I made these the other night, and they were good! Here’s a quick & dirty method more than a recipe…
~🍽️~
For the French dip above, I just sautéed a diced sweet onion and canned mushrooms in medium heat in butter, set the goods aside, cranked the heat, seared a roast from Aldi in the same pan, added it, the onions/mushrooms, some shredded carrots, & a can of condensed French Onion Soup to the crock pot on high for 4 hours.
I pulled the roast out to “rest” for a bit before slicing, then put it back into a bowl with some of the liquid for the crock pot
For the buns, I just bought Mancini sausage rolls, melted butter in the microwave, put them in at 375° for 2 minutes, then pulled them out.
Then I piled on the sliced/shredded beef & mushrooms/onions/carrots and some sliced white American cheese, then back in the 375° oven for 5 minutes.
I made an “Au Jus” McCormick packet, and added some of the liquid from the crock pot for dipping. Toasting the buns really helped it stand up to the dip so it didn’t fall apart.
The potatoes were just little Yukon gold potatoes boiled in salty water for 30 min., smashed on to an oil-brushed cooking sheet, then baked at 425° for ½ hour.
I spiced the onions, meat, butter, & potatoes throughout all the stops, I think I added chicken bullion to the potato water, too. I used a lot of garlic & onion powder, black pepper, and Season Salt or Mrs. Dash’s table blend.
Well that’s it. Do you make anything similar? Have some tips & tricks? I have made similar stuff before with Swiss or Havarti or Provolone, used all kinds of different beef or even Steak-Ums, whatever buns/bread look good, used the French’s fried onions, etc. Ya gotta change it up and/or use what you have on hand!
So, recently I was hungry for stuffed cabbage. I had never made it before, so after Googling a few recipes and soliciting advice from a Facebook food group and Nextdoor, I came up with my own. You can put this URL into Just The Recipe or do the Cooked Wiki “hack” to skip all my bullshit up here.
I’m not a huge fan of rice in meatballs like you typically see with stuffed peppers or stuffed cabbage, so I was googling recipes without it and kept finding stuffed tagged as “keto,” or with other grains substituted in. I think it’s a texture thing for me, so I opted to go my own route. Also, get out of here with your sweet/hot sausage, I’ll add my own spices. Keep your veal/beef/pork mixes. Maybe ground turkey would be cool. Keep the lamb away.
It seems that many are tied to their family’s traditional way of making it, and that’s pretty cool. I always thought of it as an Eastern European type dish, but lots of cultures have their own spin & own words for it according to Wikipedia. The thought of omitting rice, or using condensed tomato soup instead of a tomato sauce or V8 sent some people into a tizzy. I even learned that lots of people include sauerkraut, and some people like it served with sour cream. Some people make it like a casserole. We always had the tomato soup version growing up, so that’s what I like/expected. Who knew? I’ll probably make it different next time… but both kids & the wife liked it, so I won’t experiment too much.
I used glass baking dishes covered with foil, but got advice that a roasting pan, an electric roaster, the crock pot, a Dutch oven, a soup pot on the stove, or a pressure cooker all work well, too.
Although, I would like to wrap a piece of bacon around the rolls and throw them on the smoker…
At any rate, check out the recipe, and give me your recipes. tips, tricks, advice, and heavily guarded family recipe secrets in the comments.
Also – What do you call them?
Here’s what I did. 🤷
Get It:
1 head of cabbage.
4-ish lbs. of ground beef. (I used 3 lbs of 8/20 & 1 lb. of 90/10)
2 eggs
½ Yellow Bell Pepper
½ Spanish Onion
1 cup shredded carrots (I bought a bag and I’ll use it for other stuff too.)
1 beef bullion cube
1 stick of butter
3 23.2 oz. cans condensed Tomato Soup
Bread crumbs (Do I look like I measure stuff? Probably a cup and a half?)
