Cooked

I think I may have mentioned we had a wicked busy weekend. We, and I mean mostly PB, have been trying to finish the drywall in the house, the roof and get everything ready for winter. I also need to seriously clean out cupboards and get organized but only because I have OCD.

Well we managed to tackle a bit of it but mostly we just ate a lot of food with family and played with The King. We're pretty good at that. Per usual I made way too much but I did get some pretty good reviews for my meatballs so I thought I'd share. I also made a couple of chocolate pies but the recipe belongs to The Family Flavor and it's still not online. Sorry folks.

However, I did find a recipe on Smitten Kitchen and it's pretty darn close. Do yourself a favor, use graham cracker crust and put bananas in the pie, every other layer. You won't regret it.

Smitten Kitchen - Chocolate Pudding Pie

Pudding filling:
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar, divided
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 cups whole milk
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate (not more than 60% cacao), finely chopped
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup chilled heavy cream

Bittersweet chocolate shavings for garnish (optional)

Prepare pie dough: Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin into an 11-inch round, then fit into a 9-inch pie plate. Trim edge, leaving a 1/2-inch overhang, then fold overhang under and crimp edge decoratively. Prick bottom and side of shell all over with a fork, then chill shell 30 minutes. While shell chills, preheat oven to 375°F with a baking sheet on middle rack. Line shell with foil and fill with pie weights*.

Bake on baking sheet until pastry is set and edge is pale golden, about 25 minutes. Carefully remove weights and foil, then bake shell on baking sheet until pale golden all over, 15 to 20 minutes more. Cool shell.

Make pudding filling: Whisk together cornstarch, 1/3 cup sugar, cocoa powder, and salt in a 2-quart heavy saucepan, then gradually whisk [tips alert!] in milk. Bring to a boil over medium heat, whisking constantly, then boil, whisking, two minutes (mixture will thicken). Remove from heat and whisk in chocolate and vanilla until smooth.

Pour filling into cooled shell and chill, its surface covered with wax paper (if you want to prevent a skin from forming), until cold, at least two hours.

Just before serving, beat cream with remaining two tablespoons sugar until it just holds soft peaks. Spoon onto pie and garnish with bittersweet chocolate shavings, if you’re feeling fancy.

Do ahead: Pie dough can be made and chilled up to two days. Pie, without whipped cream, can be chilled up to one day before serving. Whipped cream is best added at the last minute, however, I did find that ours held up surprisingly well for a day (so far), if you feel like winging it.

Meatballs

Ok this is totally winging it because I never measure anything when I make these but they tend to be pretty darn tasty. I picked this one up from my mom a long time ago.

1lb- 2lbs ground beef
teaspoon-ish oregano
teaspoon-ish Italian seasoning
minced garlic - maybe two cloves or two teaspoons if you buy it in the jar like me? depends on how much garlic you like
1 1/2 slices of bread - 2 if you go with more than a pound of meat
2 eggs - scramble em up
1 chopped green pepper
1 chopped onion
parmesan cheese - dash or thereabouts. I told you, winging it.

Preheat your oven to 350. Soak bread in eggs, I usually remove the crust and I never use the same bread so use whatever you have. Chop up one green pepper and one onion. You'll want them chopped pretty small because they'll be in the balls. Then I throw all of that in with the meat and mix it all up with my hands and try not to be grossed out. (This is so professional.) Then I make small-ish balls that usually fit in the palm of my hand. I'd say one pound usually makes about 12. I'm opposed to big meatballs because you have to cook them longer and sometimes they get dried out. Then I bake for probably 15-20 minutes? That's definitely a guess. I tend to check them quite a bit and about half-way through the bake time I flip them all over. Once the outside has browned just a bit I check the middle. I always, always pull them out when they are still a little pink in the middle. This is important. This ensures you don't have meatballs you could throw through a window.

You're welcome.