Stuffed Italian - Mozzarella Meatballs & Gruyere Mushrooms

RECIPE TRIAL:

I love Italian food for so many reasons, but I especially love it because it has so many stuffed foods. Yummy delicious food on the outside -- more yummy (usually cheesy) stuff on the inside. It's all about the layers of goodness with Italian food. I have been wanting to try meatballs stuffed with mozzarella forever. And I love a good sausage meatball. So I came up with these tasty mammoth meatballs.

And on the side? I just had to serve some stuffed mushrooms. Mushrooms are how I get my husband to eat his vegetables or at least something resembling a vegetable. And who can resist these simple stuffed mushrooms? No one I tell you, No one. I used some Alouette and Gruyere for the mushrooms. The Gruyere comes from an artisan cheesemaker in Cedar City for all my Cedar City readers. Nature Hills Farms has some delicious cheeses and one of my faves is her gruyere.

Stuffed Meatballs

1 lb of mild Italian sausage, removed from casings

1/2 lb of ground pork

1/2 Cup of panko bread crumbs

1/4 Cup milk (we used soy milk and they turned out fine)

1 egg

1 Tb Worchestire sauce

1/4 tsp kosher salt (or to taste but the sausage is pretty well seasoned)

2 garlic cloves minced

Few dashes of ground pepper. 

Fresh mozzarella, drained well -- Fresh in the water mozzarella pearls work great. Don't use cheese sticks. The fresh stuff is just better for this recipe.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with foil and spray with cooking spray.

Combine all meatball ingredients in a large bowl (minus the mozzarella) and stir until combined.

Form meatballs by taking approximately 1/4 cup of meat and forming into ball. Place on cookie sheet and form a well in top of each meatball. 

Add mozzarella  pearls to wells. 

Close tops of meatballs around pearls and cook for 35 to 40 minutes until golden on top and no longer pink.

Serve with your favorite marinara sauce (aka gravy) and some pasta. 

Stuffed Gruyere Mushrooms

So easy it is ridiculous.

Mushrooms, however many you want. Stems removed,

Herbed Alouette spread

Grated Gruyere

Heat oven to 425,

Stuff mushroom caps to top with Alouette.

Sprinkle with gruyere.

Place in a baking pan and bake for 10-12 minutes or until gruyere starts to get golden.

Serve warm.

Like I said -- Easy!

5 Cauliflower Recipes

RECIPE TRIAL: CAULIFLOWER

I don't usually run to the produce section to snatch up some cauliflower. It's white. It just doesn't jump out at me. But that doesn't mean I don't like it. Because I do. I really do.

I am part of a vegetable co-op called Bountiful Baskets. Lately, they have been handing out a lot of cauliflower. One time recently I got two giant heads of it. Now that my friends is a lot of cauliflower. And well I wanted to change it up. Plain old steamed or roasted cauliflower was boring me to tears.

So I bring you two of my new favorite ways to eat it along with three recipes from other bloggers that are on my recipe trial list for this year.

Teriyaki Shredded Pork and Cauliflower

Ok I was also looking for another recipe for shredded pork that didn't end up on sandwiches or nachos. I had lots of leftovers from a pork butt recipe. This recipe was easy and solved two problems at once.

1 head of cauliflower or 1 bag frozen
About 2 cups of cooked shredded pork (here is one of my fave recipes.)
1/4 Cup of Teriyaki sauce (add more if you like yours really saucy)
1 Tb oil
Cornstarch
Cold water

Cut bottom and leaves off of cauliflower and cut it into florets. Steam in a few inches of water until crisp tender.

Heat a skillet to medium high heat with oil. Add cauliflower to skillet and stir fry for a couple minutes. Add shredded pork and stirfry for 1 minute. Add teriyaki sauce and toss with vegetables for a couple minutes.

If sauce is thin combine equal amounts of cornstarch 1 to 2 TB with cold water. Dissolve corn starch in water and add to skillet. Stir and heat until thickened.

Serve warm with rice.

Rosemary Cauliflower
Another Simple side dish. This is more of an AHA! idea then a real recipe. And yes it is steamed. Yet there is a subtle aroma and flavor of rosemary with the cauliflower that makes it special. I am steaming my cauliflower like this from now on.

2 Cups Cauliflower florets
salt to taste
1 stem of rosemary.

Add cauliflower to steamer. Sprinkle with Salt and add leaves of rosemary to steamer. Steam until desired tenderness. It takes about 10 minutes in my steamer. 

And just to tempt your tastebuds and prove that cauliflower is definitely not a one trick pony. Here are some cauliflower recipes from fellow bloggers. All photos belong to them. I can't wait to try these.

Cauliflower Steak With Mushrooms and Hee Hee
from Cook and Be Merry

Source: cookandbemerry.com via Rachelle on Pinterest

Cheesy Cauliflower Tots
from I Breathe I'm Hungry

Source: ibreatheimhungry.com via Rachelle on Pinterest

Parmigiano Crusted Rigatoni with Cauliflower and Prosciutto
From Food and Wine (love this magazine)

Source: foodandwine.com via Rachelle on Pinterest

Balsamic Crockpot Pork & Hot Pork Salad

Recipe Trial
So, for my first new recipe of the year I tried a recipe I found on my new addiction. Pinterest. I have to try those recipes too. But I will be getting to the ones floating around my kitchen on scraps of paper as well. I stayed pretty true to the original recipe but I added a few twists. Every kitchen needs a little tweaking going on. 