Shredded Parmesan Cheese (in the ‘lil fancy container by the expensive cheese)
Minced Garlic (just have the jar ready I’m lazy and don’t crush/mince my own)
Spices. I used salt, black pepper, white pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, Season All, & Table Blend. (I just throw it on at every step indiscriminately with complete abandon and total anarchy.)
Do it:
Preheat Your oven to 400°.
Get a stock pot, fill it enough to cover your cabbage. Drop in the bullion cube, and salt, minced garlic, and whatever seasoning your heart desires, and crank it to high with the lid on.
Chop your onion in half. Toss half in the boiling water, but take the lid off first & then put it back on.
Mince the rest of the onion.
Cut up the yellow pepper. Feed half to your kids, the dog, or your significant other. Or just eat it. That’s the perk of being the cook. Mince the other half.
Pull out a handful of the minced carrots, a big knife, and what them up until they are tiny pieces of shredded carrots. Our dog loves carrots, so I sprinkled some on her food bowl.
I greased 3 glass baking dishes with the stick of butter. I used a 9″x13″, an 8″x9″, & a 9″x9″ because that’s what I had. I swear we broke like 3 glass dishes last summer.
Melt what can surely be described as an obscene amount of butter in a skillet and sauté the onion, then the pepper & carrots on medium heat. I was sure to hit them with onion powder, garlic powder, salt, & pepper. I like to cook onions slow & low.
Drop the head of cabbage in your now boiling water while you’re doing all that. Yes, remove but do not replace the lid.
Put the sautéed veggies aside and let them cool a bit while you get the meat mixture ready.
Set up a colander or strainer over a large bowl, & get your tongs ready.
Beat your eggs, & add spices.
Mix the meat, eggs, breadcrumbs, some cheese, sautéed veggies, some minced garlic, and lots of spices. I do it by hand. I wash my hands very well before & after, so you probably should too. But hey, you do you.
By this time, hopefully your cabbage has been boiling 10-ish minutes. Use tongs to gently peel one leaf at a time and place it lovingly in your colander. Don’t go too quick with it and splash/burn yourself, because I would definitely never ever do that.
Open the cans of tomato soup and cover the bottom of your baking dishes.
Get the leaf, cut out the bottom tough part of the leaf rib if so inclined, slap in your meat mixture, and wrap it like a burrito – folding in the ends part way through. I didn’t measure, I eyeballed the meat to leaf ratio.
Fill the baking dish(es), pour on & season the rest of the condensed tomato soup, sprinkle on some more parmesan cheese, cover in foil, and bake for an hour.
Tips/Lessons Learned/Parting Thoughts:
I was going to bake it at 375° and I probably should have, taking the foil off for the last 15 min. They were well over the recommended 160° internal temp for ground beef. Maybe some browning/caramelizing would not be a bad thing?
I saw a lot of tips for freezing the cabbage instead of boiling it, but I also read just as many responses saying that it can drastically affect the texture and not in a good way.
I may put in back next time. Maybe inside? Maybe wrapped outside?
Hear me out… Reuben cabbage rolls. Corned beef? Sauerkraut? Thousand Island or Russian dressing? Rye breadcrumbs? (We make non-traditional stuffed peppers sometimes, too.)
If you like rice, by all means include it. Or barley, or any other grain. I considered those tiny lil’ pasta balls… but maybe I just like to say Acini de Pepe way too much. Some people recommended cauliflower rice, also.
Are you still reading? Check out the recipe, and give me your recipes. tips, tricks, advice, and heavily guarded family recipe secrets in the comments.
I have been in the mood for stuffed cabbage, and I finally had the time to make it. I've never made it before, but I think it turned out good! Both kids said they'd eat it again. My 9yo food critic son said it was a 10/10.#stuffedcabbage#cabbagerollspic.twitter.com/o4AXtqXXsI
So, yesterday I made spaghetti with homemade meatballs. Today, I wanted a meatball sub. I was thinking I still had some good buns from New Year’s day. They were not good. I had already melted the butter. The store-brand white bread was calling to me. A sandwich? No, a club.., Something worthy of shenanigans.
