Non-Meatball Greek Chicken

 

It's been necessary that I cook out of the freezer/pantry this week ... The other morning I pulled out chicken mince and a box of frozen spinach with the intention of making Spanikopita Meatballs.  When I got to time to cook dinner, I had run out of time !!  I decided to try a short cut.  It worked.  Instead of making meatballs and baking them in the oven, I just cooked everything in the big electric fry pan.  It tasted THE SAME !  Just not rolled up into balls !

So, here's what I did ...

chicken mince (ground chicken), 500g

red onion, diced

garlic cloves, diced

frozen spinach, thawed

greek seasoning

olive oil

Sautee garlic and onion in olive oil for a couple minutes then add the chicken mince.  When chicken is almost cooked through, add the spinach and seasoning.  Cook until chicken is fully cooked. 

Serve on rice with soy sauce and tsatsiki ...

Easty Tsatsiki 

No measurements ... just mix greek yoghurt, finely diced cucumber and a couple squeezes of lemon juice.

Meatball Subs

i have so many fun recipes to share with you !

let's start with this one ....



i tried my sister ellie's families favorite meatball recipe last week and boy was it good !

i am so excited that there is still half a recipe in our freezer waiting

for us to eat them very soon !!

i had to adapt it a little bit because i ran out of ketchup ... i used one cup ketchup

and then one tin of diced tomatoes. i think i'll do it that way again.

a tin of tomatoes is a heck of a lot cheaper than ketchup here !

ANYWAY ....

we made our meatballs into meatball subs !

and they were amazingly delicious !

we used ...

white hot dog buns
2 or 3 meatballs, depending on person eating
provolone, jarlsburg (swiss) or tasty (cheddar) cheese ... again, depending on person eating !
and jono (our 9 year old) added paul newmans south west dressing to his

easy peasy !
perfect for dinner and then lunch the next day !

you should try it.

ps ... we had cooked the meatballs the night before and then just heated the up for the subs ! even easier !!

Homemade Meatballs

These are our family's favorite meatballs. The recipe makes a lot but since ground beef isn't too expensive, they are still a pretty cheap meal. It's a good one to have in your repertoire if you often entertain large groups of teenagers... as we do. Or if your family will one day contain a large group of teenage boys...

3 lb ground beef

1 (12 oz/350ml) can evaporated milk

1 cup oatmeal

1 cup crumbled crackers

2 eggs

1/2 cup chopped onions

1/2 tsp garlic powder

2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

2 tsp chili powder

Mix in a large bowl.

Form into meatballs. I use my cookie scooop. I take a heaping scoop and form the meatballs inside the scoop. (Sorry for using the word scoop so many times, I couldn't think of another word to use.)

Put them in a single layer to maintain their shape. If you want to do this step ahead you can put the meatballs on a lined cookie sheet in the fridge until you're ready to finish them.

Then brown the meatballs in a skillet. The longer you brown them in the skillet, the less you have to worry about them being all the way cooked in the oven. Transfer meatballs from the skillet to a glass 13x9 inch pan. Depending on the size of the meatballs, it might not all fit in one pan. I usually end up with a 13x9 and a 8x8 inch pan.

After you've browned the meatballs, make the sauce.

In a sauce pan, bring to a boil:

2 cups ketchup

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp liquid smoke

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 cup chopped onions.

Pour over the meatballs.

Bake for 45 minutes at 350 degrees.

BBQ Meatballs

* photo taken on my iPhone ...

We used to have these often but haven't had them for years. I got the recipe from an email group called "real food for real people" that I used to be a part of years and years ago. We used to make them as burgers but last night I decided to make them as meatballs. They were really yum ! This recipe makes a heap ! We ate them for dinner, and will eat them again for lunch and still have some left over. Usually I freeze half the batch ...

For the meatballs:
3lb ground beef (just over 1kg beef mince)
3 saltine (salada) crackers, crushed (i actually did about 8 ...)
1/4 cup water to each lb ground beef

Mix ingredients and roll into meatballs (or patties) and quickly brown. Do not cook completely. Put into baking dish and cover with BBQ sauce, bake 350F/180C for one hour.

For the sauce:
1 cup ketchup
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup vinegar
6 tbls Worchestershire sauce
1 large onion, finely diced

Bring all ingredients to boil on top of stove, reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Pour over burgers/meatballs.

