French Onion Meatballs

What inspired me to post this? Fall. Even though it is Fall, it's hard to feel it here in Singapore. Weather is 85 and humid all year. So, scrolling through Pinterest at Fall decor and finding inspiration for comfort food helps ease missing one of my favorite times of year. It's a time of new routines, schedules, change in weather, color change of falling leaves, the smell of earth in the air, cozy evenings snuggling up with a blanket, fire, and glass of nice red wine. We don't have a fire place here in Singapore. LOL! However, we did make the best of this meal. Wrapped up in one of my favorite Nepali Yak wool blankets, air con, a good movie, and a beautiful Malbec from Argentina.

Ingredients: (makes 5 large meatballs - dinner serving for two and lunch the next day)
2-3 Tbs olive oil
3-4 thin sliced onions
1/2 tsp thyme
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup water
1/4 cube of beef flavored bouillon
1/4 cup red wine
1.5 to 2 lbs minced chicken or ground beef
1/2 almond meal/flour
1 tsp mixed Italian herbs
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp salt or herbamare
1 egg
1.2 cups cheese of choice (mozzarella, vintage, sharp cheddar, Parmesan)
2 cups boiled water
1 packet simply organic onion dip mix
1/4 cup red wine
2 tsp arrowroot powder
mashed potato or cauliflower rice

Get your goggles on and slice those onions!

In a fry pan add olive oil and thin sliced onions

Saute till all are browned and caramel-ly

In a small bowl combine thyme, salt, water, beef bouillon and red wine.

Stir in with the caramelized onion and simmer for 3-5 min.

Turn off burner and set aside. Pour in a small bowl to cool.

In a mixing bowl add minced chicken or ground beef, almond meal/flour, Italian herbs, pepper, salt or herbamare, and egg. Mush together till well blended.

Shred cheese of choice (I used vintage which is a sharp aged cheddar) and set aside.

Take enough meat mixture and pat in the palm of your hand. Add 1Tbs of onion mixture in center. Add 1Tbs cheese. Bring up the edges and make a ball so onion and cheese is covered and hidden in the center of ball. Place ball in the same pan that was used to caramelize onions. It will still have plenty of oil and will have nice flavor left on the pan. Repeat till all meat is used up. 

You should have leftover onion and cheese. 

While meatballs are browning make the sauce by adding the following in a pan. 

boiled water, simply organic onion dip mix, red wine, arrowroot powder.
Bring sauce mixture to a boil until sauce starts to thicken a bit.
Stir in leftover caramelized onions and mix well. 

Remove from heat.

Place stuffed meatballs in a casserole dish. Pour sauce over meatballs. 

Sprinkle leftover cheese on top. 

Place in oven and cook at 350 for about 20-30 min. 

Cheese will be melted and the meal will look very much like french onion soup.

Serve meatballs and gravy over mashed potatoes or cauliflower rice.

Mashed potato:
boil 6 quartered Yukon gold (with skins on) until soft
drain potato but keep 1/4 cup potato water
place in a Cuisinart
add a pinch of salt or herbamare and 2 Tbs coconut milk
blend until pureed

Serve dish with a beautiful Malbec or favorite red wine.

Gluten Free friendly meal. Enjoy!
Feel free to use Mrs. Dash as a salt substitute

Adapted from: Or whatever you do

Corned Beef - St. Patricks Day Family Tradition

This blog post is dedicated to my Popi. 

Corned beef. What is it about this meal that makes my mouth water? Hmmm, must be the salt. Ever since I was a kid this meal was served on my dad's birthday. St. Paddy's Day. He is 100% Irish and has the name that means "brave-power" and "noble." Yes, these words describe my dad Richard Patrick. A man who is celebrating his 77th year of life, love, and laughter. Happy Birthday Popi!