Behold: The Meatball ClubLook at that toasty goodness.Open up & say “Mmm!”If you don’t cut it diagonally, you’re doing it wrong.
It seemed to be a hit on various social media platforms, so I thought I’d share the love. If you make one, please, post the photo, tag me (@AiXelsyD13 on just about everything), and let me know how it was!
The Meatballs:
I have shared my meatball ingredient secrets a quadruple of times:
I generally don’t measure, and make them different every time. This time I fried them on medium-high in a large pan on the stove & a tiny bit of EVOO.
The Sauce:
OK, gonna level with you. I am not Italian. This is going to make some people mad. I use jarred sauce. This was the cheap Aldi stuff. Usually we get that or the Prego Three Cheese. I add brown sugar & Parmesan/Romano shake cheese. Sometimes, I even add shopped garlic, onion powder, or “Italian Seasoning.” This time it was just brown sugar and cheese. I don’t measure. I toss a little in with abandon. I like the sweetness & it cuts the acid.
The Club:
Get your stuff…
¼ stick butter
Garlic powder
Onion powder
Parsley or (Italian Seasoning)
6 or so leftover meatballs.
Shredded cheese (I had Gruyere & Swiss, but I would probably go for Mozzarella or Provolone, but the stuff I had was fantastic.)
“Shake Cheese” I had the cheap Giant Eagle brand Parmesan/Romano blend.
Three pieces of white bread.
Do it…
Pre-heat the oven to 390° on the air fryer setting.
Melt the butter w/ garlic powder, onion powder, & parsley to taste in a microwave save bowl in 30 second intervals, stirring in between until it’s a liquid.
Put the bread on a baking dish, brush on the melted butter after a good stir. (I just did the top sides.)
Air fry for 2 minutes, & it gets almost crispy on top, the bottom was nice and toasted.
While you’re doing that nuke the meatballs & sauce on a microwave safe plate for 2 min. (or longer if needed.)
Pull the toast out. (I cut the meatballs in half with a spoon then scooped them and the sauce on to two of the slices of bread.)
Top the meatballs with the shredded cheese.
Put the “shake cheese” on the 3rd slice of bread.
Put it back in on air fry for for 4 or 5 minutes.
Pull it out, assemble it like a tower of gluttony, then slice it diagonally with a giant serrated bread knife for dramatic effect.
Take a photo to share & make people hungry.
That’s it. It took a little bit of time & prep, but it was worth it.
Notes:
If you cook & have your own meatball or sauce recipe, of course do that.
Use whatever kind of cheese you want, shredded, or sliced, or whatever.
I would guess you can use the oven on 375°-ish on a regular setting for a bit longer times, or a counter top air fryer.
You could also probably do all of it in the air fryer from cooking the meatballs to melting the butter if you have the appropriate vessels.
If you slice it in rectangles and not triangles, you are a psychopath.
Discussion:
If you’re out of sausage or sub buns, or hot dog buns, what are you using? Pita? Tortilla? Soft Pretzel? Dinner Rolls? Bisquick? Crescent roll dough?
Please, tell me in the comments how wrong it is to use jarred sauce or add brown sugar.
Share with me your meatball secrets.
Do you like the powdery shake cheese or the fancy stuff?
I eat fast food more than a person should. I’m always on the go all over the place with work, and when I get to dine out… fast food is usually a safe shellfish-(and therefore death)-free option. Wendy’s burgers are pretty good. I like a baked potato more than fries sometimes… if I have time to sit & eat.
In my never-ending quest to be ridiculous for absolutely no reason other than self-amusement, I present this to you:
Ha! That didn't take long.
Wendy's on Racetrack Rd. In Washington PA this morning…
Wrong bun. Wrong cheese. Cheese was cold. Not nearly melted. Biscuit destroyed when I opened it.
I’ve never made potato soup before. I read a few recipes, and decided to make my own style. It wasn’t bad for the first time! I wanted to save it for later for myself, so I thought I’d share while I was at it.
I wanted something that would pair well with Reubens, and I think this hit the spot. I have been on a corned beef kick lately.
Ingredients:
2 sticks butter
½ sweet onion
4 cloves garlic
Handful of shredded carrots
lil’ bag of “bacon pieces.”
Cup of flour
½ of a 5 lb. bag of gold potatoes
Box chicken broth
Box vegetable broth
2 cups milk
½-ish cup heavy cream
Dollop sour cream
Shredded Cheese: sharp cheddar, Gouda, extra sharp white cheddar – maybe a cup combined.
Pepper, salt, white pepper, paprika, season-all, garlic powder, onion powder, dried parsley. Use your own best judgement.
Method:
I sort-of peeled about half a bag of gold potatoes, & diced them up… cubes smaller than an inch, maybe ½” to ¾”.
Chopped up half of a sweet onion, and a hanful of shredded carrots. Maybe 2 handsful. Hadfuls?
Minced 4 cloves of garlic. Probably could have used more.
Put the soup pot on the stove… melted butter over medium, sautéed the onions & carrots for a bit, before adding the garlic… then the bacon pieces and the 2nd chopped up stick o’ butter. I hit it with some spices.
Mixed some spices in the flour, and whisked that into the overly buttered sautéed bits, then let it brown a lil’ bit.
Added the boxes of stock, milk, cream, & sour cream.
Plopped in the potatoes.
Brought it to a boil, still over medium. Stirred it a lot. A lot.
Let it boil for like 15 minutes… then added the shredded cheese. I eyeballed it so my “measurement” could be way off.
Stirred it again. A lot.
Used an immersion blender to blend about half the potatoes to thicken the soup.
Let it sit while I made Reubens.
Served with a smaller dollop of sour cream, bacon bits, & mix of shredded cheese on top.
Notes:
I bought a pack of instant mashed potatoes in case I needed to cheat and thicken up the soup. I didn’t need to, but I bet that would wok if I wanted more potato chunks & to skip the blending?
Ham or pork bullion/broth would probably reinforce the bacon flavor?
I wonder if roasting the potoates before adding to the soup would add some more flavor?
Parmesan cheese may have been good too?
Could have upped the spice with some cayenne or more white pepper, or maybe put tobaso/red hot in the serving bowl?
Could have used real bacon, fried it in the bottom 1st & used that grease to mix with the flour… but I didn’t feel like opening a pack of back only to use 4 or so strips.
Chives would be good if that’s your thing.
Any suggestions? Like I said, I wanted to pair it with Reubens. I have been on a corned beef kick. You don’t need a recipe for that, do you? Let me know if you do.
Like I said, I have been on a corned beef kick lately…
So, right before new years, I went on adventure looking for mini cocktail rye breads from Pepperidge Farm. They used to make one called Jewish Rye, and Pumpernickel.
The Jewish Rye was cool because it contained ground caraway seeds instead of the standard whole caraway seeds. I have had bouts with Diverticulitis, so I try to stay hydrated & avoid tiny sharp seeds. Caraway absolutely ruins sauerkraut, but it is good in rye bread.
Pumpernickel is cool because it essentially is named for the devil’s farts… and if that’s not cool, I don’t know what is. This is also code in my household for “I am always right.” I told my wife the name origin behind it, she said there was no way, Googled it… and, like I said… I am always right.
Did they just stop making those little mini seedless cocktail rye bread things? They are increasingly hard to find every new year. Struck out at Kuhn's & Shop 'n Save, @GiantEagle has been a miss the last few years. Maybe @FreshThymeFM?
I know that the other manufacturer, S. Rosen, make cocktail-sized rye and pumpernickel bread… but the rye is not seedless. Apparently Hanky Panky means something entirely different in some parts of Ohio.
