Guy Food

I love to eat healthy, really. It makes me feel good, keeps my girly figure intact, and helps me power through my (sometimes very long) days. That being said, I still have cravings for bad-for-me food just like everyone else, and recently it was a meatball sub. Usually I don't like meatballs (I push them off my spaghetti, avoid them at appetizer buffets, and the Swedish cannot tempt me at Ikea) but I think it was the combination of crispy toasted bread, melty bubbly cheese, and chunky tomato sauce that had be craving a meatball sub.

So I made one - healthy Katelyn style!

Ladies, your guys would be pleased to eat this, it's total guy food. You don't need to tell them it's good for them.

Turkey Meatballs 

1 pound ground white meat turkey

1/2 cup minced parsley

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp red pepper flakes

1/2 cup fat free/low fat mozzarella

5 cloves garlic, minced

1 egg

1/2 (homemade) bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all these ingredients together and form into one inch balls. Heat some oil in the bottom of a medium pan over medium high heat. Brown all sides of the meatballs, remove to a sheet pan and bake 10 or so minutes, or until cooked through. Be sure not to overcook - turkey dries out quickly! 

Sandwich meatballs inside a toasted hoagy bun, topped with chunky tomato sauce and some more fat free mozzarella cheese, then broil in the oven to melt the cheese. 

1 egg

Happy Thanksgiving Y'all!

Here is our Thanksgiving Day's feast, filled with recipes passed down from my grandma to me, and will eventually be passed down to my children. They are wholesome, unpretentious, country, and tried-and-true. We make the same great dishes every year, and always make too much, but what I love most is spending two days in my grandma's kitchen dicing vegetables, rolling pie crust, and catching up on all that we missed since we saw each other last. I really do feel like the luckiest girl in the world to be so close to my grandparents and being welcomed into their home, not the typical dusty stale place that the media has characterized grandma houses as countrywide. Mommaw's and Boppaw's is cozy, warm, and relaxing, and I not-so-jokingly refer to it as my vacation home in the country. They live right on the river, so there is even a nice water feature and sport in the summertime. When I do find the time and get to indulge is such luxuries as visiting them, I am always taken aback by how splendidly wonderful it is out there.

Anyway, back to Thanksgiving! We started our prep work for the actual dinner on Wednesday, in addition to finishing all of the desserts (four of them this year (!!!) more on those later) and two appetizers. Mommaw and I have very similar opinions of kitchen work, in that if you can get the desserts and apps done ahead of time, in addition to any tedious prep work like chopping or raising, then the day of will be smooth sailing. That is the attitude we have taken with every single Thanksgiving I can remember and it hasn't steered us wrong yet. Come to think of it, Mommaw and I have been preparing Thanksgiving dinner together since before I can remember. Ever as a little girl I would go out to her house early Wednesday and at least stand on a chair and dutifully mix everything she put in front of me. Now that I can be trusted with a big girl knife, I feel like I am a little more help to her now. Regardless, we always pull it together beautifully and I cherish every moment with her.

And here are all the pictures! My sister indulged me by taking these photographs - I always feel so spoiled when she takes pictures of my food, and I tend to hog her skills slightly ("Take a picture of this! And now of this, I just added an ingredient! Wait, let me stir it... ok, now shoot.") Enjoy these, they really turned out fabulously!

Look at our beautiful table!

.... from another point of view.

Shrimp cocktail (for the men among us who need their strength whilst frying our turkey.)

Beer bread to accompany our spinach artichoke dip.

Sparkling cider

Apple, pumpkin, and "happy" pie (pecan spiced with Woodford Reserve bourbon.)

Cranberry chutney (with walnuts, apple, oranges, allspice, and golden raisins.)

Balsamic and apricot glazed Brussels sprouts with bacon and red onion.

Our first of two turkeys - oven roasted (I got to carve this one!)

Turkey, broccoli cheese casserole (one of my favorites!) and dressing (since we don't stuff our turkey.)

