meatball

Family Recipe: Albondigas (Meatball Soup)

Abby H.

I learned to make this soup originally in High School Food and Nutrition class. The teacher was very big on low fat, low carb (it was the 90’s), so I’ve made a lot of changes from the original recipe to include more vegetables, aromatics, and herbs/spices.

Thankfully our  Yasukochi Family Farms CSA box loads us up weekly on locally grown, farm fresh veggies. All the veggies I used in this recipe came from our CSA box!

Ingredients:

  • 1 lb ground beef (I use 80/20)
  • 1/3 cup uncooked rice (don’t use instant rice. I used jasmine rice)
  • 1 egg
  • 1/4 c plain bread crumbs 
  • 1 T. Parsley
  • 1 T. Olive oil
  • 2 T. Minced garlic
  • 2 carrots peeled and chopped
  • 2 ribs of celery, chopped 
  • 1/2 yellow or white onion, diced
  • 1 potato, peeled and diced
  • 2 15-ish oz. cans diced, peeled tomatoes
  • 2 green zucchini or calabaza (Mexican Squash), cut into bite size pieces
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 2 T. Penzeys Penzeys Salsa & Pico Seasoning
  • 6 cups chicken or veggie stock
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

  1. In a mixing bowl, combine ground beef, rice, egg, breadcrumbs, and parsley. Form small meatballs, and set aside until all the meat is balled up. 
  2. In a large Dutch oven, heat oil and fry meatballs, turning frequently so all sides are browned.
  3. Remove meatballs, and set aside. Keep the drippings in the Dutch oven.
  4. In the Dutch oven, over medium heat, sauté carrots, onions, celery, and potatoes for about 10 minutes, until the onions are translucent. 
  5. Add in the garlic, continuing to cook over medium heat, until garlic is fragrant.
  6. After garlic is fragrant, turn heat down to low, add in remaining ingredients, including the meatballs that have been patiently waiting. Cover with a tight fitting lid, and allow to simmer for 15-30 minutes, giving time for the ingredients to mingle, and the meatballs will swell slightly, as the rice in them cooks. 

 

This recipes serves 6-8. It freezes well and is so good topped with a little queso fresco, fresh cilantro, a squeeze of lime and a little hot sauce. 

If you don’t eat beef, you can use any other ground meat. I’ve never used faux ground “beef”, so I can’t vouch for it. 

Frugal, Tasty Meals with Dinnerly!

Abby H.

To facilitate this review, the awesome folks at Dinnerly provided our family with 3 meals (4-6 servings each). I received no financial compensation to write this review- All opinions are my own.

I’ve reviewed dinner/meal kits before, and my complaint is always that they are so expensive, upwards of $10 per person, per meal. At that point, I better be going out to dinner, and I am not washing dishes! Secondly, the meals are usually not child-friendly, especially if you have a kid on the spectrum (like we do), who also happens to be a vegetarian.

Enter Dinnerly! At $4.49 per adult-sized serving, Dinnerly is so much less expensive than other meal kits. But how? digital recipe cards instead of paper, fewer ingredients per dish (which means less chopping and cleaning), simple packaging, and no fancy marketing campaigns.

The big kid and I looked at the website and he chose two meat-free recipes, and I chose one with meat.

  • Mediterranean Meatball Stew with Carrots & Couscous
  • Coconut Curry Ramen with Snow Peas & Jammy Eggs
  • Baked Squash & Kale Risotto with Parmesan

recipeWhat I really like is that the recipe tells you what is in the kit for your recipe, and what you will need from your own kitchen (and trust me, it’s nothing special or fancy).

The directions are great for those who don’t have a lot of cooking experience. My 8-year-old was able to read the steps and follow them. He helped me cook the Risotto, and he measured, stirred, poured, and ripped up the kale into bite-sized pieces.

The 4-6 adult-sized servings are pretty generous, by the way. With every meal, there were closer to 7 servings. I always serve side dishes with the main dish. Most nights we had salad or some kind of veggie side dish. When we had ramen, I picked up a bag of pork potstickers from 99 Cents Only for the grown-ups, and also made a miso dressing coleslaw. If you want to stretch meals further, I suggest adding sides, or maybe sneaking in some extra veggies (I added 1 cup of peeled, diced crook-neck squash to the Mediterranean Meatball Stew).

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Tamari Sauce for Ramen

Some of the recipes needed a little “kick”- especially the ramen- so we added ginger, red chili flakes, and a bay leaf to the broth. BUT, since everyone has different levels of spice tolerance, Dinnerly Kits are a great place to start if you want to explore different flavors and cultures without having the buy a bunch of new and/or different spices. For example, the ramen kit comes with two of these cute little packages of Tamari sauce. I did clean one of them out when I was done and now it’s in the kid’s toy kitchen.

Everything is pre-measured and ready to go, even the spices. This is another reason I love Dinnerly- It cuts down on food waste.

75557570_10157525826901061_3062456495460319232_n75443029_10157525826876061_5954310997228388352_nThe veggies are all super fresh and ready to be cut up! The risotto came with two little cubes of parmesan cheese, that my 8-year-old grated and sprinkled like a pro!

I made the Mediterranean Meatball Stew with Carrots & Couscous and took it to a friend for a night in. It was cheaper, healthier, and tastier than stopping to grab takeout. It was so tasty and filling.

If you want to check out Dinnerly, they have been nice enough to create a promo code just for my readers! The code to use at check out is hewesfamily15, and it’s active through the first week of December and only valid for first-time users. The coupon code is worth 15% off! To get started, visit Dinnerly here.

I think Dinnerly would also make a great gift for a family that just has a baby,  or someone who might need a little love.

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Butternut Squash & Kale Risotto
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Coconut Curry Ramen
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Meatball Stew and Cous Cous

Recipe: Chicken Meatball Skillet

Abby H.1 Comment

FullSizeRender(256).jpgThis recipe came to me, as I was staring into the fridge wondering what the hell I was going to do with all spinach my friend gave me.

I used a package of Aidell’s Chicken caramelized onion meatballs, but feel free to use whatever kind of meatballs you like (or make your own!).

Mix it up with whatever veggies you have on hand! Peppers or kale would be great in this dish!

Ingredients:

  • 1 package chicken meatballs (about a dozen, if making from scratch)
  • 1/2 purple onion, diced
  • 1 T. olive oil
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1.5 c. grape tomatoes, sliced in half lengthwise (about 1 package)
  • 3-4 c. fresh spinach
  • Juice of 3 lemons
  • zest of 1 lemon
  • 1 T. Thyme
  • 1 T. Rosemary
  • 1 T. air-dried shallots
  • 1 package pasta (I like ziti) cooked per package instructions
  • 1/2 c. grated parmesan cheese
  • salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste

Directions:

  1. In a large saucepan, saute onion until translucent.
  2. Add garlic, and cook on medium/low until fragrant.
  3. Add meatballs, tomatoes, and herbs. Cook on medium/low, until meatballs are heated thoroughly.
  4. stir in lemon juice and zest. Scrape pan to remove any browned bits.
  5. Toss in spinach, turn to low, and cover with the lid. Allow spinach to cook down by about half- this takes only a few minutes.
  6. Remove from heat, stir in cooked pasta and cheese.
  7. Season with salt and pepper as needed,  and serve ASAP.

 

This is a great 1 dish meal! It’s very filling, but the acid from the lemon and the chicken meatballs keeps the meal feeling very light.

To make this dish Gluten-free: Use GF pasta and make sure your meatballs are GF.

To make this dish Vegetarian: Use meat-free “meatballs”