Ain't cho mama's spaghetti...

I have an amazing friend who shares many recipes with me. I love having her around for so many reasons-especially to talk about food with her. She shared this one with me.

I.love.this.recipe.

But I also love to often spend a good 2 hours on meal prep ...so this is right up my alley. I hope it's up yours too, because you won't regret trying it...

This meal has several parts to it. I recommend reading the recipe first so you get an idea what this baby is all about.

{Picture also borrowed from How to be a Domestic Goddess}

Spaghetti and Meatballs

from Katherine Fields {How to be a Domestic Goddess}

Sauce

• 2 28-ounce cans whole peeled tomatoes in juice, drained, juice reserved, tomatoes finely chopped
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
• 2 medium onions, peeled, halved through root end
• 1/2 teaspoon (or more) salt
• fresh herbs (rosemary, basil, oregano), optional
  

Meatballs

• 1 cup fresh breadcrumbs made from crustless French or country-style bread
• 1/3 cup whole milk
• 8 ounces ground beef (15% fat)
• 8 ounces ground pork
• 1 cup finely ground (not grated) Parmesan cheese-from the hard triangle wedges in the deli section of store
• 1/3 cup finely chopped Italian parsley
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 large eggs
• 2 large garlic cloves, pressed
• 1 pound spaghetti
• Freshly grated Parmesan cheese (for serving)

Preparation

Sauce

**Combine tomatoes with juice, butter, onions, and salt in large wide pot. Bring to simmer over medium heat. Reduce heat; simmer uncovered 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Discard onions. Using an immersion blender, or by placing the sauce in a blender, break up any large pieces of tomato (texture should be even but not completely smooth). Season sauce with more salt and freshly ground black pepper. Add fresh herbs if desired. Remove from heat. (You can let yours simmer until you are ready to eat, especially since you cook the meatballs in the sauce.)

Meatballs

**Combine breadcrumbs and milk in small bowl; stir until breadcrumbs are evenly moistened. Let stand 10 minutes.

**Place beef and pork in large bowl and break up into small chunks. Add 1 cup ground Parmesan, parsley, salt, and pepper.

**Whisk eggs to blend in small bowl; whisk in garlic. Add to meat mixture.

**Using hands, squeeze milk from breadcrumbs, reserving milk. Add breadcrumbs to meat mixture. Using hands, quickly and gently mix meat mixture just until all ingredients are evenly combined (do not overmix). Chill mixture at least 15 minutes and up to 1 hour.

**Moisten hands with some of reserved milk from breadcrumbs, then roll meat mixture between palms into golf-ball-size balls, occasionally moistening hands with milk as needed and arranging meatballs in single layer in sauce in pot. Bring to simmer. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until meatballs are cooked through, 20-30 minutes.
These can be made 2 days ahead. Cool slightly. Chill uncovered until cold, then cover and keep chilled. Rewarm before continuing.

**Cook spaghetti in large pot of boiling salted water until just tender but still firm to bite, stirring occasionally. Drain.

**Using slotted spoon, transfer meatballs to platter. I like to serve the noodles, meatballs, and sauce in separate dishes, because I hate when the sauce is absorbed into the noodles upon serving it together. But you do what you want. Place noodles on plate, top with sauce, then meatballs, then more freshly ground Parmesan! Eat slowly, with small bites...the flavor is so amazing you don't want to risk missing it by eating it too fast...mmm. Not that you could miss it.
Notes-
If you want herbs in the sauce, and don't have fresh, you can use the dried varieties. This is a fun meal to serve in the summer when my garden is loaded with fresh herbs. I miss the fresh herb months...
If you don't have fresh breadcrumbs that the meatball recipe calls for, leave some homemade bread out a few nights before, then put it in a food processor or blender on the day of your meal prep-this recipe would not be the same without the coarse-ness of the fresh breadcrumbs. And these meatballs are out of this world!

Stacked Burlap Flower {on a pillow}

I have been in the process of redoing my bedroom. Again. This is a slow process, since I always have 12.5 million other things to do, but I have finally started on the accent pillows. The great unveiling will be the multi-media appliqued accent blanket that goes along with that, but I have been working on that for many many moons, and it isn't done yet...

so pillows it is.
I was looking at some ideas online, and came across this one on classyclutter.blogspot.com. I loved it, but since our supply of felt is NOTHING in this small, small town oh so far far far far from crafting civilization, I knew I would have to find something else. My go-to for most anything these days anyway is burlap, which I am fully enjoying a love affair with, to be honest. You can find it all over in my house, which I will show you soon enough.
Then I had one of those genius moments, and a few hours later, I had this finished:







Close-ups, to see the texture.






