Food Friday: Buffalo Chicken Meatballs

So this recipe was recommended by some girls on the TB Aug 12 board and they were pretty good! I was able to make them dairy-free and they came out pretty delicious!

Ingredients
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter or Earth Balance to make them dairy-free
1/3 cup Frank's Red Hot sauce or any other favorite hot sauce
1 pound ground chicken, preferably thigh meat
1 large egg
1/2 celery stalk, minced
3/4 cup breadcrumbs
1 teaspoon salt

Yields: 40 3/4-inch meatballs

Preparation
Preheat the oven to 450°F. Drizzle the vegetable oil into a 9 x 13- inch baking dish and use your hand to evenly coat the entire surface. Set aside.
Combine the butter and hot sauce in a small saucepan, and cook over low heat, whisking until the butter is melted and fully incorporated. Remove from the heat and allow the mixture to cool for 10 minutes.
Combine the ground chicken, hot sauce mixture, egg, celery, bread crumbs, and salt in a large mixing bowl and mix by hand until thoroughly incorporated.
Roll the mixture into round, 3/4-inch balls, making sure to pack the meat firmly. Place the balls in the prepared baking dish, being careful to line them up snugly and in even rows vertically and horizontally to form a grid. The meatballs should be touching one another.
Roast for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the meatballs are firm and cooked through. A meat thermometer inserted into the center of a meatball should read 165°F.
Allow the meatballs to cool for 5 minutes in the baking dish before serving.

Food Saturday?

Oops, forgot to post my Food Friday post yesterday. I had a hellish week at work and it slipped my mind last night.

This recipe has been suggested by a few people on message boards and I pinned it on Pinterest as well. I finally gave it a shot and let me tell you, it's a keeper! We mixed it with rice and veggies, we put it in tacos, Bill made it into quesadillas, and I'm sure there's more we could have done too!

Crockpot Chicken

1 envelope Taco Seasoning
6 pieces Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts
1 jar Salsa (16 oz)

Dump everything into a crock pot and stir to blend the seasoning with the salsa. Cook on high for 4 to 6 hours or on low for 6 to 8 hours (I actually cooked it for almost 10 because I didn't get out of work as early as I wanted to, remember I had a hellish week, but it was fine! I really need to get a crockpot with an automatic shut-off!). When done, stir with a fork or wooden spoon and the chicken should shred easily.

Food Friday: Guinness Brownies (not dairy-free)

So I mentioned below that the dairy-free brownie recipe was not the best brownie recipe ever. This is. I make them around St. Patrick's Day and they are always a huge hit. They are VERY rich and almost more like fudge than brownies. OMG they are soooooo good.

Ingredients
4 eggs

3/4 C. superfine sugar

8 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped

4 oz. white chocolate, chopped

6 T. unsalted butter

3/4 C. all-purpose flour

3/4 C. cocoa

1 1/4 C. Guinness stout

Confectioners' sugar for dusting

Directions
Preheat the oven to 375° F.
Butter an 8-inch-square pan (I use a 9x9)
In an electric mixer, combine the eggs and sugar.
Beat until light and fluffy.
In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt the bittersweet chocolate, white chocolate and butter, stirring until smooth.
Remove from heat and beat into the egg mixture.
Sift the flour and cocoa together and beat into the chocolate mixture.
Whisk in the Guinness.
Pour into the pan and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out almost clean.
Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack.
To serve, dust the cake with confectioners' sugar and cut into squares.
Source: "The New Irish Table" by Margaret M. Johnson

Food Friday: Dairy-Free Brownies

Another dairy-free recipe. This one was really exciting to find because I was really craving some baked goods. These aren't the best brownies I've ever had but they are definitely tasty. I brought them into work (to keep myself from eating the whole pan...) and my coworkers raved.

Ingredients
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup boiling water
2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Grease and flour a 9x13 inch pan.
In a large bowl, stir together the cocoa and baking soda.
Add 1/3 cup vegetable oil and boiling water.
Mix until well blended and thickened.
Stir in the sugar, eggs, and remaining 1/3 cup oil.
Finally, add the flour, vanilla and salt; mix just until all of the flour is absorbed.
Spread evenly into the prepared pan.
Bake in the preheated oven for 35 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.
Allow to cool before cutting into squares.