**

I served this last night with roast potatoes, peas and corn. As we were eating, I remembered that we used to serve this with mashed potatoes ... mmmmmm ... next time !

Make sure you scoop lots of that yummy sauce on top of them meatballs when you serve !

spankikopita meatballs with tsatsiki dressing

Rory and I made an interesting discovery last night. When you have a gas stove and you run out of gas, you can't cook on your stove anymore til you get more gas. We discovered this half way through making dinner !! We were making this. So ... Rory took the half cooked chicken out to the BBQ and finished cooking it. I cooked the Israeli cous cous in the microwave. Thank goodness I'd already finished cooking up the lemon.capers.almonds in butter. They're the best bit !!

The new gas bottle doesn't come until THURSDAY ! Good thing tonight's meal was one for the oven and tomorrow's can be done on the BBQ !!

These meatballs are yum. I loved them. I served them with tsatsiki, rice and roasted garlic brocolli. I need to stop. I'm making myself hungry again !

I found this amazing recipe here.

Here's how I did mine ...

1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, finely dinced
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 box frozen chopped spinach, defrosted
500g ground chicken
1 tbsp hoyts BBQ and grill greek giro sprinkle (i tried to find this online to show you but came up empty ...i'm sure any sort of greek seasoning will do ...)

Preheat oven to 400F/200C degrees.

Defrost the spinach in the microwave, squeeze out excess water. Place in a large mixing bowl with the rest of the ingredients and mix really well.

Roll into about 18 (1 1/2 inch) meatballs and place on a cookie sheet. Bake for about 12 minutes, turn over and bake for another 10-14 minutes or until the meatballs are golden brown and cooked all the way through.

Reposting ...

... this here on the Beans Blog because I've made my other blog private and people have asked for this recipe !!

This was so delicious that Jono told me he "loves this kind of meal" and gave me a big hug right there at the dinner table !!

It's a crock pot recipe that I got from Chick In The Kitchen. Her recipe calls for ground turkey but I used ground beef. I made a few other changes too so I'll post the way I made it here. You can check her recipe out and make it her way, my way or even your own way ! That's the great thing about cooking !!

I decided to try making focaccia bread too. It was soooo good ! I've never made it before. Don't know why ! The recipe for it is the next page over from the recipe I use almost every week to make pizza dough in my bread maker !!! Anyway, I'll be making it again, that's for sure !

Focaccia
(recipe from the book that came with my bread maker)

Water ~ 250ml
Olive Oil ~ 2 TBLS
Salt ~ 1 tsp
Sugar ~ 2 tsps
Flour ~ 3 cups
Yeast ~ 2 tsps

Add ingredients to bread maker in order listed and use the 'dough' setting.

Press dough into a lightly greased pan. I used baking paper.

Cover and stand in warm area for 30 min or til doubled in size. (I always fill the sink with hot water and stand my doughs on top of that to make it warm ... works well)

Remove cover, brush with olive oil and sprinkle with rock salt.

Bake in pre-heated oven 200C (400F) for 30 (mine only took 20 minutes) minutes or until golden brown.

Slow Cooker Meatballs

(see Chick in the Kitchen for original recipe using turkey)

2 lb. (1kg) lean ground beef ( mince )
1 egg
1/4 c. fine, plain breadcrumbs
a big handful of fresh parsley, finely chopped
garlic chives ~ chopped
2 tbls (?) fresh oregano, finely chopped
ground black pepper to taste (about 6 turns of the grinder)
2 (500ml each) jars of your favorite pasta sauce ~ I used an extra garlic one

Add all ingredients — except for the sauce — to a large bowl, and mix with your hands until well-combined.

Roll meat into golf ball-sized balls, and layer into the bottom of your slow cooker. Pour the jar of sauce over the meatballs so they are completely covered.

Place lid on your slow cooker and cook on LOW for 4 hours.

Serve on top of pasta of your choice ~ I used vermicelli.

And of course, I served it with the yummy focaccia bread !!! Mmmm Mmmm good !!!

***EDITED THURSDAY ***
I wanted to join in Sandra's Slow Cooking Thursday !
This is such a yummy recipe !!!
Come back after you've tried it and let me know what you think !!