Spinach and lamb meatballs

Spinach and lamb meatballs.

I am heading off for the Foodbuzz festival tomorrow so I knew that I needed to use up the rest of the lamb before I left.

I wanted spicy and hearty meatballs with a good dose of greens.

And these meatballs pack some heat since I added some Frank's hot sauce.

The meatballs were about 2" in diameter so they could easily be eaten as an appetizer for cocktail parties.

These really came out great - I used yogurt instead of an egg for the binder and it did a great job of mellowing out the lamb without sacrificing flavor.

I was excited to try the San Marzano spaghetti sauce I picked up at Whole Foods the other day. I also made a simple sauce of yogurt and dried parsley.

Mmmm, San Marzano tomatoes...

Which dipping sauce did I like better?

Yogurt sauce.

Tomato sauce.

I think if I was serving them as an appetizer I would use the yogurt dipping sauce.

But I do have to say the San Marzano sauce was incredible! So I boiled up some pasta...

The meatballs turned out tender and full of flavor and with a wonderful spiciness which I loved.

If you are attending the conference please make sure to come over and say Hi! I will be the one with the strawberry blonde hair and a confused look on my face:-)

Spinach and lamb meatballs

Serves 1 - 2

Ingredients:

1 cup of ground lamb
1/2 cup of fresh spinach chopped fine
1/2 cup of Parmesan, grated
1 pinch of basil
1 pinch of oregano
1 clove of garlic, grated or minced
2 Tbsp of yogurt
1 Tbsp of bread crumbs
salt and pepper to taste
Frank's Hot Sauce to taste (I used about 5 shakes)

Instructions:

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

Mix all of the ingredients together and form into 2" diameter balls. Place the meatballs on a greased baking sheet. Cook for about 15 minutes making sure to turn them once during the baking (at about 7 minutes).

Take them out of the oven and allow them to cool.

Serve as an appetizer with your favorite dipping sauce or add the meatballs to your favorite marinara sauce and serve over pasta.

Enjoy!

The first one

Today was a day of firsts.

The first day in a while where I have woken up without coughing (yay!).

The first day since Thursday where I just might make it out of the house.

And the first time I have ever tried Siggi's yogurt.

I was braced for the sickly sweet taste of regular yogurts. 

I was very pleasantly surprised. It was not sweet at all - and the flavoring was very subtle.

The yogurt was very thick - thicker than sour cream.

I LOVED it!

If most people in the world had my taste buds - all of the companies that make the super sweet flavored yogurts would be out of business and only Siggi's would remain.

Yup, I liked it that much :-)


Now, time to gather my strength and get out to the store for soup supplies.

Oh, and no tea this morning because in the piles and piles of construction notices I have received in the last few months I missed the one that said they were turning the water off today - Yes, the fun just keeps coming...

Back in action

As you might have guessed with the lack of posts lately, I have been laid low by the flu.

I have the great luck this winter of catching almost every bug that has been around ((((.


Just one of those years, I guess.

I am still far from 100% but I had this for breakfast. Well, I had the yogurt - that was all my stomach could handle.

I fell sick on Thursday night and spent until late yesterday laid out in bed. Ugh ((.

Avoid this flu at any cost is my suggestion...

Cravings and surprises

I was craving oatmeal this morning. For me, the only proper oatmeal is McCann's Irish Oatmeal - but I am probably biased :-)

Oatmeal with a dollop of peanut butter, banana and drizzled with honey.

People tend to shy away from their cravings. But I am of the firm belief that a craving is your bodies way trying to get you to take in the nutrients it needs. Now, I am not speaking about emotional eating - that's a different kettle of fish.

For example, if I suddenly have a craving for potato chips - I don't run out and eat a whole bag of Lays. I stop, think about it, and usually decide I am low on healthy fats or trace minerals (which for me usually results in a craving for salt).

And speaking of cravings, the dogs were a surprise this morning. You'll notice that I have peanut butter on my oatmeal. This usually results in Connor having apoplectic fits of anticipation. 

But not today. He didn't even notice when I made that dish. 

To my shock, BOTH dogs started getting really excited when I started making this:

I used a seasoned strip of nori - wet one edge with water and sealed in into a tube. I carefully removed any chestnut nuggets from some of the leftover chestnut and mushroom quinoa from last night (I know I am a good doggie mom :-)).

I filled the nori tube to the top with quinoa and topped with a tiny dollop of yogurt. 

At this point the dogs were following me around like sou chefs. Little hairy sou chefs that don't help with anything and only want to eat...

I am still trying to figure out what part of this concoction they were craving??

Maybe some caffeine will help get the brain cells working.