Teriyaki Meatballs - Damn Delicious

I've been trying a lot of new recipes lately that I've pinned on Pinterest. And lately, those recipes have sucked. I'm not joking.

Caramel Cheesecake Brownies--Fail. I've made them 3 times now and they have yet to look like the picture {oh yea, and cooked all the way through}. Chris has asked me to quit trying and stop wasting the ingredients. Crispy Shrimp Pasta--Fail. Where's the flavor??? The Shrimp was not crispy and the Cajun sauce tasted like warm, creamy milk. Nothing "Cajun" about it. Raspberry Oatmeal Smoothie--Nasty! The oatmeal changes the texture and flavor of the smoothie. Whoever thought that was a good idea was nuts!

After my recent recipe failings, I considered making pancakes for dinner instead of the Pinterest find I had scheduled for tonight. I chose to be brave and stick with my plan and made Teriyaki Meatballs by Damn Delicious. I rarely {if ever} make Asian food. If it doesn't taste like the local Chinese joint's yummy takeout, it's a complete fail. Therefore, I just hit up the local Chinese joint. It's easier this way... for both of us.

But tonight, I hit the jackpot with an easy to prepare, full of flavor Asian dish that even the pickiest of eaters {Brielle} loved. You so much as whisper the word "Chinese" or "Asian" and you'll have to bribe her with money to even try it. And sometimes even that won't work. But this recipe was different. This recipe was amazing!

We served the meatballs over white rice with a side of steamed, salted Edamame and it was delicious! Flavor -- check. Easy to prepare -- check. Kid liked it -- check. Damn Delicious was exactly how I would describe this meal. I can't wait to try more of her recipes!

Photo Credit Given to Damn Delicious

Teriyaki Meatballs

Recipe Adapted From: Damn Delicious

MAKES 36 MEATBALLS - 6 SERVINGS (512 Calories Per Serving)

• 1 lb. Ground Beef (80/20)
• 1 lb. Ground Pork
• 1/2 cup Panko 
• 2 Large Eggs
• 2 Green Onions, thinly sliced
• 2 Garlic Cloves, pressed
• 1 Tbsp freshly grated Ginger
• 1 tsp Soy Sauce
• 1/2 tsp Pepper
• Sesame Seeds, for garnish

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Coat a cooling rack with nonstick spray and place on a Tin Foil lined baking sheet {for easy cleanup}.

In a large bowl, combine Panko, Eggs, Green Onions, Garlic, Ginger, Soy Sauce & Pepper. Mix well. Using your hands, gently mix the beef and pork with the Panko mixture. Using a small 1" inch cookie scoop, divide the meat mixture into 36 balls {give or take a few}, then roll using your hands. Place in the oven for 25 minutes.

In a skillet over Medium heat, made the Teriyaki Sauce.

• 1/4 cup Soy Sauce
• 1/4 cup Brown Sugar
• 1/2 tsp Ground Ginger
• 1/4 tsp Garlic Powder
• 2 Tbsp Honey
• 1 cup Water

Bring to a simmer. In a small bowl, combine 1 tbsp Cornstarch with 1/4 cup water. This will be used to thicken the sauce. Add to the sauce, stirring occasionally until the sauce has thickened {about 5 minutes}.

When meatballs are cooked through, add to the skillet with the sauce and stir to coat. Top with Sesame Seeds and sliced Green Onions for garnish.

Blueberry Banana Smoothie

Mornings seem to be busier than ever lately, and smoothies are becoming harder to make. Not harder in the sense that they're difficult, but harder because I'm running out of time. It's easier to pour a bowl of Cheerio's and throw a diced banana on top than prep the fruit, blend, pour and clean the blender.

Actually, now that I think about it, it probably takes the same amount of time to make a smoothie as it does to sit and eat a bowl of cereal. Awesome. Looks like I'm just making excuses. And my husband always says that "excuses are like butt......." Wait. I'd better not say. It's not classy by any sense and I'm sure you get the idea!

I love buying the giant bags of frozen blueberries at Costco. It's way cheaper than buying small bags at the grocery store and they pack so much flavor and nutrition. Blueberries have more antioxidants than any other fresh fruit or veggie and they're known to strengthen your immune system and we certainly need that right now! My husband and daughter returned home from a Spring Break trip where they spent a lot of time with a bunch of runny-nosed cousins. A few days later and they are both battling serious head colds.

