Meatball sammies

This recipe originally came from Rachael Ray, but we modified it a little bit.  My mom and I made them this past weekend.....We didn't toast the bread, which was an error on our part....I would recommend toasting it, as the un-toasted bread got soggy really fast. 

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pounds ground beef, pork and veal mix (we just used beef, would also be good with sausage)
• 2/3 cup gluten-free breadcrumbs
• 1/3 cup finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
• 1/3 cup grated Pecorino Romano cheese (we used Parmesan)
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 2 large cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 3 tablespoons grated onion
• A splash whole milk
• 1/2 tablespoon rubbed or ground sage
• Fresh nutmeg
• Salt and pepper
• EVOO – Extra Virgin Olive Oil, for generous drizzling
• 8 deli slices mild or sharp provolone cheese
• 1 15-ounce can fire-roasted diced tomatoes
• A few leaves fresh basil, torn
• A pinch dried oregano or marjoram
• 4 gluten-free rolls or 1/4 large gf loaf, split and warmed or toasted 

Heat a large cast-iron skillet or griddle pan over medium-high heat. In a large bowl, combine the meat mixture, breadcrumbs, parsley, Pecorino Romano, egg, garlic, onion, milk and sage; season with nutmeg, salt and lots of pepper. Form the mixture into 4 patties (thinner at the center and thicker at the edges for even cooking).

Drizzle the burgers all over with a liberal amount of EVOO. Place in the hot skillet and cook, turning once, for 10 minutes. Top each burger with 2 slices of provolone and tent with foil to melt.

While the burgers are working, in a medium saucepan, heat the tomatoes. Stir in the basil and oregano; season with salt and pepper.

Place the burgers on the roll bottom, then top with the sauce and roll tops.

Jennie's favorite meal

This is one of Jennie's absolute favorite meals.  I don't make it that often, I prefer it when Ma makes it, as it's just one of those meals that's better when mom makes it.

This is a pretty simple mean, as I use pre-packaged sauerkraut (the bagged kind in the refrigerated section of the grocery store - not canned - Frank's Quality Kraut in a bag is GF) and polska kielbasa (Hillshire Farms is GF) baked together until heated through.  Serve with plain mashed potatoes with butter and salt.  A Leinies or GF Red Bridge completes the meal. 

spaghetti with pepper and Parmesan

This was really simple and delicious.  I boiled thin spaghetti noodles (or use gluten-free spaghetti) until al dente and then drained them, reserving about 1/3 cup of pasta water.  Return the noodles to the stockpot, with the reserved water and a few tablespoons of butter.  Crack fresh pepper onto noodles and sprinkle freshly grated Parmesan (or any other hard cheese) over the noodles and toss this all together.  Add a little salt and serve.  So simple and so yummy.

mini-meatloaves

Luke and I bought a 1/4 cow from our friend Christa's family farm.....I have been making a lot of beef dishes since then - we have a freezer full of ground beef and steaks.  I love it.  We always have meat on hand and there are so many things you can do with ground beef.  This was my first time ever making meatloaf and it was awesome.  I added grated onion (as the juices enhance the onion flavor better than chopping), worchestershire, A1 sauce, ground pepper, egg and salt.  I made brown gravy (omit or use gluten-free gravy mix) to go over the meatloaf and roasted parsnips and green beans for sides.  So good!

sandwich cookies

These cookies will literally melt in your mouth.  They are very delicate, and quite frankly, a pain in the rear.  They are incredibly delicious, however.  I get requests to make them every Christmas....I used to also make them for Valentines, Easter, etc.....but I've gotten lazy and don't make them very often anymore.  Because they are very delicate, they are hard to frost and will break apart easily.  You can use any shape cookie cutters, but they should be kept small, as they will be easier to frost. 

Cookies:
2 cups flour
1 cup butter
1/3 cup heavy or whipping cream
1 cup granulated sugar

Mix 2 cups flour, 1 cup butter and 1/3 cup cream until crumbly dough is formed.  Cover and refrigerate for at least one hour.  Heat oven to 375 degrees.  Take out dough, roll to 1/4 inch thick on a heavily floured board.  Dough is hard to work with, keep cold and use a lot of flour.  Use a small cutter to make shapes.  Sprinkle or coat in granulated sugar.  Bake 7 to 9 minutes. Cool before frosting.

 Frosting:
1/4 cup butter
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
food coloring
Mix 1/4 cup butter, 3/4 cup powdered sugar, 1 tsp. vanilla until smooth. Add food coloring to achieve desired shade.

Little thimbles

This is a really easy and yummy pasta.  These little noodles look like little thimbles and are called ditalini (I haven't seen GF ditalini, but you could use any other GF pasta).

