Meatballs

A fantastic meatball recipe from a true Italian chef (Drew's mom). She wrote out this recipe for us when we decided to take on making lasagna from scratch. And because she's a true chef, she didn't really have it written down anywhere...just kinda approximated it from memory. Anyway, it's a great recipe that yields tasty meatballs that are good in baked pasta or just with spaghetti. Enjoy!

-approx 1.25 lbs ground beef, lean
-1/2 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
-1 egg
-1 clove very finely minced garlic
-approx. 1 tbsp very finely minced onion
-1/4 cup finely grated parmesan cheese
-a couple shakes of oregano and basil
-1/2 tsp salt and a few shakes of pepper (i recommend more than a few shakes, but that's just me)
-fresh or dried parsley

1. Combine all ingredients, mix thoroughly.
2. Form into meatballs approximately 1 1/4" - 1 1/2" in diameter.
3. Start with 3-4 tbsp of olive oil in hot pan, put in the meatballs. Brown them evenly on all sides.
4. Lower the heat. Add about 1/2 cup of water and simmer them the rest of the way, usually for 15-20 minutes.
   
5. Put them in with sauce and simmer them that way for another hour or so (optional)

Yields about 25 meatballs.

from Jennifer Johnson

Garlic Potatoes

Emily requested that i put this one up; it's a recipe that Tree and I tried out when we made dinner together.

-3-4 medium potatoes
-1/2 stick of butter
-1 medium onion, chopped
-1 tbsp garlic salt
-4-5 cloves of garlic, chopped
-salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Scrub and slice potatoes with the skins on.
3. Dump them into a greased loaf pan, add salt and pepper to coat the potatoes.
4. In a small saucepan over medium heat, cook butter, onions, garlic, and garlic salt until onions are soft.
5. Pour over the potatoes
6. Cover pan with foil and bake for 35 minutes.

from idahopotato.com

Stove Popcorn

Popcorn can be a really healthy snack, but movie theaters have shmeared the image of popcorn with heart-attack butter and live-shorter-life artifical flavoring. Here's the simplest way to make popcorn without an air popper.

-1/3 cup of popcorn kernels
-2-3 tablespoons of vegetable/canola oil
-a dash of salt

1. Turn stove to high. In a saucepan or pot, put in oil.
2. Add kernels. Turn the pot this way and that so that the oil covers all the kernels.
3. Place lid on pot. When you hear the first pop, toss the pot a little bit so it doesn't burn. Keep one hand on the handle, one hand on the lid to secure it in place.
4. Popping will continue...keep tossing. It'll peak for awhile where the popping goes crazy. Keep tossing!
5. Popping will start to slow down. When there is more than 10 seconds between pops, that's when it's about done.
6. IMMEDIATELY remove from heat and pour popcorn into a large bowl.
7. Sprinkle lightly with salt.
8. Optional: if you can't live without that buttery taste, take a spoon, scoop up some butter, and stir it around in the hot popcorn. Little by little it will melt off the spoon and end up on the popcorn.

recipe from Sunny's childhood, enhanced by Sunny