Worth It or Not?

Let's play a little game called "Worth It or Not?"  It will be really easy.  I'll give you the answers and everything.  Below are some online recipes I've made recently.  Some I'll make again and one I will not.   Here we go!

The first recipe I want to talk about is Mama Pea's Swiss Steak.  We have year old venison (not fawn-meat, folks, it's been in the freezer for a year) that needs using up and when I read her post on "guaranteed tender" venison, I knew I had to give it a try.  OH. MY. WORD.  Please make this recipe.  It's our new favorite way to eat venison.  It was tender and, oh, so tasty.  The gravy was so delicious it made even the mashed potatoes yummy.  So there.

Mama Pea's Swiss Steak:  SO Worth It 

Next, we have Pioneer Woman's Chicken Cacciatore.  It was one of the most beautiful dishes I have ever made.  Really now.  I have this gorgeous off white platter that an aunt gave me for Christmas years ago.  Trying to be like PW herself, I plated the entire pot of pasta and topped it with the entire pot of cacciatore, sprinkling it with parmesan cheese.  It was lovely.  Would you like to know why I did not save the lovely photographs (they were lovely, by the way)?  Yep.  It was a flop.  The dish looked the part, but it tasted flat and not just an it-needs-more-salt kind of flat.  Sorry, P-Dub.  Not this time.

PW's Chicken Cacciatore:  NOT Worth It

Pioneer Woman redeemed herself with her Chicken Tortilla Soup.  This was amazing and easy to make.  We even had some fresh cilantro on hand (a rare, rare occasion) and that made it, well, even better than it already was.  I used flour tortillas and less chili powder (for the kids' sake).  It was delicious and another keeper.

PW's Chicken Tortilla Soup:  Worth It

The last recipe comes with a little story (surprise, surprise).

It was my dear Sadie's birthday this past week and we were going to celebrate with extended family over the weekend.  Sadie loves "noonles".  Okay, she can say "noodles" now, but she used to say "noonles" and I loved that.  She also loves meat.  To Sadie, meat is all the same- she doesn't bother differentiating between the kinds.  We were going to be at my sister's house, so she and I decided to make spaghetti and meatballs with myself contributing the meatballs (and the cake- Sadie chose ice cream sandwich cake).

I've never made meatballs before.  Don't seem so surprised.  We don't eat very much meat around here.  I found a recipe over at Simply Recipes (here).  The recipe said it served six.  There was going to be ten adults and four children (and two babies who don't eat meat yet), so I decided to triple the recipe to make sure I had enough.  The recipe did not indicate how many meatballs each person should eat.

Would you like to know how many meatballs I made?  About 140.  Here.  I'll prove it.

They were really good and I'm glad I made so many because now I have a bunch in my freezer that I can thaw and add to sauce some evening when I don't feel like making something involved.  The family agreed that they are winners, so I'm sharing the recipe with you below.

Simply Recipe's Meatballs:  Worth Every One

Turkey & Sausage Meatballs (adapted from Simply Recipes)
Serves "6" according to the original recipe, but I'd say quite a few more.

1 pound ground turkey
1/2 pound bulk sausage
2 tsp. dried basil
2 tsp. dried parsley
2 eggs
3/4 cups plain breadcrumbs
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
2 tsp. salt
1-2 tbsp. olive oil

Place all ingredients (except for the oil) in a large bowl and mix well with your hands.  Form into 1-inch balls  and lay them on a greased cookie sheet (because you need a place to put them).  Don't make them bigger or they will not cook evenly/properly.

Heat a frying pan to medium to high heat and add olive oil, turning your pan to coat it.  Lay in meatballs, but do not crowd them or place them two-deep.  Do several batches if need be.  Brown the meatballs on each side, watching carefully so they don't burn.  You do want them crispy, so find the happy medium between just light brown and burnt.  Once all sides are browned, set them on a plate topped with a paper towel.  Repeat until all are browned.  *They aren't finished/cooked through so don't eat one yet even if they smell heavenly.*

 

Bring tomato sauce to a boil, add the meatballs and let them simmer in the sauce for 45 minutes.  Now, you may eat them:-).  I made these the day before, let the cool completely after browning, refrigerated them overnight and simmered them in the sauce the next day.  This worked just fine.

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