I love the texture it adds to my bed, and the shabby look of it, with the burlap threads coming lose here and there. Don't let your sweet kiddies get their little grubbies ahold of this...this pillow is for aesthetic purposes only-NOT PILLOW FIGHTS!

the triple threat, {plus one}

This recipe can be used for many things...4 in particular that I am going to share with you-hence "the triple threat, {plus one}."
1)Many months ago, before my 6 month old was born, I hosted a super fun, super delish, dinner party with some great friends. I made spaghetti and meatballs, an amazing recipe given to me by an amazing cook that I will share later {the recipe, not the friend}, bread-sticks, and a really yummy dipping oil to go with the bread-sticks. Originally, I was going to buy ciabatta bread and do something from one of my favorite cooks, Ina Garten. But I realized too late I had forgotten to get ciabatta bread!!!!!! I didn't want to run to the store with the kids at this point in my dinner prep, so I started some bread-sticks. It was a last minute decision to whip up the sauce and use it as a dipping oil. I was nervous.
All in vain I tell you.
It was a total hit, and my fav part of what I made.

However, the recipe made a lot of delicious garlicky, herby, dipping oil, and you don't go throwin' this good stuff away.
2) So my husband, who is constantly surprising me, used the leftovers to spread around the crust of our homemade pizza that following Friday. DELISH, I tell you. Just fantastic. It was the first thing that hit your tongue as you put the pizza in your mouth, and it was like warning the mouth that a party was on its way! I applauded him until he blushed. Rare with him, blushing.

3) We STILL had leftovers from this first batch, and also noodles from the spaghetti party, so we combined noodles, and the lovely garlicky, herby, oil sauce and....fireworks. So good. I was so happy to find something so multi-tasking!

{my lunch today-the oils and noodles together, plus a little spinach, wilted with the heat in the microwave. yum.}

Last one.
4) We had the sauce with breadsticks again, not too long ago, and the sauce mixed with my peas, and....need I say it...AMAZING!

SIGH.....

So, now that you have 4 great stories about some mysterious oil/garlic/herb mixture/sauce....
I give you the recipe:

(Adapted from a recipe from Ina Garten, although I did add a few things. You can find the original here.)

• 6 large garlic cloves, chopped
• 1/2 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
• 3 TBS chopped fresh oregano leaves
• 3 TBS chopped thyme
• 3 TBS chopped rosemary
  
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt {I love kosher salt, and always have a box of it in my kitchen-it's great for the texture in this, so I recommend it, but plain table salt will still get the flavor you are looking for.}
  
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup good olive oil

Place the garlic in the bowl of a food processor and process until minced. Add the parsley, oregano, thyme, and rosemary, salt and pepper and pulse until well mixed.

Heat the olive oil in a medium pan and add the garlic mixture. Stir for a minute, and then remove the pan from the heat.

Serve with SO MANY THINGS!

Store it in the fridge, and microwave for JUST A FEW SECONDS to melt the oil when it's all hard after being refrigerated.

****If you are dying to make this, and you don't want to spend the money for fresh herbs in the winter at the store,{don't blame ya!} buy fresh parsley, which is very cheap at the store, and substitute the fresh herbs for dried herbs. I don't know the amount I use of the dried herbs, since I am one of those ladies that add, taste, and then add more...but I will tell you that dried herbs are more potent than fresh, so start with a smaller amount of the dried herbs, and add if you want more. You want a good herb to oil ration though, so there isn't tons of plain old oil in your sauce.

BEST peanut butter cookies EVER. ever.ever.ever.

A few months back I called my friend Katherine on a Sunday evening, asking her what I should make for dessert that night. (This sounds weird, but Katherine is a fellow foodie-but waaaaaaaay more awesome than me, and we talk about food a lot. I love her.) She told me to make peanut butter cookies with both chocolate and peanut butter chips in them. I was like..."uh yes please." The bad news was I didn't have the chips. So she told me to get over there and get some. So I did! Anyway, I don't know what happened, but I didn't get to make them until the next day...and oh. my. heavens. I am so glad I made the phone call the night before to Katherine about what to make for dessert. These are hands down the BEST COOKIE I HAVE EVER EVER EVER HAD in my life. (And I have eaten my fair share of cookies...) I was completely addicted instantly and could not help myself. The dough was the best dough and I ate myself sick over these cookies, and I didn't mind i t...which was a shame, since I had just given birth to baby number 4 and was battling the bulge...but it was worth it. Don't just take my word for it. In honor of National Peanut butter day, TRY THESE BABIES OUT. And not just today-try them out many, many times.

1 1/4 cups flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup (one stick) unsalted butter, soft
1 cup peanut butter, room temp. (creamy is best)
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
(DO NOT THINK TWICE ABOUT ADDING ALL THE BUTTERS AND SUGARS-DO IT!)
1 Lg egg at room temp
1 Tbs milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup peanut butter chips-I only LOVE these cookies with Reeses Peanut Butter Chips...I tried a different kind this time and didn't LOVE it. It made a huge difference for me.
1/2 cup chocolate chips
If you like to roll or sprinkle your pb cookies in sugar, then you will need an extra amount of sugar for that.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl or mixer, beat the butter and peanut butter together until it is fluffy. Add the sugars and mix until creamy and smooth. Add the egg and then mix well until it gets that yummy looking texture. (I usually can't resist tasting some at this point-this texture really gets me.) Add the milk and vanilla and mix well to combine. I add all the dry ingredients directly into my mixing bowl, rather than having it already measured out in another bowl just to save me from having one more bowl to clean. So add the dry ingredients right into the mixing bowl, or have it already measured out in another bowl. Either way, dry ingredients go in now! After this...stir those chips in and feel your stomach tighten in anticipation of the first spoonful of this delicious dough finding its way into your mouth. Then the second and third spoonfuls as well, if you are like me...



