I did it. No one died. Everyone seemed to like it. I’ll put my recipe down here first & the shenanigans after that… because Threads gave me some shenanigans. Trigger warning for Nonnas worldwide:I put brown sugar in jarred sauce. Proceed with caution.
Preheat oven to 375° (Next time I may do 350° for a longer time, but we were in a but of a hurry.)
Brown the beef in a pan on the stove with some of all your spices to taste. (I could/should have included onion here.)
Mix the ricotta, one bag of the shredded cheese, the grated parmesan, a bit of the shredded parmesan, the eggs, fresh parsley, & shredded zucchini in a large bowl, again with all the spices including the garlic.
This filled two 9×13″ glass baking dishes for me. I think I layered them both a bit different. Follow your heart. Put sauce on the bottom, sprinkle in some brown sugar, the dry lasagna noodles, the ricotta mixture, the ground beef, some more shredded cheese, more sauce, more noodles, and just keep going. I did put a very little bit of water in the jars of sauce to swirl around & empty more.. and put that into the dishes too. Sprinkled cheese and made sure there was lots of sauce on top of each.
Cover them tightly with foil & put them in the oven for 50 minutes.
Take out, sprinkle on some more of the shredded parmesan, cook for another 10 minutes.
Pull out, rest for a bit, then serve.
Notes:
Like I said, lower & slower next time. Maybe 350° for an hour then uncover & go for another 15 minutes?
Carrots may be good in with the ground beef… and/or mushrooms?
Maybe spinach in the cheese mixture or as another layer. Let’s get some fiber up in here.
I don’t generally like sausage, but if you do it’d be good here for sure.
What would you do?
🍝
Readers, let me tell you… people have feelings about calling that strip of pasta a “lasagna noodle.” There is also the fact that “American” lasagna has ricotta, but traditional does not. I was even told that because I added shredded zucchini it is no longer lasagna. I have made it replacing the pasta with long thinly-sliced zucchini planks and still called it lasagna.
People have lost their damn minds. No one knows that food and language evolve over time and across regions and even households?
I did plug my ingredients list into Gemini, ChatGPT, Perplexity, & Copilot to see what they would churn back out, but honestly I didn’t follow through with any of their advice.
I look forward to your thoughts about lasagna, your tips, tricks & recipes, and the nuance of semantics involving pasta naming conventions in the comments. How do you layer yours? I feel like I need a way deeper pan. Do you go “traditional” and eschew ricotta? Do you call lasagna noodles lasagna noodles or are you pretentious?
I really like to make my own meatballs. Sometimes there store bought frozen ones are fine. Sometimes you intend to have a meatball sub, and end up making a meatball club. (I like my meatballs with lasagna & in wedding soup too.)
The other day we needed a quick dinner so frozen meatballs it was. Still gotta make it good though, right? I like a toasted sandwich bun…. with meatball subs, meatball clubs, pulled pork BBQ, chipped ham BBQ, sloppy Joes, & more.
Ooey Gooey Toasty Meatball Sub
I had ChatGPT help me format my recipe from my ramblings…
Cheesy Meatball Subs with Garlic-Herb Toasted Buns Servings: 2 | Prep: 10 min | Cook: 15–20 min
Ingredients:
8 frozen meatballs
2 sub rolls
2–3 tbsp butter, melted
½ tsp garlic powder
½ tsp onion powder
½ tsp Italian seasoning
1 tsp parsley
1 cup jarred marinara sauce
1 tsp brown sugar (optional)
2 tbsp grated Parmesan or Romano cheese (plus extra for topping)
Black pepper, to taste
4–6 sliced black olives (plus extra for topping)
2 slices provolone cheese
¼ cup shredded mozzarella
Instructions:
Cook the meatballs according to package instructions.
Preheat oven to 357°F (180°C). Mix melted butter with garlic powder, onion powder, Italian seasoning, and parsley. Slice rolls and brush the butter mixture onto the cut sides. Sprinkle with Parmesan/Romano and some sliced black olives. Toast for 5 minutes.
Warm marinara in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir in brown sugar, Parmesan/Romano, Italian seasoning, and black pepper. Taste and adjust seasoning.
Place 4 meatballs per bun. Spoon sauce over the meatballs. Add additional olives, provolone slice, and shredded mozzarella.
