Tag Archives: ground beef

Spicy Chipotle Meatballs – Take Two!

Posted on 05/09/2012 by | 5 Comments

This is a lil’ recipe that may look familiar.

One that found its way into the crockpot for a long days simmer just a few weeks months? ago…

And one that I enjoyed so much that I just couldn’t resist making it again!

Although this time I didn’t have all day…

Because sometimes you “just ain’t got time for that” ;)

 
Crockpot Spicy Chipotle Meatballs

So I tailored the recipe to fit the stovetop. And to fit a busy-girl’s timeline.

Sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do and eat your meatballs too. No?

Ha. Okay, that was bad. Moving on.

Here ya go: Stovetop Spicy Chipotle Meatballs.

Make ‘em. They’re seriously ridiculous.

You’re welcome :P

P.S. Don’t forget a side of roasted garlic broccoli. Which is quite possibly one of my favorite simple veggie sides and which I challenge any broccoli-hater to try and despise!

Seriously y’all. So good. If you haven’t roasted broccoli before, you’re doin’ it wrong. Trust me on this ;)

Sassy!

Stovetop Spicy Chipotle Meatballs
Serves 4 (about 20 meatballs)

Meatballs

  •  3/4 lb. ground beef (I used grassfed 85/15)
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 1/2 cup bread crumb
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp chili powder
  • 2 tsp dried oregano
  • sea salt & black pepper

Sauce

  • 2 cloves garlic, chopped
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 28 oz. fire roasted tomatoes (Muir Glen)
  • 2 chipotle peppers in adobo, chopped
  •  1/2 – 1 cup water**
  • 1 tblsp olive oil

 1. To prepare the meatballs, simply combine all of the meatball ingredients listed until well incorporated.  Form into meatballs, whatever size you like. I made about 20 smaller ones.

2. Set meatballs aside. To prepare sauce, in a medium sized pot, simply saute onion in olive oil over medium heat for 5 minutes or until it softens a bit. Add in garlic for another minute, or until fragrant. Then in go the tomatoes, chipotles in adobo and water. Give a good stir and bring to a boil.

3. Turn heat down to a simmer and gently lay meatballs into the sauce pot. Cover pot and let simmer for about 30 minutes (or longer*), or until meatballs are cooked through.

Serve! With bread for dipping, of course :)

*You can let this simmer longer if you want, the flavors will get even better. I prepared it before a dinner guest arrived and let it do it’s thing for about an hour or so. Great to have just ready to go on the stove top when eating time arrives, so easy!

** Add more or less water depending on how thick you want the sauce and depending on how long it simmers, as some of the water may evaporate out of the pan during that time.

→ 5 Comments

Posted in Dee-lish Dinner, Easy Yummy Dinners, Mexican recipes, Recipes

Tagged , , , ,

My Favorite Recipe of November… Found It!

Posted on 11/30/2011 by | 4 Comments

 Well folks, I’ve stumbled upon it… and I knew it at first bite!

“It” being the proclaimed “my favorite recipe of the month” :)

There, I said it.  And I’m not kidding.  Please and thank you Food & Wine magazine for the recipe idea, sure am glad I’ve got that subscription renewed thank you sisterrrr ;)

I’m not sure if it was the superb quality of this Pomi Pomodoro E Basilico, or the recipe itself, or a combination of the two. But either way, I was hooked!

Disclaimer:  I received this product sample for free.

So if you have 30 to 40 minutes to spare and a desire for something deliciously different for dinner, please make this.  Trust me, you won’t be sorry ;)

Grass fed ground beef, onion and garlic. 

Red pepper flakes, sea salt, black pepper.

Pomi tomato basil sauce, sliced black olives.

Cauliflower.  Frozen/microwaved if ya like (hey, I went there ;) )

Tomato basil ground beef black olive mixture.

Freshly grated Mozzarella cheese.

Melted & bubbly.

Topped with Panko bread crumbs.  And browned.

Then served.

 

Salty olives, creamy cheese, toasty bread crumbs made hearty with the ground beef yet light with the cauliflower. 

These flavors and textures all just WORKED.

And truth be told ya’ll, this Pomi sauce is seriously legit. I knew when I smelled it that it was going to be simplistically wonderful. And that it was.

Crushed tomatoes, tomato puree, salt, olive oil, tapioca starch, basil, sugar, natural flavour.  That’s it. 

The sauce had fresh tomato flavor with bursts of basil, like fresh just out of the garden basil… I would definitely place this in my “favorite store bought” sauce category.  If not my top favorite.  Oh soooo good!

Now hopefully I can find it in a store near me… ;)

Baked Italian-Style Cauliflower
Serves 3-4.  Adapted from Food & Wine magazine.

  • 1/2 lb ground beef (I used 85/15 grass fed)
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 26oz. Pomi tomato basil sauce (or your favorite sauce)
  • about 15 large black olives, halved
  • 2 12oz. packages frozen cauliflower
  • 3 oz. shredded mozzarella cheese
  • 3 tblsp bread crumbs (I used Panko)
  • red pepper flakes, to taste
  • sea salt & black pepper, to taste

1. Add ground beef to a pan over medium, brown for about 5 minutes or until partially cooked and some of the fat released.  Add onion, cooking another 5 minutes or until it starts to get tender.  Finally, add garlic and spices and cook for another minute or two.

Note that if you use a leaner ground beef, you may need some olive oil here. 

2. While beef is cooking, microwave cauliflower according to direction.

3. Now add tomato sauce and sliced olives to the beef mixture, cooking another 5 minutes so that flavors combine and beef cooks all the way through.

4. Now begin to layer the ingredients into a lightly oiled baking dish.  Cauliflower first. Followed by ground beef tomato basil mixture. Then topped with shredded cheese.

5. Place into a 375F oven for 10 minutes, until cheese gets melty & good.  Remove from oven and top with bread crumbs.  Broil for another 1-2 minutes until bread crumbs brown up.

Serve!

→ 4 Comments

Posted in Dee-lish Dinner, Easy Yummy Dinners, Recipes

Tagged , , ,