Every March 17th my mom would make corned beef, cabbage, and potatoes for dad's birthday. I couldn't wait to jump off the school bus and get home. As I got closer to my house I could hear the Irish music playing on the outside speakers. The whole neighborhood knew about this special day. In fact, the whole neighborhood was Irish on this day! I swung open the front door and the aroma of the cooking corned beef swirled around my nose and made me smile. I couldn't wait to open the oven to take a peek at the goodness that was cookin. Patience. Corned beef takes time.

When my dad got home from work the beef was done. My mom would pull it out of the oven as my dad and I hovered over it watching her pull the tender pieces of meat apart. We never carved the meat pretty against the grain. Nope, we pulled it apart and ate it like string cheese. My dad and I waited for a moment to sneak a piece. Just get a little sample. It was a game we played every year. That tradition has been passed down to my kids. Same ritual from the music playing when the kids stepped in the house after school to hovering over the meat to sneak a sample. Makes me smile just thinking about it. Our kids are grown now and experiment making this meal on their own. We have our cooking/coaching calls before the big day. I love it! 

Since living in Nepal and Tunisia, I have not been able to locate that little bag at the grocery store that has the meat prepped and ready to go. This year, I ventured out to make my own brined corned beef. Marty and I brined and cooked our test batch last week and it ROCKED! I had to make some slight modifications on the recipe, but for the most part this was a snap to make. 

Thanks to Elise at Simply Recipes.
http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/home_cured_corned_beef/

I stuck pretty close to her recipe but made a few changes. Now that I know how to make this from scratch, I may not buy the packaged stuff anymore!  The special part of making this meal was purchasing spices from our olive/spice vendor man at the fresh market and choosing the correct beef from our local butcher - using English translated into French, showing our drawings of the side of cow we need to purchase, and using hand motions. Priceless!

This is for you Cal, Kate, Meg and Nolan! Have fun and enjoy your St. Paddy's Day!

Slainte (slawn-cha) - Meaning "Health" in Irish Gaelic,
Mama

It all starts with the spices:

Mix all the spices in a bowl to make the pickling spice

1 Tbls whole allspice berries

1 Tbs dijon mustard (or whole mustard seeds)

1 Tbls coriander seeds

1Tbls fennel seeds

1 Tbls red pepper flakes

1 Tbls whole cloves

1 Tbls whole black peppercorns

9 whole cardamom pods

6 large bay leaves, crumbled

2 tsp ground ginger

1 stick cinnamon (or 1 Tbls cinnamon)

For the brine:

1 gallon water

2 cups kosher salt

3 Tbls of homemade pickling spice

1/2 cup honey (or brown sugar)

5 tsp pink curing salt (optional - I didn't add it and it was just great)

Add all ingredients to a large stock pot and heat long enough till salt is dissolved.

In a large dutch oven place beef brisket in ziplock bags.

(One 2 lb beef brisket per 1/2 gallon of brine)

Scoop brine evenly into the ziplock bags. We doubled the recipe so made 8 pounds of beef.

Fill bags till they are at least 2 inches from the top and seal up.

Nestle the bags and beef all together and add the lid.

Let them party in the fridge for about 5 days.

After 5 days, remove beef brisket from the brine and rinse. Place brisket in a crock pot or dutch oven. Cover 3/4 brisket with water if you are cooking in a crock pot. Cover 1/2 brisket with water if you are cooking in a dutch oven. With a slotted spoon, scoop out about 2 Tbls of the brining spices and add to pot or dutch oven. Discard rest of brine. Cook on high for 1 hour in crock pot and then turn on low for 4 -5 hours. In dutch oven, place brisket in oven and bake at 350 covered for 3 or so hours. Add more water if needed. Really, to be honest I cook the beef until the brisket is fork tender. It will be like string cheese!

When brisket has graduated to being called corned beef, place on a platter and use a fork to separate the strings of beef. Pour a bit of the cooked water/brine from your dutch oven/crock pot over the corned beef to keep it moisturized. Serve and Enjoy every morsel!

Marty and I made the trial run last week. We made a Gluten Free Ruben with it.