My wife likes to make this stuff for New Year’s that’s like swiss cheese, lemon-pepper, and mayo on the cocktail-sized Jewish Rye then toasted in the oven. It’s delicious. I like to make little mini open faced Reubens. The pumpernickel would be an acceptable alternative if I absolutely can’t find the seedless rye.
Because I’m weird and can’t leave anything alone, we have this…
Hey there, Eric. We're sorry to hear you're having trouble finding our Party Rye and Pumpernickel Bread. Unfortunately, we have discontinued it. We will be sure to let the team know you were looking for it. https://t.co/7lhEBw42Iu
I, of course, posted it on Twitter, Instagram, & Facebook. I tagged Pepperidge Farm & Pepperidge Farm Cares. To their credit, they did reply:
Hi there, we're sorry to hear this! Unfortunately, this variety is no longer available. We will pass along to our team that you want to see them return.
I did tag all the stores that I could in the photo on Instagram and Facebook, but none of them have taken the bait.
I had to turn it up a notch, to which they did not reply:
All of that just says:
Hello,
I was wondering if anyone had time to try and complete my maze while considering bringing back cocktail-sized Jewish Rye.
The ground caraway was awesome, because it isn’t a potential diverticulitis disaster like whole seeds are.
My wife wpuld [sic] use it to make this delicious lemon pepper cheese appetizer, and I like to make tiny Reuben sandwiches and pretend I am a reformed King King that no longer has to eat people sacrificed to me on Skull Island.
The mini pumpernickel is cool just because of the etymology. I mean? It has to be the most metal bread out there. 🤘
How can you discontinue such wonderful things?
Also, AI generated art seems to be the cool thing these days, so I tried to make this on a few different ones to go along with the blog post:
I may have to buy a gorilla suit and make some tiny Reubens with the S. Rosen bread… and convince the wife or kids to take my photo.
Or, I may have to make a maze for S. Rosen, featuring a caraway seed that must make the journey through my guys without getting stuck, causing inflammation & a possible infection. Or maybe it has to make its way through a grinder before beign added to the dough & baked?
@SRosens1909 So, do you guys make a seedless cocktail rye bread, or just the Pumpernickel (the most metal of all breads! 🤘💨)?
I know the big PF dropped the ball and you picked up the slack. Bravo!
I doubt than anyone at Pepperidge Farm or Pepperidge Farm Cares is going to complete my maze. But, if they do, you can thank me later.
As far as discussion here, which I always ask for yet rarely get in the comments, let me know what you do with mini cocktail rye or pumpernickel bread.
Also… Ler’s discuss Reubens. Russian or Thousand Island? Regular rye or marbled? Do you add anything like bacon or swap out corned beef for Pastrami? Do you ever use Havarti instead of Swiss? Grilled in a pan, or on a panini press? I should blog about Reubens. Mmm. I’m hungry.
Also, please, please, complete the maze! Send me the results, post & tag me!
The most important takeaway is that if I tell you something, I am always right. Pumpernickel.
Little dude helped prep the starter chimney for the grill, and mix the burgers, make some patties & check the temperature.
Tried to keep it at 250° for about an hour,
went up a few times so we played with the vents to get it right.
Slathered on some BBQ sauce at the end for a little less than 10 minutes.
The buns, which I should do on the propane side of the grill next time…
Melted some butter & garlic in rhe microwave, brushed it on the buns, put them in the oven at 375° on a pan with a roasting rack for a few minutes to toast them… pulled them put and added BBQ sauce to the bottom and a slice of Gouda and some more French’s onions to the top… toasted until the cheese was starting to melt & the onions got a little more toasty.
Not a bad dinner! It tasted like a Rack of ribs on a bun and the burgers were really juicy. It almost tasted like a rack of ribs or some brisket on a bun.