Return assembled subs to the oven for 5 minutes until cheese is melted and bubbly.
Let cool slightly, then serve and enjoy!
Apparently canned black olives are polarizing here according to social media. Would roasted red peppers be acceptable? What about sauteed green peppers or onions? Mushrooms?
What do you do to spice up your quick go-to meals? What do you like on your subs? Yes, I put sugar in jarred marinara sauce. Tell your Nonna to calm down with the carrots and the baking soda. I like the sweetness and the acidity cut. I also use jarred minced garlic occasionally.
Quick Edit to add, had these for lunch today with the leftovers:
I have been slacking on the bird feeder filling lately as we have had some stuff going on, but I made a sure to get ’em filled today. I grabbed some photos of what I bought & mixed as people are always asking what others use. I wish I could tell you I am consistent. I generally grab whatever looks good, or is cheap, or whatever is available. This is what caught my eye today.
I put all this in a Rubbermaid tote, stirred it with an unused garden stake, and went to fillin’. The powdered spices seem to be cheaper than the oils or the hot seed mix. I think they work well enough for me. I feed the squirrels & chipmunks on their own anyway.
I do have suet blocks hanging too, I got the C&S Hot Pepper Delight and the C&S Woodpecker Treat to hang in my double-block feeder. I like to get the orange or berry varieties sometimes too.
Urine Speaks Louder Than Words
The pissing gnome is still hiding among the pollinator wildflower mix under some of the feeders… they generally look like weeds until august. Got any tips on how to keep a nice-looking pollinator garden? I do like how it obscures the scattered seed… and I’m growing some errant sunflowers.
I love to put together a holiday meal, especially thanksgiving. I have it down pretty good to corral the chaos.
Turkey in the electric roaster!Thanksgiving Dinner Plate!
First prepping the turkey & stuffing…
I do the bird in the electric roaster, stuffed, for 15-ish minutes per lb. @ 325° Farenheit. I roasted in the preheated pan on full for about 45 minutes at the start before turning it down. I inject the turkey in a few sports with a mixture of melted beer, butter, & spices. I usually rub some softened butter on top and toss on lots of seasoning there too. I usually pour a bottle of beer and a box of turkey broth in the bottom, & include some carrots, celery, & an onion.
Don’t worry about samonella with a stuffed bird. Take it to 165°. Always use a food thermometer. Some of the dark meat of the turkey will be overcooked but it will still be juicy & delicious. I haven’t killed anyone with my turkey yet.
The extra stuffing can be made into stuffing balls, but I put it in the crock pot. You just have to stir it, & maybe add extra turkey or chicken broth if needed or it will stick to the sides a lil’ burnt.
Do the math, & time it so you’re pulling the turkey out about a half an hour before you want to serve it.
I cut up the butternut squash first, & put it in the fridge for when I needed it.
I peeled & quartered the potatoes, let them sit in cold water (& turkey broth).
Cut up & prep the brussels sprouts & carrots, you want to pop them in about 45 min before you plan to eat.
Prep the squash & put it in right after the brussels sprouts.
Turn on the potatoes, by the time they cook & you do your thing… it the other stuff should be ready to go.
Others brought even more sides… cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, deviled eggs, & rolls!
If I make green bean casserole, I pretty much use the Campbell’s recipe or French’s Fried Onions recipe… sometimes with an added can of mushrooms, fresh green beans, & maybe even some bacon pieces or ham.
So, I have blogged about it before, but that was more just the method. This time I actually measured stuff. Usually I just eyeball a bag of fresh green beans if they look good. Still don’t have a good name for it. Ham, Green Beans, & Potatoes? Ham , Beans, n’ Taters? Grandma’s Special? Daddy’s Favorite? Is it a soup or a stew? It’s delicious is what it is. I generally make enough to have a stunningly large amount of leftovers. I always try to get the ham bone, this time my son & I each got one. He’s a copycat.