Photo Credit Given to VitaMix

Another study showed that the polyphenols found in blueberries can break down belly fat. Whoo-Hoo! Looks like we'll be eating blueberries every day now! Blueberries also help with constipation, help with bone development, is a cancer fighter, helps lower blood sugar and it's suggested that blueberries reverse age-related memory loss. Plenty of good reasons to add blueberries to your morning smoothies.

Blueberry Banana Smoothie

MAKES 4 CUPS - 2 SERVINGS (199 Calories Per Serving)

• 8 oz Milk (I used 2% Lowfat)
• 2 cups Baby Spinach
• 2 cups Frozen Blueberries
• 1 large Banana
• 4-6 Ice Cubes

Place all ingredients in your blender, secure lid and blend until smooth. I use the "Smoothie" feature on my Blendtec, which blends for roughly 40 seconds. Enjoy!  

Vanilla Cupcake {w} Nutella Whipped Frosting

Let's talk the cup-cake. Now, some might argue that the frosting is the star, but not for me. I'm a cake snob. It must be perfect. It must be light, but not so light it crumbles apart. There needs to be a dense-ness to it, without it being dense like a pound cake. It must be moist, but not so moist that it seems underdone {best moistness test being... is it still moist the next day}.

A basic Vanilla Cupcake is like a blank canvas. You can do anything with a really good Vanilla Cupcake. Any topping, any filling, any frosting, or any combination of the 3. It's a license to be creative and have fun. This also means that the Vanilla cake must be outstanding and must hold all of the qualities I've mentioned above. Lucky for you, I've made made enough cupcakes over the last 6 years, and tested enough recipes that I have found the Perfect Vanilla Cupcake.

This Vanilla Cupcake recipe is adapted from a food blog titled Cookies & Cups. There are a few things I've learned from this recipe. Mixing order & temperature of the ingredients do matter! I prefer slightly chilled ingredients as opposed to room temperature, like this recipe calls for. Following the order of instruction is even more important, as this recipe will fail you if you deviate or are impatient and just want to throw everything in. Trust me, I've failed so you won't have to.

Photo Credit Given to Cookie & Cups

Isn't that most perfect looking cupcake ever? Perfect dome on top {always the sign of a good cake} and if you look really close, you can actually see it's moistness.

Perfect Vanilla Cupcake

Recipe Adapted From: Cookies & Cups

MAKES 24-28 CUPCAKES

• 1 3/4 cup Cake Flour {recipe for DIY cake flour to follow}
• 1 1/4 cup All Purpose Flour
• 1 3/4 cup Sugar
• 2 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
• 1 tsp Kosher Salt
• 1 cup Butter, cut into small pieces {cold, not quite at room temperature}
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup Milk (2% or whole)
• 2 1/2 tsp Vanilla 

To Make the Cupcakes --

1. Preheat oven to 350°
2. Line cupcake pan with cupcake liners.
3. In bowl of stand mixer add the first 5 ingredients and stir together using paddle attachment for about a minute. Enough to get them nice and combined.
4. With mixer on low, drop in butter, mixture resembles coarse sand {no large chunks remain}.
5. Add eggs one at a time on low speed.
6. With mixer still on low slowly pour in milk and vanilla. Turn mixer to medium and beat for 2 minutes until batter is smooth, scraping sides of bowl as needed.
7. Fill liners 2/3 full and bake for 18-20 minutes until centers are set and toothpick comes out clean.
8. Allow to cool in cupcake pan for a few minutes before removing.
9. Allow to cool completely before frosting.

DIY Cake Flour -- if you don't have Cake Flour on hand, don't going running to the store. It's super easy to make on your own, and you are likely to have what you need at home. In a sifter or sieve, add 1 3/4 cups of All Purpose Flour then add 4 Tbsp {equal to 1/4 cup} of Cornstarch and then sift several times until well combined. You'll end up with 2 cups of Cake Flour. Use what you need an then store the rest in a Ziploc bag.