🍔
So, how do you do your burgers on the smoker? I did get advise to sear, but skipped that as they seemed done & pretty together when I checked them. Any special recipes outside of the normal? We do a mushroom and swiss melt with these onions too… sometimes I make a molten cheese ball on the inside… from regular grilling to the counter-top grill. We try to make them different that what you typically get out. I have been known to do pizza or chili cheese burgers too… but we are definitely coming back to these and trying more styles in the smoker. Maybe a bacon/cheddar/jalapeño one next?
So, today I felt like cooking. We recently came back from a weekend at a cabin and a week at camp. We had a bunch of new stuff ready in the garden, and some stuff past ready.
Here are three quick recipes that I posted on Instagram. The Poblano peppers, banana peppers, straightneck squash, and snap beans were grown in our garden.
Well, that turned out well. Got some poblano from the garden this week. I mixed some bacon bits, minced garlic, shredded cheddar cheese, and steak seasoning into some cream cheese, cut the peppers in half, stuffed with the peppers with the mixture, sprinkled more cheddar on top, wrapped with bacon, & baked on a sheet pan at 375° for 40 min.
Some fresh snap beans from the garden. Steamed, then tossed in with some sautéed mushrooms, French fried onions, minced garlic, a pinch or 2 of flour & fresh cooked bacon pieces. (Used the leftovers from the peppers.)
Had some straightneck squash that grew a bit too big while we were at camp. I had it in my head to prepare it sort of like eggplant parmesean & fried zucchini. I didn’t want the stacked lasagna version, I wanted something with a bit of crunch.
I sliced then up, dredged in flour/cornstarch, egg/buttermilk. & coated in regular & panko breadcrumbs with a bit of parmesan “shake cheese” mixed in. I seasoned each step with Italian seasoning, garlic powder, & black pepper.
I baked them for about 25 or 30 min. on 400°, then topped with provolone & mozzarella slices & a bit more parmesan. They went back in for 10 min.
Served with bowtie pasta & covered in our favorite slightly doctored sauce.
Added the needed flavor to the overgrown squash and I actually preferred the consistency to eggplant.
🥒🧀🌶🥓🧄🍄🌱🍝
All in all, I was really pleased with the results, and I think the family was too.
Do you have some good recipes, tips, & tricks for these garden ingredients?
I’ve made a few different soups before, but never really tackled one with a creamy base. I like my soups pretty simple. I probably used more ingredients here than I needed to. Generally at this point with soups or chili, I just throw a bunch of stuff in a pot and see what happens. I read a few different recipes at the top of a Google search, and went from there. I am really bad at measuring stuff. I just throw in an eyeballed amount.
AiXeLsyD13’s Broccoli Cheese Soup | This was my first attempt. It wasn’t bad!
Tools you’ll definitely need:
Stock pot
Cheese grater
Spoon
Spatula
Ingredients:
1½ sticks of butter
¾ cup of flour
½ cup of shredded carrots
¼ cup of diced celery
½ Spanish onion
1 Tbsp. minced garlic
½ tsp. ground mustard
½ tsp. paprika
½ tsp. onion powder
½ tsp. garlic powder
salt & pepper to taste
1 cup buttermilk
32 oz. box of chicken stock
32 oz. box of chicken stock
32 oz. box of vegetable broth
2 bundles of fresh broccoli (chopped up into spoon-sized pieces)
¼ cup of bacon pieces
7 oz. block of extra sharp cheddar cheese (grated)
7 oz. block of white cheddar cheese (grated)
½ cup of parmesan cheese
1 lb. block of Velveeta (cut onto small chunks)
2 cup bag of shredded “mac & cheese blend” cheese
1 cup instant mashed potato flakes
Method:
Melt butter on medium heat in the bottom of your stock pot, add celery, carrots, onions, & sautée for a bit.
Mix spices with the flour, add to pot to make a roux and let it get a nice color brown.
Add minced garlic at the end… sometimes it burns easily.