Food Friday!

So I know I haven't posted Tommy's 7 month update yet but I swear I will soon! Until then, here's my recipe for Food Friday! Another dairy-free idea, though I've been making this for years, long before I started my dairy-free diet!

Chinese Chicken Salad

1 bag prepared coleslaw, rinsed & drained
3 tbsp. sesame seeds
1 bag sliced almonds
2 pkgs. crushed top Ramen noodles (do not use seasoning)
4 to 6 split chicken breasts, cooked & shredded (I boil the chicken)
1/2 c. vegetable oil

In 1/2 cup of oil brown almonds, sesame seeds and crushed noodles. Let mixture cool. Mix with greens and toss with dressing. Add chicken and refrigerate.

DRESSING:

1/2 c. oil (1/4 c. sesame oil & 1/4 c. vegetable oil)
3 tbsp. rice vinegar (do not substitute)
Top Ramen season packets
3 tbsp. sugar

Wisk together and pour over salad. Toss and serve chilled.

Food Friday

I'm linking up with Lauren at Our Little All-American Family for Food Friday. I've done this once before but kind of slacked off when I started my non-dairy diet. I realized I really should post some things I've found that are dairy-free!

Crockpot BBQ Beef

3lbs beef cut into 2 inch cubes
8 ounce can tomato sauce
1/2 cup ketchup
1/2 cup water
1 med. onion chopped
1/2 cup celery
2 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp mustard
1 tbsp Worcester sauce

Brown the beef then dump everything in the crockpot. Cook on low for 7-8 hours and serve over rice (or mashed potatoes but I did rice and it was great!). That's it! Super easy and delicious!

Soy Formula, School Visits, and Sausage

My little piggy boy ate 6 oz. of soy formula in one sitting yesterday!!! I couldn't ever get him to take more than 2.5 oz. of the other formula. Obviously he was having some adverse reaction to the other formula, whether it was him being fussy or if it was hurting his body somehow. I have to do a little bit more research on soy formula because it has been brought to my attention that it could be bad for him due to the levels of estrogen. I will look into it some more and I'll discuss it with his pedi on Monday.

Yesterday I went into school and had lunch with some coworkers and got to see my class! It was so great seeing the other teachers and getting an overview of how this year is going so far and it was awesome seeing my class! I taught first grade last year and looped up to second with my class. I do have about 6 students that weren't in my class last year but I know 3 of them from other homerooms last year. It was really great to go in because it makes me feel excited to go back and reassured that I'll pick things up really quickly. I'm glad I don't have to get to know the kids, I'll just have to get used to a new curriculum. The woman who is subbing for me is going to meet with me one afternoon next week to go over what they've been doing.

I go back to work in 11 days and I'm actually more excited than nervous at this point!

One more thing, Lauren over at Our Little All-American Family does a Food Friday post every week. I'm not a great cook and we're working on replacing our broken oven right now so recipes are limited but I have a great one I want to pass on today. I made this today for dinner and it took less than a half hour. I've come to really love the blog, The Girl Who Ate Everything and this is my take on one of her recipes.

Creamy Sausage and Tomato Pasta

About 1 pound of Sweet Italian Sausage
1 cup chopped onion
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 (16 ounce) can Italian style diced tomatoes
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 cup heavy cream
5-6 big leaves of fresh basil, chopped
1 lb penne pasta
grated Parmesan for topping

Directions:
1) Cook the pasta in salted water al dente, according to package directions.
2) While pasta is cooking, crumble and brown the sausage.
3) Add the onions and garlic to the sausage and saute for a couple of minutes.
4) Pour in the entire can of diced tomatoes and the tomato sauce and heat through.
5) Pour in the cream and heat through. The longer you cook the sauce the thicker it will get so simmer it until it is the consistency you want.
6) Add the fresh basil and let it simmer for a few minutes.
7) Finally, mix the sausage sauce with the pasta and serve. Top each serving with a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese.