Jasper’s Turkey Meatballs

A few weeks ago we celebrated my mom’s birthday and I decided to make meatballs with polenta. Half of it went according to plan.

I had never tried to cook polenta before so I didn’t know how long I was supposed to cook it for since it never seemed to thicken. This resulted in a very thick polenta cooked for over an hour with me stirring frequently. I had also never tasted polenta so I didn’t realize how tasteless it was!

The meatballs, however, where much better. My brother made them and they tasted amazing. (The sauce was able to cover the bland taste of polenta).

I also made some matcha tarts for dessert. It tasted okay, but I believe it would’ve been better if I hadn’t accidentally boiled the cashew nuts…

• Servings: 4-5
• Print

My brother made these meatballs and they are delicious! Please look at the ingredients for the meatballs and the sauce since some come up for both of them.
Ingredients:
Meatballs
1 pound minced turkey
1/2 onion, finely diced (keep the other half for the sauce)
5 garlic cloves, minced
Handful of parsley, chopped
1 tbsp. dijon mustard
1/3 cup parmesan cheese, grated
2 eggs
1/3 cup milk
Sauce
1 1/2 large onions, diced
3 garlic cloves, diced
1 can tomato sauce
1 can diced tomatoes
2 cloves, smashed
2 tbsp. dried oregano
2 bay leaves, rinsed
Pepper and salt

Instructions:

1. Meatballs: Mix all the meatball ingredients together, then press them into round balls. Refrigerate.
2. Sauce: Brown the onions and garlic in a large pot over medium heat, stirring constantly. Add in the tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, cloves, oregano, bay leaves, pepper and salt. When the sauce starts to boil, add in the meatballs. Cover with a lid and then mix after a few minutes, carefully pushing the meatballs in the sauce.
3. Cook for 20 minutes on medium heat with the lid on, then simmer for an hour.
4. This is best served with pasta.

The Black Cat Blue Sea Award

Happy Monday everyone! I didn’t have enough time this weekend to make anything, so I’m going to do this award that Bern Bakes nominated me for last week!

This is what the award’s all about:

“This award is for bloggers who strive to write for everybody, and no matter how many viewers they get, make an impact on a reader. This award is an expression of gratitude to the nominee. It should be awarded to anybody that you choose deserves it and it doesn’t mean that they must have hundreds of followers and likes.”

Rules:

• Anybody nominated can nominate seven other bloggers
• The nominee answers questions posted by the nominator
• The questions you ask while nominating can be any three questions
• If any of the questions asked are offensive or the nominee simple does not want to answer, the nominee does not have to answer them to get the award

So here are my answers for Bern Bakes:

1. When did you start your blog and why?

I started my blog in August, 2015 and at that time, I was reading many food blogs and I really wanted to start my own with healthier recipes because I was frustrated with all the baking recipes that looked okay, but then when I got to the ingredients list there were tons of unhealthy stuff, like 5 cups of sugar!

2. If you had to eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be? (Keep in mind that this one food can be changed up and flavored differently each time you eat it)

Smoothies! There are so many combinations with fruit, vegetables, cocoa powder, and more that I would never ever grow bored of it.

3. What’s your favorite hobby?

Ooo this is a fun one. Definitely reading. I love immersing myself in a story and I absolutely enjoy it. I’m a bit crazy when it comes to books ;).

Now for my nominees:

Cookies and Chemistry (https://cookiesnchem.com/)

Princess Saffron’s Kitchen (https://saffrons-kitchen.com/)

Being Me By Sarah (https://beingmebysarah.com/)

The Kitchen Chemist (https://thekitchenchemistsite.wordpress.com/)

Nourish Nurture Live (https://nourishnurturelive.com.au/)

Vanilla Bean Online (https://stephaniemormina.com/)

Valmarielife (https://valmarielife.wordpress.com/)

And the questions:

What’s your favorite book?

If there was one type of cuisine you could eat (e.g. Italian food), what would it be?

What would be the one thing you would change in the world?

Thanks again, Bern Bakes, for nominating me!

 

Spinach and Feta Spanakopita

Have you ever been to Greece? Well, if you have, you probably tasted their delicious spanakopita. A spinach and feta mixture wrapped in filo pastry. Some call it Greek Spinach Pie, but I like to sound classy, so I call it spanakopita!

Am I making you hungry yet? These are also healthier than you thought it would be, with filo pastry instead of puff pastry (in my opinion I actually like the filo pastry version better!), heart-healthy olive oil to coat the filo pastry, and your good old spinach and feta in the inside.

Great as an appetizer, and everyone will be amazed that you made such a complicated dish (even though, secretly, it was super easy!).

2015 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2015 annual report for my blog! The stats are kind of low,  but next year I’ll try to write more posts that you,  reader, will be interested in. And thank you for following this blog! It really makes me happy to know someone out there is reading this.

Here’s an excerpt:

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 740 times in 2015. If it were a cable car, it would take about 12 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.  

My 5 resolutions for 2016:

-Don’t eat candy for snacks!

-Get 70 followers.

-Take a photography course.

-Visit 2 new countries.

-Transform the most delicious,  but unhealthy, recipe into a healthy version!

What are  some of your resolutions for the new year?

No Knead Crusty Bread

This is the easiest bread recipe you’ll ever come across.

Takes about 2 to 3 hours in total, but hands-on time? Just 15 minutes. SO simple, and I love to add nuts and raisins in it to change the flavor a bit, but you could add so many other things too!

Been working on the school yearbook and it is such a long process, uploading the photos, then designing the pages, taking the photos (of people who would love to run somewhere else so they don’t get their photo taken!), and so much more things I still haven’t done.

Fun thing is, I’m going on vacation soon! Can’t wait, although I have to take one week off of school so I have to do a lot more work to make up for that. But it’s all for vacation. I love eating different food from different cultures! And I’ll be able to relax there. Hopefully.

A Halloween Side Dish: Mashed Sweet Potatoes

To coordinate with the main colors of Halloween, what better to serve than orange food! These mashed sweet potatoes are so smooth and healthy for you, and the natural color and delicious taste is a bonus. The sweet potatoes have a sweet taste so don’t add sugar or syrup.

But before I get to the recipe, I just wanted to list my top 5 food blogs that I simply adore (they’re in no particular order)!!! Feel free to add the ones that you like in the comment section below.