Soup – In the spoon & soup in the bowl – and the post dinner text from my 9yo after she said there were too many beans and potatoes. 🤦♂️
Ingredients…
3 quarts water
2 Bone-In Ham Steaks, cubed. (makes about 16 cups / 4 quarts)
1 5 lb. bag of potatoes, cubed. (makes about 16 cups / 4 quarts)
2 “steam in bag” bags of green beans, snapped in ½ or ⅓ (makes about 8 cups / 2 quarts)
The “to taste” is just a few shakes usually. This recipe doesn’t really need any extra salt, so if I have a salt-free blend like Mrs. Dash or the Aldi equivalent, I use that. The bullion is according to directions, I think I measured it out right. I added too much water this time, but I think this measurement is still right. The beef & chicken bullion cubes and even the beer are completely unnecessary, but I feel like it adds a little to the broth. I use a big stock pot with a lid, and an 8-cup measuring cup for the big stuff.
Put your liquids & spices in the pot, put it on to boil, but don’t quite dime the knob.
Cube your ham, dump it in the pot.
Cube your potatoes (don’t peel them!), dump ’em in the pot.
Snap ends off your beans if you have any sus ones, snap them in to bite-size pieces if you want. Or chop them. Or don’t. Dump ’em in the pot.
Boil for 20 minutes.
Simmer for 20 minutes or even longer if you want. Let it cook down & get tasty.
Don’t taste it too early while it is hot and burn your tongue every time, because I definitely do not do that.
Serving suggestion – Serve it up with homemade bread (or store bought fresh baked) and butter.
Obviously, wash the beans & potatoes first. I think I broke down what you need & more details on the method the first time I wrote about this soup(stew?). I use fresh produce beans most often, but the bags are quick & easy to measure. This is also good with leftover ham from a holiday meal.
I like soups, I make them a lot. Well, I make them sometimes, when I have time. If you like this one, check these out:
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.)
Yinz like chili? I do. I haven’t made any for a long time. I may need to change that. I stole this (& modified it) from my never-used Cookpendium blog. My writing has hopefully improved since then. Maybe not. I like a tamer chili that would appeal to a wide variety of people to add heat as they like. I like it thick enough to make a spoon stand. I can take or leave the beans, and I reject your debatable elitist visions of chili or what it ought to be.
I ought to try and make a new batch using only stuff I buy at Aldi.
How do you make yours?
[Originally from a post at (the now defunct) PittsburghBeat.com, here’s a few consolidated chili recipe/methods…]
Recipe 1:
I’ve never made chili before, and in researching, I came across 50 billion recipes. So, this morning I made my own in the crock pot…
2 cans of condensed tomato soup
1 can of tomato paste
1 packet of chili mix
about ½ cup of water
1 tsp. of beef bullion
1 can light red kidney beans
however much ground meat was leftover from last night
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. black pepper
a dash of cayenne pepper
a dash of paprika
a dash of garlic
…and I slapped it into the crock pot on low for 8 hours.
Hope it tastes good when I get home. I’ve got shredded cheddar cheese for the top of it, & Super-Pretzels to go along with it. They always served pretzels & chili in my elementary school cafeteria so they belong together in my warped mind.
Most of them use tomato paste, soup, sauce, juice, or diced tomatoes as a base… I even saw one that called for Spicy hot V8… and I think my mom always used soup. Tomato paste is usually bitter, so I figured the tomato soup would counteract it. All of the spices should be rockin’. I like my chili thick.
Oh yeah, about 1/2 the ground meat was cooked w/ some seasoning salt & A1.
Recipe 2:
Here’s what basically went into my chili. I’ll probably eventually make a blog about it with a narrative so I can remember what I did this time for next time… to see what I wanna change or what I wanna do again.
I ended up only using the one can of diced tomatoes (the one with jalapeños) and still kind’ve overflowed the pot by a small amount. So, next time I may cut out one can of tomato soup or a can of beans. Also, I want to try garbanzo beans in my next batch… and I’ve heard chocolate powder goes good in chili some times… so I wanna try that one day too.
I also tossed in 2 slices of Velveeta ripped apart, a dash of spicy brown mustard, and a drop or 2 of A1 Cracked Peppercorn Steak Sauce.
I think the meat that I used was too fatty or I didn’t drain enough fat (…even though I got a about ⅔ of a regular sized plastic cup full of fat out of it). I had to skim some excess grease off of the top when I popped it open this morning.
I’ll let you know the general consensus after it’s been consumed.
[Edit: It was good.]
Recipe 3:
I must have pinned this at some point, too. Someone re-pinned it here…
I think it was a joke about Pepto because this chili killed my guts, even served over mashed potatoes.