This frosting is for the die hard Nutella lover {like my daughter}. "Tasty" could not adequately describe the delicious goodness that is Nutella Whipped Frosting. You are in for a real treat with this one. Paired with the Perfect Vanilla Cupake makes it -- well, perfect. I'm already planning on making these again later this week, but this time, I may dunk the tops of the cupcakes first in melted chocolate. Sinful, I know.

Nutella Whipped Frosting

MAKE ENOUGH TO FROST 24-28 CUPCAKES

• 1 cup Butter, at room temperature
• 1 - 13 oz container of Nutella {which is a little more than a cup and half, but really, I couldn't just leave one lonely ounce in the container to store}.
• 4 cups Powdered Sugar
• 1 tsp Vanilla
• 2-4 Tbsp Heavy Cream

 To Make the Frosting --

1. Combine Butter and Nutella in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment.   
2. Whisk on high until combined, scraping the sides often.
3. Add Vanilla and Powdered Sugar, one cup at a time until combined.
4. Add Heavy Cream {last} 1 Tbsp at a time until you reach the desired consistency.
5. Continue to whisk on high until light and fluffy {about a minute more}.

Enjoy. I sure did. In fact, you may need to prepare yourself with an excuse for eating one for breakfast the next morning. My excuse was "it's supposed to be Spring, but it's snowing outside and I woke up with a stuffy nose, therefore deserve a cupcake for breakfast." Totally legit, don't you think?

Baltimore, MD

The best thing about Baltimore was the Braised Beef Stuffed Tortellini in a Ramano Cream Sauce I found in "Little Italy" a few blocks from hotel. I'm still dreaming about it.

The worst thing about Baltimore was the $99 seafood appetizer which included raw oysters of which my colleagues forced me to try. I'm still having nightmares about it. Sorry about the dark picture. It was taken at one of those restaurants that think they are extra fancy if they turn down the lights.

There is a picture of me almost throwing back up the oyster, however, I think I've paid off enough people to keep it off of social media. I hope.

Blendtec Green Monster Smoothie

I didn't put up a new smoothie recipe last week, but I have a good excuse. We liked the Green Detox Smoothie so much we actually continued to make it two weeks in a row! I was asked what the "detox" part of the smoothie was, and I'll be honest -- I don't know. Maybe the ginger? 

This weeks smoothie recipe I adapted from a Blendtec smoothie recipe called the Green Monster Smoothie. I was hesitant to try it, because of the addition of Mango's. The Merkley's just aren't big fans. But I am finding that I love smoothies with green apples, so I thought we'd give it a try.

Photo Credit Given to Blendtec

Now, I've really enjoyed all the smoothies I've made so far. But this one, I really love! There is a lot more spinach in this smoothie than the others, so prepare yourself for a more dominant spinach flavor than the past smoothies. But who are we trying to fool? The reason we add greens to a smoothie is because we want the veggies, without actually eating raw veggies? But don't worry, you'll still detect the sweetness of the Mango and the tartness of the Apple. It was super refreshing!

Green Monster Smoothie

Recipe Adapted from: Blendtec Green Monster Smoothie

MAKES 40 OUNCES - 2 SERVINGS (282 Calories Per Serving)

• 1 Banana
• 2 cups Frozen Mango Chunks
• 2 small Granny Smith Apples
• 4 cups Baby Spinach
• 8 oz Trop 50 Orange Juice
• 4 oz Water
• 1 cup Ice Cubes

Place all ingredients in your blender, secure lid and blend until smooth. I used the "Smoothie" button on my Blendtec, which blends for roughly 36 seconds.

If you haven't been following my weekly smoothie posts, you can read up about it HERE. I also include a few things I've learned about buying produce, prepping the fruits and a few tips for making smoothies fast and easy.

The End of Another Season

We could let the season end without one more trip up the mountain for some fun. I've been nursing a CrossFit knee injury and knew the second I put my boots on that it was a bad idea.

But it was worth it!

The sun was shining, the skies were clear blue...

And a couple of inches of new snow had fallen overnight. P-E-R-F-E-C-T conditions for a fair weather skier, such as myself.

 

It was the perfect way to send off winter and welcome our next favorite season.... SOCCER season!