Add 3 boxes of stock, then the buttermilk while it’s still cool to prevent curdling.
Add broccoli & bacon pieces, bring to a boil, simmer for about 15 to 20 minutes.
Turn heat to low, stir in all that cheese.
Add mashed potato flakes to thicken. (I think I poured in a bit more buttermilk in here too.)
Notes:
Obviously, you can use your preferred onions, cheeses, stock, etc. You could use heavy cream instead of buttermilk.
I would say next time I will make more roux & use one less box of broth for a thicker soup. Maybe a bullion cube would add flavor without the liquid? I could cook it longer to get it thicker too. I like a ridiculously thick soup.
I like to use beer in ham soup, I bet it would go great here. Maybe I could sub that & a bullion cube for a box of broth next time?
I read that the bagged pre-shredded cheese doesn’t melt as easily, but it seemed to incorporate just as well as the rest of the stuff.
So, that’s it. I would be very interested in your suggestions, tips, tricks, & “secrets” in the comments. Have you tried this recipe? Did you put your spin on it? Let me know in the comments.
I thought about putting this in a bread bowl, but I opted to make my take on ham & cheese oven sandwiches. Maybe I’ll get into baking next time, or just buy some bread bowls pre-made.
🥦🧀🥣
If you liked this recipe, maybe check out these ones:
First, the recipe. Then, the story. ‘Cause the other way around is a thing that everyone hates now.
Lasagna & Meatballs
I don’t measure much. I had stuff from Aldi, Shop ‘n Save, & Giant Eagle by the time I was done. The kids helped. They have been into helping to cook lately. We like meatballs on the side, not meat sauce in the lasagna. Get out of here with your sausage or pork or pepperoni too, this is BEEF territory.
We eventually decided on…
Ingredients:
A box of no-bake lasagna noodles from Aldi.
A 2½ lb. package of ground beef from Aldi.
Fresh spinach from Shop ‘n Save.
Fresh parsley from Giant Eagle (could’t order it from Aldi or Shop ‘n Save via Instacart.)
A tiny tub of Ricotta from Aldi. (Instacart size fail.)
A giant tub of Ricotta from Giant Eagle.
2 Aldi zucchini.
A 2-cup bag of “Italian Blend” cheese from Aldi.
A 1½ cup bag of shredded parmesan & romano cheese from Giant Eagle.
A 1½ cup bag of shredded mozarella cheese from Gaint Eagle.
2 eggs
“Shake cheese” – Used both Parmesan & a Parmesan Romano blend.
A bag of “Italian Seasoning” croutons from Aldi.
Kraft Roasted Red Pepper Italian dressing.
3 jars of the cheap Aldi marinara sauce. (It is way better than the supposedly more delicious and expensive ones.)
Condensed Tomato Soup
Brown Sugar
Various spices no, I didn’t measure:
“Italian Seasoning” {Whatever that is.)
Dried spice-rack Parsely
Garlic Powder
Onion Powder
White Pepper
Coarse Ground Black Pepper
Sea Salt
Whatever Aldi “Seasoned Salt” that looks like the Lawry’s Seasoned Salt bottle or McCormick Season All is.
🌡️ Cook temp: 400° F
⏱ Prep time: This isn’t Food Network, All Recipes, or Martha Stewart & Snoop Dogg. How do I know? I had a 6 year old and a 4 year old helping. So, it was slow.
Get out all your pots, pans, utensils, cutting boards, and stuff before you cook. If you have children helping, get paper towels. Get the ingredients out. Wash your hands. Wash the eggs. We used 2 large mixing bowls, and an inordinate amount of oddly shaped glass baking dishes.
Chop the parsley & spinach like a madman (or mad woman, or mad person of a non-specific gender). Have the kids help. They love sharp knives. It’s important that they respect them and that you watch closely. Very closely. We sometimes use one of those still sharp plastic lettuce knives for stuff like this. I didn’t measure. We used about the whole bunch of parsley & a handful and a half of spinach.
Slice up that zucchini as thinly as possible. I don’t have a mandolin, so I did that instead of the kids. Actually, I would still do that if we had a mandolin.
We divided the parsley & spinach about equally into the 2 mixing bowls. I talked about that thing where you add the same flavors across different dishes to tie them together, but I have no idea what the word for that is.
In the meatball bowl, we tossed in the ground beef & the croutons. We smashed the croutons first. Oh, that was fun. It probably got out of hand, but the bag didn’t pop.
We also poured in some Kraft Roasted Red Pepper Italian dressing in the meatballs. Amount? Yes. Until it looked good. This is one thing I won’t bend on. It is far more superior that any other Italian dressing.
The we dropped in some Italian Blend shredded cheese & some shake cheese. Measuring is for the timid. Eyeball it. Use the force, let it guide you.
Mix it with your hands, roll into balls, and pop in into a glass baking dish, or 3 odd little ones. We spaced them out. I mean, you could use a baking sheet, and I used to prefer them in the electric skillet, but this is so easy. We put all of the above spices in there too. And sprinkled a bit on the outside once formed.
We washed out hands again, and I set that in the oven & set the timer for 23 minutes because I couldn’t decide between 20 or 25.
We poured the marinara & tomato soup in a pot, added some brown sugar (just a bit), shake cheese, parsley & italian seasnonings, & garlic.
The kids stirred that. And stirred that. And stirred that.
We put the ricotta in the 2nd mixing bowl already containing spinach & parsley.
Add eggs, the rest of the “Italian Blend” cheese bag, some shake cheese, and some minced garlic… and whatever spices you want. I told the kids here about depth of flavor in using the dried parsley vs. the fresh parsley and minced garlic vs the garlic powder… but I don’t know if they were paying attention. They had just cracked eggs and we were about to mess with a giant gooey bowl of cheese.
Go easy on that white pepper if you have it. It goes a loooong way.
Spread the sauce on the bottom of your biggest glass baking dish.
We layed out the no-boil noodles. It was my first time using them. I think it went pretty well. They fit 4 across and 1 at the end in our pan.
On top of the noodles we did half of the ricotta mixture, the Parmesan/Romano shredded cheese, the zucchini, sauce, more noodles, the rest of the ricotta mixture, the shredded Mozzarella cheese, sauce, noodles, more sauce, and a mix of the Parmesan/Romano & Mozzarella cheeses.
We like cheese. The kids tasted the different shred varieties as we layered. Ian liked the Parmesan/Romano & Molly liked the Mozzarella.
I covered that in foil & put it in the oven for 45 minutes. Then I uncovered it & let it go for 15 minutes.
The extra sauce goes on the meatballs.
Ooh. I snuck the story in on you didn’t I? Wow. Would you like to speak to the manager? You might like my other blogs about meatballs or meatloaf or wedding soup… or any of my food stuff. The kids went absolutely primate-poop over the meatballs. The no-boil noodles were fine. I liked that they were al dente. There was enough liquid that I didn’t add any like the box suggested. Be a rebel! (OK, I asked for opinions on FB for that first on my page & in an Aldi recipe group.)
![Hello,
I was wondering if anyone had time to try and complete my maze while considering bringing back cocktail-sized Jewish Rye.
The ground caraway was awesome, because it isn't a potential diverticulitis disaster like whole seeds are.
My wife wpuld [sic] use it to make this delicious lemon pepper cheese appetizer, and I like to make tiny Reuben sandwiches and pretend I am a reformed King King that no longer has to eat people sacrificed to me on Skull Island.
The mini pumpernickel is cool just because of the etymology. I mean? It has to be the most metal bread out there.
How can you discontinue such wonderful things?](https://aixelsyd13.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/wp-1674692091553.jpg?w=220)
World (and Lunar) Domination 