Share your chili recipes with me in the comment section below. Don’t be a jag and sit on your secret ingredient(s). Is it cocoa powder? Chocolate bars? Corn? Zucchini? Cinnamon? Potatoes? Steak? Instant potato flakes? Cornmeal? Chupacabra?
How do you serve it? In a bowl? Over baked or mashed potatoes, rice,or spaghetti? With soft pretzels or cornbread? With tortilla chips or crackers?
How do you cook it? Crock pot? Dutch oven? Stove top? Over a campfire?
Do you like the Hormel canned stuff or the stuff from Wendy’s? Who makes your favorite?
So, I have always wanted to make wedding soup, but have never tried it. Until now. Skip to the end if you just want the recipe and none of my shenanigans.
Wedding Soup à la AiXeLsyD13
Wedding soup recipes abound on the internet. Some people are vehement that theirs is the “right” way. Apparently the inclusion of pasta is a beans-in-chili-like debate. I would guess that it depends on your region, heritage, and family traditions. I have none of these ties. I’m just a yinzer that likes food. I did reach out via Facebook to see how others do it. I wanted to try to make the soup because of the tiny pasta, I think. I may have also made some other “controversial” decisions.
Pasta. Even though real Italians apparently don’t include pasta in their soup, I am not Italian. Not remotely, even. Seriously. My wife got me the DNA thing for my birthday a few years back and I’m apparently super English, Scottish, Welsh, & Irish with a bit of Scandinavia and the Iberian Peninsula thrown in. I had to Google the Iberian Peninsula. So, as a Yinzer I am making a stand with pasta in the wedding soup because that’s how I have seen it. Orzo looked too much like rice,and rice in soup is gross. (I know, it is an entirely different consistency. Just accept the fact that rice in soup is gross, you’re wrong if you disagree, and read on.) I did most of my shopping at Aldi, but they had no tiny pasta… so I went to Giant Eagle and got Acini De Pepe. I could have also easily gone with what Barilla calls Pastina (neat tiny stars!) and apparently is not even a thing or it’s a generic thing.
If I would sub out cheese tortellini/farfalle for pastini/acini de pepe in the wedding soup, I could get all my ingredients at @AldiUSA. #fb
I chose to make the meatballs myself, because I like making meatballs. They’re big-ass meatballs because I have poor portion control and couldn’t use the mellon-baller to effectively help reel it in, and who wants a little tiny meatball anyway? I used beef, because cows are tasty. I typically don’t do the lamb/veal/pork mix in any meatballs or meatloaf, so why start now? I also opted for ground beef in lieu of chicken or turkey, because beef. Sheep are for making blankets, not eating… unless you like eating meat that tastes like wool blankets.
In my meatballs, I use Kraft Roasted Red Pepper Italian dressing & crushed seasoned croutons. I also tossed in some extra spices (onion & garlic powder, salt, pepper, and whatever “Italian Seasoning” is), two eggs, and parmesan/romano “shake cheese.” (Does anyone else call it that?) I generally crush the croutons with my hands, but since I was apathetically trying to make smaller meatballs and my 3yo was my helper, I put some in a sandwich baggie and smashed to crap out of them with the shake-cheese bottle. Why use bread crumbs when you can smash stuff? I could totally skip the dressing & toss in whatever spices… but I tried this one time with meatballs to go with spaghetti or lasagna and we liked it, so it stuck. We cooked them in 2 frying pans, because it seemed quick. I like to bake meatballs sometimes too. This really could be a 7-day damn project of soup.
A lot of wedding soup recipes call for shredded chicken. I never really noticed it in the wedding soups I had eaten until at a recent wedding where they left the chicken in sizable chunks. Maybe it was an accident? I have no idea, but I liked it. I felt like I was taking a bite of something instead of creepy little chicken strings being used as a garnish. Also, I decided to cheat and not make stock… or I probably would have roasted then boiled the shit out of a chicken carcass and produced some shredded chicken as well as tasty stock. I grilled the chicken in the manliest way possible outdoors over an open flame like our cavemen ancestors. OK, I cooked it on a counter-top panini grill and attempted to give it some nice criss-crossed grill lines before letting it cool and cutting it into “cubes” with less knife skills than Stevie Wonder. I wanted to know I was eating chicken. I probably put some season salt on it.
I made a mirepoix, I think. I put some butter in the bottom of the soup pot, and heated up some finely chopped carrots, celery (stalks and some of the leafy top), onion, & a bit of parsley and the lazy-people chopped-up-already in a jar garlic. Did those last two mess up the mirepoix? Salt and pepper went in there too, because the Food Network says to season every step or something like that.
Then I added some random boxes of stock & broth from Aldi. Really. I couldn’t decide. So, I got lowfat (that’s all they had) chicken stock, chicken broth, and low sodium chicken broth. They were all those creepy giant juice-boxish containers that no doubt every chicken aspires to reside in someday. I almost bought a vegetable stock, but didn’t. How do you get vegetable stock anyway? Isn’t that just broth? Isn’t the difference between stock & broth the inclusion of bones?
After that, I added the meatballs and chicken and let it boil for a bit. Maybe on like 7 or 8? I hate when recipes say “medium-high” heat. Give me a number, damnit. There are numbers on my oven. Are they there for no reason? How long? I don’t know. Long enough to chop up the “fresh” spinach.
I went for the fresh spinach in a plastic box at Aldi. I didn’t see any with the produce, didn’t catch it in frozen, and bought a can as backup just in case. They didn’t have any endive or escarole that I noticed. I wasn’t sure about Kale but may try that next time. I probably could have added the canned spinach too… it could have used a bit more maybe? Although, my meatball helper who crushed about 4 or 5 meatballs after we cooked them wasn’t a big fan of the soup itself because “big kids don’t like spinach sometimes.” She will eat pasta, grilled chicken, carrots, and meatballs all day every day. But the spinach was a no-go I guess. I think I added about 4 cups of water and 2 chicken bullion cubes in there somewhere.
I added the spinach and the box of acini de pepe at the same time. I let it go for the recommended 9 minutes. I know I had been advised to not do it that way. Cooking the pasta separately first then adding the rest of the soup over it in a bowl would be the level-headed thing to do. I was ready to eat by that point though, so in it went.
It was delicious on the first run if I do say so myself. Upon having leftovers, the acini de pepe swelled to ridiculous proportions. Ha ha. Next time I will cook the pasta first or only use half of a box. Or, I will do it the same way and have wedding pasta. Your soup means nothing to me! My total meat and carb domination can not be culled.
Well, on to the recipe if you even made it this far:
Non-Italian Wedding Soup Recipe:
This is not your ordinary recipe. I don’t measure much. I just throw stuff into a pot, especially with meatballs and soup. Obviously, use whatever you have on hand. Make substitutions. This is a recipe in the loosest sense of the word. This is how I did it this time. I may do it different next time. There probably are some good details above that I neglected to mention down here.
The Meatballs:
3 lb. Ground beef (I think it was 80/20?)
Seasoned Croutons (grab your favorite)
Kraft Roasted Red Pepper Italian dressing
Seasonings
2 eggs, beaten.
Parmesan/Romano “shake cheese”
One day when making meatballs, I grabbed the dressing & croutons because they were on the counter. We were probably having salad with our spaghetti or lasagna. It’s just breadcrumbs & oil with some seasonings in it. I usually smash the croutons by hand, but crushed some of these with a plastic sandwich bag & the Parmesan cheese container since I was trying to make smaller(ish) meatballs. I added some more spices (see below) with the beaten egg, and mixed the meatballs by hand. I used a fancy mellon-baller with an ice-cream-scoop like trigger mechanism that my mom had given me for a few of them, to measure… but they got out of hand easily and I had my 3yo helping. So, they were probably bigger than they needed to be. How much dressing and croutons? Eye it. I do. I like meatballs that are mostly meat, not bread.
The Soup:
A few handsful of Carrots (I started with the baby-cut ones because the kids snack on them.)
Maybe ⅓ of a bunch Celery? (I chopped up the stalks & some leaves.)
An Onion
Fresh Parsley
Spinach – I got a box of the “fresh” stuff from Aldi.
Grilled & poorly diced Chicken Breasts (I did mine on the panini grill)
Home-Made Meatballs (…or use frozen ones from the store.)
3 creepy juice-box-like broth/stock containers. I literally got 3 different kinds of chicken broth.
4-sh cups water
2 chicken bullion cubes
Minced garlic in Olive Oil (because I’m lazy & don’t want to mince my own.)
Butter (enough to cover the bottom of your soup pot when it melts)
Parmesan/Romano “shake cheese”
Shredded Parmesan (Aldi had a fancy little container.)
De Cecco Acini De Pepe
I started out with the butter melting on the bottom of the soup pot, then added the carrots, celery, onion, & some parsley. I sauteed that for a bit, then dumped in the 3 weird juice boxes of chicken broth/stock over top of that and brought it to a boil. I reduced the heat a bit, and added the chicken and meatballs. I let it get back to a boil and added some of the shredded Parmesan & Parmesan/Romano shake cheese to the broth. I let that simmer for a bit and eventually added -ish more cups of water and 2 chicken bullion cubes. (Maybe beef bullion would have been cool here?) Once that boiled again, I added the pasta & spinach & boiled for another 9 minutes. It was tasty. I burned my tongue. Let it cool. Be patient.
Spices…
Season All
Paprika
Onion Powder
Garlic Powder
Crushed Black Pepper
Sea salt
White Pepper
Crushed Red Pepper
Italian Seasoning
Parsley Flakes
When I refer to seasonings or spices, it could have been any combination of these. I just grab & shake whenever.
Please, let me know if you tried your own inspired by this one. Let me know if you do your own a totally different way. Let me know what I did right, or let me know what I did “wrong.” Thanks for reading!
I DM’ed them and told them of me real name and my cause. I think more companies are engaging people personally & directly with Twitter like this, and it’s a great thing. Who doesn’t like free stuff?
Today the mailman delivered some goodies…
Free stuff!
The card s pretty cool too!
@Bronco_Jalapeno #ThanksRadioShack...? Yes, yes he does.
Hilarious. How fun is that? I do need some soldering stuff, I guess it’s off to Radio Shack for the stuff next time I need it! (I might get a couple of capacitors to mess around with.)
So, thanks to Radio Shack for being cool, for the laugh, & for the T-shirt!
I walked into the house today and saw this rather large box on the couch where I normally sit. My wife had arrived home a little while earlier, and brought it inside. FedEx dropped it off on the front porch earlier in the day.
I saw my name, then the Arby’s logo, and I could hardly contain my excitement.
...For me?
I mean, I thrive on the ridiculous, and this is most certainly ridiculous. This couldn’t be a box full of Bronco Berry Sauce, could it? Indeed, it could. Absolutely ridiculous. Personal supply? I mean, I like to eat but…
Yee-haw!
That is a whole lot of horses and berries! Well, it would be… if Bronco Berry Sauce actually contained any broncos or berries. The label on the box says that it’s 240 1.5 oz. containers of this decadently delightful dip. It also contained this lovely letter…
Hala Moddelmog, President of Arby's
A letter from the President of Arby’s?Hala Moddelmog rules. I mean, I don’t see the presidents of McDonald’s, Wendy’s, or Pizza Hut responding to a crazy person on the internet with such individually directed kindness & generosity.
I’m obviously going to need help finishing this case. It expires in June, so I highly doubt we can get through it all. Want some Bronco Berry Sauce? I’m willing to share what is now a rarity in our region.
I’m saddened by the news that Jalapeño Bites won’t be returning to Arby’s in Pittsburgh any time soon, but I do believe that my emails have actually been passed along. I will pass on the Occupy Arby’s sauce sit-in. But I still may write a song, even if no one helps me.
Perhaps the song will be the thing that puts our market managers and the marketing team over the edge. I’ll have to write to my new friend Ms. Moddlemog, and see exactly where to direct my comments.
I almost want to build something out of them. It looks like 1 or 2 popped (or was squeezed) open, but it’s an acceptable loss. I mean, it was free. We had some Bronco Berry Sauce tonight with a few Tyson chicken tenders for dinner in lieu of boring old bottle barbecue sauce.
Bronco Jalapeño’s appetite may be satisfied for now, but my quest is not over. Arby’s in Pittsburgh, are you listening? Bring back the Jalapeño bites! This potato bite shenanigans is just that, shenanigans.
To follow the story from the start, check out these posts:
World (and Lunar) Domination 