Traditional dressing and broccoli cheese casserole.

Our second turkey - bonedust rubbed and deep fried.

Buttermilk rosemary smashed potatoes

Pillowy soft rolls

My end of the table.

A homemade centerpiece, courtesy of Mommaw's ingenuity and resourcefulness.

Made of baby gourds, pumpkins (hollowed out and doubling as candlestick holders), acorns and hedgeapples from the woods.

Roasted Turkey

Candied Sweet Potatoes

Our completed Thanksgiving Day dinner table.

We have a New Addition to the Family!

And nope, it's not what you are thinking either. No bouncing baby boys or cooing baby girls, but a brand new English Labrador puppy! My grandparents (affectionately names Mommaw and Boppaw and will be referred to as such from here on out) have an affinity with "labies" and make sure that their acreage out in the country is kept company by a couple of them at all times. I personally could not be happier for them! Not only does that mean that they have more puppy love to pass around but I get to live the puppy life vicariously through them!

His name is Del's First Mate, or Mate for short. They live right on the river and it would be inappropriate to name his anything other than a swaggering sea name. I love it! Doesn't he look like a Mate to you?

These pictures are my sister's handiwork too. She really is phenomenal at what she does and you can certainly tell a difference between her photographs and mine. This one is my favorite of hers.

That is Mate with my dad, just chilling and loving the attention. He will be a lovely addition to our family. Fits in already!

Look at that cute little pink puppy belly. And of course he has already been in the mud, in true boy form.

Oh I can't get enough of him. There is nothing like a puppy to make you smile from ear to ear until it hurts... and then rub your cheeks a bit so you can smile some more. But this blog entry isn't just about new puppies. It is about food too! And what better time to make an entry about burgers and salads!? It is that time of the year that I can't wait to get to, savor, cherish, and then cry a bit when it is all over. Grill season. When I was still living at home we would grill almost every night when the weather was warm. We would spend the days at the pool, doing yard work (yes, we all did yard work together, even us girls) at swim meets, but we always seemed to have time to take a moment and grill up a tasty dinner. My dad is the true grill master in our family, and between him and I we have grilled pretty much anything. Veggies, fruits, pizza dough (you HAVE to try this and there will be an entry all about grilled pizza in the very near future,) angel food cake, and of course any manner of protein you can think of.

But of course, some of these "traditional" offerings get monotonous, so if you have hit the proverbial bar-b-q wall already, try this variation. I made a stuffed turkey burger with broccoli salad. It was different, packed with flavor, and of course, grilled up perfectly (though these will do just fine inside on a grill pan or in a skillet as well.)

A few notes about turkey burgers - Usually people choose turkey over beef to cut calories and fight back some fat. But unless you are buying all white meat ground turkey to make your burgers, then there is really no nutritional difference between beef and turkey. And I know there are probably a few of you readers saying "But dark meat has all the flavor and juiciness." That is precisely why I chose to stuff and season my burgers with mozzarella cheese, Italian breadcrumbs (extra credit if you make your own,) sage, red pepper flakes, black pepper, and fresh parsley. All of these elements come together to make one lip-smacking burger, and once you top it off with some juicy tomatoes and crispy lettuce, you might as well banish all those worries of "dry turkey."

And about that salad - No need to get burnt out of the same old potato, macaroni, cole slaw, or green salads. Pick out some of your favorite veggies and make it shine in a salad of it's own. Love carrots? Make a shaved carrot salad with tarragon vinaigrette. Squash more your taste? Saute up some with some garlic and fresh basil and you're good to go. This is a great way to experiment in the kitchen (something I am always trying to encourage people to do) in addition to using some of the plethora of fresh vegetables and fruits ripe for the picking this time of year. I chose broccoli but in order to keep some of the intergrity of the vegetable, served it raw with a plain yogurt and vinegar dressing. With a few raisins, slivered almonds, and diced red onion, it had me coming back for seconds.

Happy grilling all!