Corned beef, homemade kraut, creme fresh with 1/2-1 Tbls corned beef cooked brine and 1/2-1 Tbls Kraut brine (just taste it and see how ya like it), rolled up in a Paleo Tortilla (Thanks to Stupid Easy Paleo). PS. I add 1/8 tsp of baking soda to the Paleo Tortilla recipe. YUM!

The only thing I would add to this ruben is a couple pieces of swiss cheese.

Enjoy this whole meal!

No forks allowed!

Piccadillo

This is another family favorite, Piccadillo. It is a Cuban dish packed with a delicious flare of flavor. It is salty, tart, sweet and totally satisfying.  Your mouth will wake up and say, "THANK YOU!" I have made this dish through the years with ground chicken or beef. This time I had a big chunk of beef brisket in my freezer and needed to zap it up with some sort of excitement. My menu for the week had Piccadillo on it but I thought, "Hmmmm wonder what Piccadillo would taste like with the brisket slow cooked." Then...Voila! YUM happened. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did. This recipe is in the cookbook I made for my kids. I have made some modifications since it was printed. Here is the updated version. If you are slow cooking a brisket see the notes in (    ). If the sauce is too salty, cut back on the capers, olives and add a bit more water. 

Picadillo    

2 Tbls olive oil
(juice of 1/2 lemon) 

2 lb ground chicken or beef (2-3 lb beef or pork brisket)

1 can tomato paste 

2-3 Tbls capers 

3/4 - 1 cup sliced green olives

1 large onion chopped

2-3 cloves garlic minced 

1 green pepper chopped

1 bay leaf (optional)

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce (2 tsp Dijon mustard and 2 tsp coconut amino's or soy sauce)

1/2 cup dry red wine (1 cup red wine)

1/2 cup water (2 cups water)

1/2 cup of raisins (10 pitted dates chopped)

Salt and pepper to taste (only for browning meat)

Parsley or Cilantro/Coriander

Piccadillo ground beef or chicken directions: In a large skillet over medium heat add olive oil and sauté, garlic, onion, green pepper and bay leaf for about 5 minutes. Add the ground meat and brown. Turn heat down to medium low. Add the tomato paste, wine, capers, Worcestershire sauce (or substitute), green peppers and water. Bring to a slight boil, and reduce temperature again to a simmer. Cover and cook for about 30 minute. If the liquid is absorbed, add more water 1/4 cup at a time. After the 30 minutes, remove the lid, add the sliced olives and the raisins and cook, uncovered, in a slow simmer for another 10 minutes. This is great with rice but for a substitute serve with cauli-rice.

Piccadillo slow cook crock pot beef or pork brisket directions: 
In a large skillet over medium/high heat add olive oil. Slice brisket into 2 inch slices. lay slices of meat in fry pan and coat meat on both sides with olive oil, pepper, and a smidge of salt. Brown on each side about 5 min. Add lemon juice, garlic and onions while meat is browning. Turn crock pot on high and add water, wine, tomato paste, dijon, and coconut amino's. When meat is browned, place in crock pot with liquid covering. Scoop out the garlic and onions and mix in with the meat and liquid mixture. Cover and cook on high for 2 hours. Add capers and green peppers and turn on low for 4 hours. Check meat to make sure it falls apart. Add sliced olives. Make rice or cauli-rice. Serve in a bowl cauli-rice, meat goodness, and garnish with raisins or dates and parsley or cilantro. I cooked this meat a bit longer about a total of 8 hours.

Gluten Free and Paleo friendly meal. Enjoy!
Substitute rice and soy sauce

Gluten Free Mac-n-Cheese Mama Bear Style!

So, my Grandma Lee made the BEST Mac-n-Cheese ever! Whenever we get together as a family, after traveling the globe, two meals are a must: Corned Beef and Cabbage (we usually celebrate St. Paddy's day in July for birthday dinner) and Mac-n-Cheese. It is made with all the comforts of belly-loving, comfort, and soul-soothing ingredients. Grandma Lee used elbow style noodles, cheese (LOTS), and a simple egg, milk, salt, and pepper mixture. Easy-squeezy!