 

Recipe:

1 box ditalini (or any GF pasta)

1/2 bag pre-washed fresh spinach

1 14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes

1/2 small jar of green olives, halved

fresh Parmesan cheese

fresh garlic, pressed or chopped

olive oil

5 scallions, sliced

Heat oil in large skillet, add garlic and warm.  Add green onions, tomatoes and green olives.  Let simmer for about 10 minutes.  Add spinach and saute until limp.  Toss cooked noodles with the sauce and sprinkle with fresh Parmesan cheese.

supper of champions

Sometimes you just need grilled cheese, tomato soup and a Leinies. 

The end of the Italian adventure

On one of our last days in Sorrento, we attempted to take a bus trip to Amalfi.  The first day that we tried, we sat on a bus for about an hour, waiting....the bus driver was just sitting in the driver's seat, not doing anything....a lot of people were getting impatient and asking questions...but the driver didn't speak English and none of the tourists really spoke Italian.  So we sat.  The driver didn't make any attempt to communicate what was going on.  Finally a local informed us - via sign language and broken English - that the bus was broken.  I couldn't believe they didn't try to find some way to communicate that to us.  We had been sitting there for a long time.  And why was the bus driver just sitting there?  It was weird.  We spent that day in Sorrento.  The next day we tried again.  We got as far south as one tiny town past Positano on the bus, when we were told the bus could go no further - the road was broken.  So that happened.  We got off the bus in this place.....it wasn't a town at all.  There were no restaurants, stores, etc.  We both had to pee, and we had to wait in the hot sun for an hour and a half and then get back on a bus to head back north to Postiano. 

Positano is a beautiful coast town.  Unfortunately, there weren't many places open when we were there. It was a weekday in early March....they probably don't have many tourists coming through in the off-season.  We still got some great pictures.  But what a crazy adventure.

I would highly recommend traveling completely by train.  The bus rides were insane.  The roads are so narrow and winding.  Along the coast the cliffs are tall and people drive crazily.  The buses speed around corners, honking their horns to alert people of their presence.  It's frightening. 

 

When we left Sorrento we only had one more full day in Rome before heading home.  We decided to see Vatican City - which took most of our last day. It was beautiful.  The Sistine Chapel was the most amazing room I've ever entered...unfortunately, no photos are allowed.  We did get a lot of pictures inside St. Peter's Basillica and inside the museums and galleries.  Vatican city was quite an experience, I would highly recommend checking it out.

 

  

  

After leaving the Vatican, we walked along the river to the Mouth of Truth - La Boca della Verita.  Ever since seeing the movies Only You and Roman Holiday I have wanted to go to this place.  

 

 

The following day, we flew home.  Ah, what a great trip:)

Pompeii, Vesuvius and Hercolano

We took day trips to each of these sites from Sorrento, each was only a short train ride out of the city.  As an Anthropologist, and lover of history, these sites were of particular interest to me.  In fact, Pompeii was the main reason we decided to focus this trip on "southern" Italy (Rome and the Amalfi coast) instead of "northern" Italy - which would have included Florence and Venice....which I am also really looking forward to - someday:)

Pompeii was an incredible site.  The town was quite large, and you can walk throughout the entire thing.  So many homes and structures are still (somewhat) intact.  The frescoes and mosaics impressed me the most.  So many are still visibly beautiful; which, in it's own way, is quite sad.  The ability of this art to survive, through such a tragedy, is amazing.  That is survives still, after all this time - I found Pompeii to be a beautiful, peaceful, sad place.  Hercolano is a smaller site, also destroyed when Mt. Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD.  We visited both sites, here are some pictures - mostly from the Pompeii site.

 

  

  

  

  

Mt. Vesuvius was an amazing adventure as well.  We wanted to go up to the top and see the crater, we found a tour company that was ready to take a van full of tourists up to the top - the weather was questionable.  It was warm and fine in town - but cloudy up above....they warned us about visibility....but this was our only option to go up the volcano.  We decided to go for it.  The guy driving the van, while I'm sure experienced on that road, made me nervous.  He was an absolute nut-job.  The driving nearly made me sick. The roads were narrow, winding and very steep.  He sped up these roads as if he was in a race.  When we got to the top, the fog was so thick, we could barely see 20 feet in front of us.  We had to hike up the last few hundred feet, which was very steep....that combined with the altitude made it a slow and exhausting trip.  Walking through the cold fog was like getting a facial - our faces, clothes and hair were soaking wet by the time we reached the top......It was amazing to be up there, but the fog was so thick, we couldn't see inside the crater.  I am so glad we went to the top, but it would have been nice to see inside:)  We did get some nice postcards....so we know what it looks like, but here is what we saw: