Here's to an extra day of summer!

Tomorrow is the first day of school and I am oh so excited about all of the changes and I wanted to somehow celebrate the wonderful day at work!  So in my apron I got......this what it resulted in....

 Here's what was on tonight's menu:

Carrots & Green Peppers
Spicy Turkey Meatballs in a Chili Sauce Reduction
Basmati Rice topped with Spinach Surprise


  Where to start....it all began a few days ago when I sent my husband to buy some meat....it sounds odd and a little hunter-gatherer-ish I know, but all we had was shrimp in the freezer, the Donna Reed of 1950's would be so ashamed of such a thing..at any rate, he picked up two packages of ground turkey.....what else was I to do....

  I cooked the meatballs in extra virgin olive oil...it makes a ton of meals....I only used 1/3 of them in tonight's dinner and we have enough left over for 2 more servings....you do that math....it's worth it.....in the back of my mind I wonder if it is Donna Reed's Dollar Menu worthy?

Take the 2 packages and add them to a large bowl....add in the following spices.....

seasoned salt
ginger
red pepper flakes
cumin
coriander
freshly ground black pepper

  Mix well....call me crazy but I love to have these on hand for these sort of kitchen tasks.....for some reason I can never get the smell of raw meat of my hands

.....or maybe it's just the science teacher in me that likes to wear rubber gloves!  I scooped the meat out with a soup spoon, I find that the best way to make them uniform size.....before I did this, I think I would get lazy and the last meatball was the size of a hamburger.....it was just wrong. 

p.s. I under-cook the meatballs

  I then took the first batch of meatballs and added them to a pot to simmer* with some of my mom's Homemade Sweet Chili Sauce .....it is the greatest sauce and I believe one of my great grandmothers recipes, my nanny has made chili sauce, my mom has made chili sauce......but this jar of chili sauce was made by the both of them working together......imagine the magic in that jar!....It is also wonderful also over a pork roast....but back to the balls.....I let the sauce reduce and that imparts a little sweetness which compliments the earthy warmth of the spices in the seasoned meat.....it really is something special.....I need to learn how to make that sauce!

The carrots were a lot of fun and super simple.....just peel the carrots....discard the outside......and then keep on peeling to get something like this....

...I then diced up one green pepper and sauteed it in the frying pan....woohoo one less dish to wash.....I ended up adding salt and turmeric....my recently discovered spice....it is a brilliant yellow.  You should check it out, or even better yet....tell me how you use it!

Put that to the side and then in the same pan (unwashed!) I added in the spinach and a little extra virgin olive oil, sea salt, and freshly ground black pepper.  I decided to serve this over the basmati rice...which was also cooked in the frying pan ...........let it crisp up just a little bit on the outside.

 It was a simple delicious dinner.....

Enjoy!




*(this is why I had under-cook them....if not they would be over done or dry out....also this way they are perfectly cooked when you use them as a starter for leftovers....as the remaining meatballs go in the freezer)