds ground veal
3/4 pounds ground pork
3/4 pounds ground beef

preheat oven to 375 degrees.

saute onions and garlic in oil until tender. combine all ingredients being careful not to compact the meat too much. form into roughly 2" balls and place on parchment lined baking sheets. 

bake for 15-20 minutes until cooked through. remove from pan and add to pot of warmed spaghetti sauce. serve over pasta or spaghetti squash.