I buy these 4 packs of pork sirloin tip roasts at Costco. They are cheap but there are not a lot of recipes out there for them. Plus I ALWAYS need good crockpot recipes. I get tired of shredded Mexican pork.Don't you?

So I took this recipe http://sixsistersstuff.blogspot.com/2011/09/slow-cooker-brown-sugar-balsamic-glazed.html from Six Sisters and turned it into this tasty moist pork dinner.

Their recipe called for ground sage and I used a poultry seasoning instead. I loved this pork. It's a KEEPER! The glaze is really sweet but amazing. 

But my favorite part of this recipe was the next day leftovers which I made into a hot pork and spinach mushroom salad topped with a fried egg. MMMM!. I heart leftovers. That recipe is below too.

Balsamic Crockpot Pork Roast

1 two to three pound pork sirloin tip roast or pork loin roast

1 1/2 tsp poultry seasoning

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 Cup water

Glaze

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

1/2 cup water

2 tablespoons soy sauce

Rub roast with poultry seasoning and salt. Add roast and water to slow cooker and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours. Brush with glaze during the last hour of cooking time every 15 minutes.

For Glaze:

Combine glaze ingredients in saucepan and heat on medium heat until thickened. Reserve remaining glaze to pour over pork when served.

Hot Pork & Spinach Salad
(Salad for 2)

leftover pork roast cubed. (however much you want in your salad. I used about a half cup for 2 servings.)
1/2 TB olive oil
about 6 mushrooms sliced
3 cups fresh spinach
2 eggs
4 TB freshly grated parmesan cheese.

Heat olive oil in a large skillet. Add sliced mushrooms and saute until they start to soften. Add 1 cup spinach and pork and saute until spinach is wilted and shriveled. Add remaining 2 cups of spinach and saute until slightly wilted but not shriveled. Some can still be crisp but warmed.

Remove from heat and plate for two people.
Add a little more olive oil to an and heat. Add eggs and fry until desired doneness. I like mine a little runny.
So delicious. So easy. And if I do say so myself, it makes this mom who works from home feel a little gourmet for lunch.

Retro Saucy Pork Chops

I feel so retro everytime I make these pork chops. I almost feel as if June Cleaver from "Leave it to Beaver" is going to walk into my kitchen.  I imagine her and every June Cleaverish or "Blast from the Past" mom cooking these pork chops for her family. But that does not stop me from baking these moist saucy chops up for Sunday dinner. They are easy and I promise you have these ingredients on hand. So despite the fact that I feel extremely old fashioned when I make these tasty chops they are in my big black book of recipes because we all clean our plates on saucy pork chop night, especially the picky 5-year-old.

Don't miss the $40 CSN Stores giveaway http://pantryeats.blogspot.com/2010/08/get-in-kitchen-40-csn-giveaway.html

SAUCY PORK CHOPS
5 to 6 pork chops. I have used both bone-in and boneless.
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/2 yellow onion sliced thinly
3 Tb catsup
2 tsp of worchestire sauce
olive oil
salt and pepper.

Heat 1 TB olive oil in saute or fry pan.  Season chops with salt and pepper and brown both sides in heated pan.

Mix soup, onion, catsup and worchestire.

Place pork chops in casserole dish and top with sauce.

Bake for 45 minutes.

Tangy Crusty Onion Pork Chops

Sorry about the awful photo. No good lighting to be found that night.

Did you know that you can use those cans of French's Fried onions for more than just green bean casserole? Do you have a can sitting in your pantry right now waiting for Thanksgiving or green beans? Poor neglected onions. In a twist on crispy onion baked chicken I bring you these pork chops which were gobbled up by even the onion hater in our home. She never knew what hit her. She just gobbled.

First a word on pork chops. For some reason pork (all varieties) and I have a good relationship in the kitchen. We really get along. The same can not always be said for me and the other meats. However, I know that pork can have a bad rep if you cook it wrong. So let me say this: Those super thick boneless pork chops are almost always going to come out dry and tasteless. Unless, of course you brine those fatties up good. I don't buy pork chops more than an inch thick. EVER! I actually like the bone-in pork chops but I usually buy the variety pack because they are so cheap. This recipe will work for any type of pork chop and I guarantee yumminess.

The second secret to a good breaded, or in this case encrusted, pork chop is yogurt. Dip your pork chop in plain nonfat yogurt instead of egg and you will have a moist and tangy chop. This works for chicken also.

The Recipe

4 to 5 pork chops

1 6 oz can of fried onions

1 TB AP flour

1 1/2 cups of plain non fat yogurt

salt and pepper

Place onions in plastic bag with flour. Seal bag and crush with a rolling pin until coarse crumb.

Place onion crumbs in a dish for dipping.

Season your pork chops with salt and pepper. Coat chops in yougurt. Dip into onion crumbs.

Line a baking dish with parchment paper or grease well. Place chops in dish and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until no loger pink inside.