lemon.

The Best Meatballs in Easy Tomato-Cream Sauce

yourhealthista:

Despite my ambiguous feelings toward Giada, her meatballs are really something special. I first discovered them when I made Giada’s Italian Wedding Soup. I had some leftover meatball meat (is that the right word?), so I decided to cook some up and eat them on their own. Best idea ever. They were delicious and totally carried themselves without the rest of the soup. (Side note: I’m SO behind on Season of Soup! I’m going to try to catch up, but I don’t know if I can. I think I finally got sick of soup! I can’t believe I’m saying that!).

I tweaked Giada’s recipe slightly, but it’s pretty close to the original. Here’s my version:

You’ll need (makes 10-12 large meatballs):

For the meatballs:

• 1 medium onion, grated
• 1 cup fresh Italian parsley
• 3 large eggs
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 1 tsp salt (or to taste)
• 1/2 cup almond meal (you could also use bread crumbs)
• 2/3 cup grated Parmesan 
• 16 ounces ground beef (I used organic grass-fed beef from TJs)
  
• 16 ounces ground pork (I used organic local stuff ground pork from Door to Door)
• freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 2-3 Tbsp olive oil

For the sauce:

• 1 28-oz. can diced tomatoes (with basil if possible)
• Italian seasoning to taste (basil, oregano, etc.)
• 1/2 cup cream
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 bay leaf

Make it:

Combine all ingredients except olive oil in a large mixing bowl. Mix well with your hands. Really get in there and mush stuff around!

Form large (palm-sized) balls and roll them in your hands before putting them aside on a plate or cutting board.

Heat the olive oil in a pan over medium heat and add the balls (make sure to leave a little space between them for turning).

You’ll need to cook them on each side for about 5-7 minutes. When one side gets brown, turn it. The balls should cook for around 25-30 minutes total, but remember to keep turning so nothing burns!

While the meatballs are cooking, start the sauce. Pour tomatoes into a large sauce pan, add seasonings and bay leaf, and simmer for 10-15 minutes. Once the meatballs are done, take the sauce off the heat and let it rest of a few minutes. Then, add cream and remove the bay leaf.

Ladle the sauce over your scrumptious meatballs and add Parmesan for garnish if you want. I served my balls with some roasted kale.

Ugh, so good. The tomato-cream sauce is so ridiculously easy, but it tastes genius. I think adding a bit of cream to a really acidic sauce is the way to go. A little goes a long way and it makes your sauce taste so much more rich and complex.

Giada, maybe you’re not so bad after all.

The only Bachelor recap you need to read*

“Holy shitballs… Ben is fucking boring.” -Sari

I’m an asshole.

We met a broker two weeks ago who showed us an apartment and we discussed football while looking. He was a Giants fan, The Boy is a Niners fan.

So today, he wrote to follow up and began the email with:

Hi,

I hope you enjoyed the games yesterday ;).

I needed to write back and thank him for his time and explain that we’re no longer interested… so I wrote:

Hi Kyle,

Since the Niners lost to the Giants, we’ve decided not to go with this apartment.

I went on to explain that I was kidding… or was I?

Oh great

Here come all the Facebook friends who haven’t even seen a Giants game this season with their “GO GMEN!” statuses. Ugh. Time to ignore lamebook.

Not that I’m bitter or anything because I TOTALLY AM.

I’ve never had an Egg McMuffin.

Apropos of last night’s discussion. The “egg” part weirds me out. Ick.

(Source: mar-see-ah)

Aspirational Bags

Is it me or do most girls have a bag they’re hell-bent on buying once they finally make it as a “real live grown up?”

I have two.

First, when I’m a real live grown up who stops with the Ikea furniture and the candy and the nail-biting, I shall buy a Chloe bag like this one. The blue is killing it. (Because what’s more grown up than spending a month’s rent on a bag?) 

And then, when I’m a real live grown up and I’ve recently knocked off a bank (kiddddding), I shall wait on a list for two plus years and starve myself and stop paying rent (so grown up) to buy the Hermes Birkin:

(Hopefully it’ll come in Shark, but beggars can’t be choosers.)

I wouldn’t buy into the Birkin hype had I not seen one on a random woman in Duane Reade. I legit could not stop staring to the point where I think she thought I was going to mug her. It’s seriously gorgeous in person. (Also, if you don’t want people to stare, don’t carry a $10,000 bag in Duane Reade. I mean.)

Anyhow, what’s yours? 

Cohabitaish

emmaleah:

In response to Lemon’s recent post, I’ve been thinking a lot about what makes a successful cohabitative state. My boyfriend and I were roommates before we were a couple (which you already know, because I am endlessly amused by this fact and repeat it here ad nauseam); when we decided to “move in” move in together, it was a matter of moving my comforter and endless stash of tank tops into his room. Which is a whole ‘nother story.

• Gratitude. “Thank you for washing the dishes,” or “Thanks for folding the laundry” goes a long way. To me, it’s just recognizing the things that he or she does to make your life a little bit easier. Consequently, do those things that make your partner’s life a little bit easier.
• Timing. 8 AM on a hectic Wednesday is not the time to observe, “Honey, we have to do something about your shoes” or “We really need to hang that painting.” Sure, we do, but talking about it when we’re both scrambling out the door is just going to leave us frustrated.
• Break the routine once in a while. Wake up half an hour early and have breakfast at the diner, or meet for happy hour somewhere new.
• I don’t drink orange juice, and Mike doesn’t eat yogurt, but we know each other’s daily staples and remember to shop for them.
• It’s really wonderful to come home late from work to dinner. And beer. Not an endless round of “I dunno, what do you want to do for din?”
• Crack each other up. All it takes is for him to say “basil” in a made-up, exaggerated pseudo-British accent to make me laugh. 

I realize that this is not groundbreaking relationship territory, Carrie Bradshaw, and a lot of this is based in common courtesy. But these little snippets make life in our domicile so great.

For all those cohabitating: some solid advice. I love this.