What To Serve With Meatballs?

I've noticed a lot of traffic to the blog looking for what to serve with meatballs. Interesting search! For me it's always been a dish of macaroni! Traditionally we eat our macaroni and then a platter of meat is served consisting of Italian sausage, pork blades or pork spareribs, and meatballs. Occasionally there will also be braciole. All the meat has been browned and then finished cooking in the sauce. Other ways to serve meatballs would be in soup. Little tiny meatballs are often put into chicken soup, beef soup, Italian Wedding soup and stracciatella soups.An easy use of leftover meatballs is Meatball subs. My kids love meatball subs! Lately I've noticed several Italian restaurants serving meatballs as an appetizer. A few do it well, and others not so good. A local restaurant does it well. They serve you two very very large meatballs in marinara, topped with ricotta cheese and then roasted in their pizza oven. They are amazing. The above photo is a picture of them. I would definitely do this as an appetizer for a party! When I order them at the restaurant I usually follow it up with one of their pizza's! It really could be a meal by itself though with a salad on the side! If you need a meatball recipe,scroll down and look over to the bottom right side of the blog. My "recipe" is there. I wish I could offer measurements, but it's just not the way I cook..but if you use the fresh ingredients and follow the steps, you'll have a mouthwatering meatball in no time! Just add more or less of what you like!

whatever is in the fridge pasta

I call this, "whatever is in the fridge with macaroni", because that is all it is. There are some staples you should always have in your home, and macaroni (any variety) olive oil (regular and extra virgin), garlic and grated cheese are 3 that will always give you a meal in a hurry. The macaroni is a filler for whatever else you want to throw in there. The olive oil is your sauce, the garlic to flavor the olive oil and the cheese to finish off the dish. Tonight I made a macaroni (I used ziti) with peas and crumbled sausage. I started by looking in the refrigerator and grabbed a few things. I saw 3 links of Italian sausage, opened the cabinet and found a can of sweet peas..I knew then I had a dinner! I added a bit of oil to a pan and took the sausage out of the casing broke it up and browned it up. I added some chopped up whites of a leek, (Great substitute for onion which I didn't have), added some more oil and about 2 tablespoons of minced garlic. When the sausage was browned, I added the peas. I drained the can but kept about 3 tablespoons of the water from the can and added that in with the peas for flavor. I let that simmer while I boiled the water for the ziti. After the ziti was cooked, I added it to the sausage/pea mixture and mixed it well, sprinkled it with some grated cheese and served it with a salad of oil and vinegar and crusty italian bread. This is the way I cook. I don't follow a recipe, I cook by feel, by taste, and by knowing what flavors meld well together. It's about trying new things, not getting too complicated and using your imagination. There is no reason why you can't make a meal with 3-4 ingredients. Some people call this peasant food, poor peoples food, or depression era food..I call it delicious! What was your latest "whatever is in the fridge and macaroni" dish? You can use so much to mix with macaroni..roasted red peppers, olives, spinach, escarole, beans, stewed tomatoes, sardines, anchovies, there is no limit to what veggie, meat or seafood you can mix into a simple macaroni with garlic and oil dish! Be creative and enjoy!

I'm Back!

I stopped blogging because life got a little busy and the blog was pushed to the back burner. Well, I realize now how much I miss it! I'm ready to begin sharing my life with all of you again. While I probably will never be that everyday blogger(my life isn't that interesting!) I will attempt to post at least twice a week. I'll bring you recipes of course, pictures, and funny things that occur in my life on a daily basis living with two teenage boys and my husband all of which have the ability to make me laugh everyday. And sharing laughter is a good thing! We have a new family member since I last posted. SANTINO! Santino is a cockapoo with a huge personality. For years I've been asking my husband if we could get a puppy, the answer was always no. Louie didn't grow up having a dog or any pet. He didn't disilike dogs, he just wasn't a dog guy! I bought a stuffed animal dog that was adorable and I would put it around the house. I would put it near the door when my husband was expected home to greet him, put it on the bed, under the kitchen table at dinner..my husband thought I was nuts, I thought I was funny. Then one day my cousin sent me a picture of a litter of puppies that was for sale. Didn't those puppies look exactly like my little stuffed animal? I showed Louie the picture, he said, "if you want one, go get one!" He said he only said yes because they looked like the stuffed animal and he was used to that! Who knew my tactic of a fake dog would work! Well Santino came home last February and he is the biggest daddy's boy ever! My husband loves him! He fit right in and we all fell in love with him as soon as he got here. He fits right in and he has a great lovable personality.

I'm gathering pictures and recipes this week to post soon. I hope to really get this blog off the ground and really running! I'm always up for a challenge and I'm always in need of projects to keep me busy!!

MANGI BENE