Using a cookie scoop or your bare hands, drop delicious looking blobs of the dough onto ungreased cookie sheets. (If you like the dough rolled in sugar, do that before dropping dough onto the sheet.)

Leave several inches around each cookie for expansion. I don't like to smoosh these cookies down with a fork like traditional pb cookies, because I love these ones without that feature. Do what you like-I recommend not using the fork at least one-the result is a chunky looking cookie, and I love that.
Bake these lovelies for 10-12 minutes. Do not over bake. They may look underdone, but they are not. Cool the cookies for as long as you can bear, then enjoy them. By the handful. If you want. If you can stop at one, I commend and both pity you....
Happy National Peanut Butter Day!

Crayon Rolls

These beauties have been around for a while. I thought it was genius, so I started making a bunch of them. I made some for my girls for Christmas, then started selling them on a local swap shop on facebook. I think every child needs one, and I think that every mom needs their kids to have one-clean up is a breeze with a slot for every crayon. Then, when said kid gets bored of the colors they have, they can head over to the mother-lode of crayons and swap em out. Easy.
It doesn't take a long time to make. I used a tutorial found here, but as always, I know that I did alter it to fit my skill and needs.
I don't do well at following tutorials...
I used ribbon to tie the rolls up, and I also ommited the iron-on vinyl-too much for me.
If you have questions, or you want me to make you one, let me know!
Happy rolling!

This one was a custom order made large enough to fit pens and pencils! Loved the idea!

entry way

A while ago I saw this hanging rack on Pinterest.

I am totally in love with antique-y shabby chic, so I loved this idea for my teeny tiny entry way. (I mean reeeeeally tiny entryway.) I didn't have any old barn doors on hand, (danget danget danget!) but I did have some old pieces of fence leftover from fencing in our back yard. They had been left outside for over a year, exposed to the elements. Which was perfect, since after a year outside, my pieces of fence looked almost legit antique...

So after a while of fiddling around with some ideas in my head, I came up with the idea of nailing the "old" piece of fence onto the wall of my entry way. With some muscle (aka my man, Jeremy), we got this thing all rigged up. I originally had wanted the fence piece to go all the way to the ground. But my smarter half (again, aka my man, Jeremy) pointed out that it would be easier to clean the entry way if it was lifted off the ground a bit, to sweep under it. Genius. The other thing I wanted to do was to collect old hooks, in various designs, to nail to the fence piece as coat hooks. But you know what, it works out that we hang the coats OVER the points of the fence. So I have saved my hooks for another day, and another project...

My entry way is so small, I literally cannot stand in front of the fence rack and take a picture of it. Someday I will have a larger one, but for now, I'm in love!

Double chocolaaaaaaate!

Obviously I am still working on the header to this blog. Pay it no mind.
Sunday dinners are usually extra special around here. I love to take the afternoon after church and cook for a few hours. The kids were playing, the baby sleeping, and the sick husband was tucked in bed.
The kitchen was mine.
Dinner was AMAZING. I was totally satisfied after the meal. You know, the satisfaction that comes from not burning a single thing,and from everything turning out better than you thought. I was nervous a little, because they were all new recipes. I took some bites of food, laughed at my kids for going to the bathroom no less than 4 times combined, ate some more, smiled at my sweet baby boy and his yummy face, took lots more bites, frowned at the kids many times (maybe raised my voice a little?) for jumping up and down and acting like monkeys at the table, then finished my plate of food off quickly with a sigh and a bulging belly. I fully plan on posting the entire meal for your enjoyment this week, which I am excited about, because I altered every single recipe I used to make the meal, which makes the meal entirely invented by myself...right? Anyway, welcome to my blog.
Oh, and here was tonight's dessert.(I forgot to take a pic because I was busy horking down my dinner and then this dessert-so I borrowed this picture off the web. Won't happen again.)

I got this original recipe from a dear friend and an old neighbor, Nan. In my effort to be more healthy and fully enjoy the wheat grinder my parents gave us for Christmas, I bring you the healthy (and TOTALLY guilt free) version of the Double Chocolate Muffin.

1 1/3 cup wheat flour
1 1/3 cup white flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup baking cocoa (I may have added a little more than this. I can be so clumsy sometimes...)
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
1/2 cup water
3/4 cup milk
1 cup homemade cinnamon applesauce (store bought would work just fine!)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup (or however much you want) semisweet chocolate chips

Method: In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt. In another bowl, beat the eggs, applesauce, water, milk, and vanilla. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in chocolate chips. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups two-thirds full. Bake at 325° for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks. (or eat right away...) Yield: 16 dense, moist, delicious muffins. There might only be 5 left, but who knows...

Try them and let me know what you think!