I modified this recipe yesterday. Marty and I have been feeling a bit nostalgic and missing our kids. We are all over the globe currently in this space of life. So Mama Bear thought of revamping this meal to make it Gluten Free and Paleo. It does have cheese in it, so if you have dairy allergies, feel free to use your substitute instead of cheese.

So here we go kiddos! Some home cookin LOVE from your Mama Bear!

Gluten Free Mac-n-Cheese Mama-Bear Style
(serving for 2) 

Ingredients:
1-2 Tbls olive oil
1 cup Broccoli including stem (chopped in small pieces)
1 cup Cauliflower including stem (chopped in small pieces)
1 cup Fennel bulb (chopped in small pieces)
2 pinches of sea salt
2 pinches of pepper
1/2 - 1 cup cubed cheese of your choice
1 egg
2 cloves minced garlic
1/2 cup Coconut milk
Dash of red pepper flakes
3 slices of bacon chopped up and fried (yummy bacon bits)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Place parchment paper on a baking sheet

Pour 1-2 Tbls of olive oil on veggies

Sprinkle salt and Pepper on top

Mix together and then spread out veggies on sheet. Bake for 15 min. Check and stir around veggies. Bake another 10-15 min or until tender.

In a small bowl add egg and coconut milk.

Add chopped garlic, salt, and pepper.

Beat egg mixture and add in red pepper flakes.

Add veggie mixture and cheese cubes to baking dish.

Pour egg mixture over veggies and cheese. Fold ingredients together.

Top with bacon bits.

Cover with foil and bake for 15 min. Take cover off and bake an additional 10-15 min.

Remove from oven and let set for 5 min.

Gluten Free friendly meal. Enjoy!

Paleo Lasagna

Here is a Paleo version of the "traditional" lasagna. What is it about lasagna? "Without noodles?" you may say and think you will be deprived of that heavy-hearty-thick-amazing wide noodle dish. I hope this dish twists your taste buds and wakes them up to enjoy these new flavors. If you don't like eggplant (Marty wasn't a fan. Well that is old news!) just give it a try! This meal isn't missing any flavors. The nice thing about Lasagna is each time you make it, it is an experiment. Have fun! 

Paleo Lasagna

2 Tbls olive oil

1.5-2lbs ground beef

1/2 lb Italian sausage or ground pork (if it's pork- add 1 Tbls herb mix, dash salt/pepper and mix)

small onion diced

3 cloves garlic minced

salt (I eyeball this)

pepper (as peppery as you like)

1-2 Tbls mixed herbs

1 large eggplant sliced 1/4 inch thick

1 zucchini sliced 1/4 inch thick

2 small head and stocks broccoli cut up in chunks

2 cups fresh spinach

6-8 mushrooms sliced (depends on how much you like mushrooms!)

1 small can tomato paste or about 1/4 cup 

6 roma tomatoes chopped and blended in food processor (or use 1 can of diced tomatoes) 

In a fry pan heat 1 Tbls olive oil. Add ground beef and pork and start to brown. Add onion, mushroom slices, garlic, herbs, salt and pepper. Fold into the meat and brown completely.

Add tomato paste, tomato sauce and broccoli. Let simmer and hang out a bit. While that is cooking, prep the eggplant and zucchini wheels.

In a casserole pan add to bottom 1 Tbls olive oil and spread all over. Add one layer of meat mixture, a layer of eggplant/zucchini, and then a layer of spinach. Repeat with a final layer of meat on top.

Cover and bake for about 30 min. Check and turn pan and cook an additional 15 min. Check and see if eggplant and zucchini are tender. Uncover and cook for about 10 more minutes. Remove lasagna from oven and let rest for 5-10 min. 

Serve with tomato slices, olives - drizzled with olive oil and a dash of coarse sea salt. 

Enjoy!

Gluten free and Paleo friendly meal

*If you are not dairy intolerant and want to add a bit of cheese, this would be wonderful with some feta cheese sprinkled on top.