Cassie’s Ruminations

Stracciatella with Turkey Meatballs

This is me winging it with my meatball recipe while feeling like soup on this foggy evening. Stracciatella is a classic Italian soup, traditionally made with just chicken broth, eggs, and some sort of green (spinach, arugula or kale). I added my meatballs and a little pasta to make it a hearty meal, and I’ve got to say that it turned out very well! Parmesan is often stirred into the broth as well, but I skipped that.

Stracciatella with Turkey Meatballs
Serves 4

For the meatballs:
20 oz ground turkey
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/3 cup bread crumbs
1/8 tsp garlic powder
1/8 tsp onion powder
2 tsp Italian seasoning (mine is a mix of marjoram, thyme, rosemary, savory, sage, oregano, and basil)
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp kosher salt

For the soup:
1 tsp olive oil
2 quarts low sodium chicken broth
2 cloves garlic, pressed
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1/8 tsp onion powder
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
4 oz small pasta (I used Campanelle, but Ditalini would also be good)
6 stems kale (about 1/4 of a bunch), stemmed and torn into bite sized chunks
2 eggs

Gently mix all of the meatball ingredients together. Form the mixture into 20 even balls (I use my #40 disher for this).

Add olive oil to the pan. Turn the heat to medium high. When the oil gets hot, add the meatballs and brown on all sides. Add the broth, garlic, and other seasonings. Increase the heat to high and bring the broth to a boil. Add the pasta and return the soup to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium and let simmer for 10 minutes. Stir in the kale and cook for another 2-3 minutes.

While the kale is cooking, lightly beat the eggs with 1 tbsp of water and a sprinkle of kosher salt. While gently stirring the soup in a circular pattern, drizzle the egg into the broth, forming long strands. Let the soup simmer for a final minute to set the eggs.

Serve warm.

Posted in Food, Italian, Poultry, Soup, Vegetables | No Comments »

Cranberry White Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

These are some of the best oatmeal cookies you will ever have. Soaking the cranberries is the secret that makes these cookies so wonderful. The technique also works well with raisins, if you prefer.

Cranberry White Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
Makes about 4 dozen cookies

3 eggs, well beaten
1 cup dried cranberries
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
½ tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp baking soda
2 cups oatmeal
1 cup white chocolate chips

Combine eggs, dried cranberries and vanilla and let stand for 1 hour, covered with plastic wrap.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cream together butter and sugars. Add flour, salt, cinnamon and baking soda and mix well. Blend in egg-cranberry mixture and oatmeal. Dough will be stiff. Fold in the white chocolate chips.

Drop by tablespoonfuls (I use a #50 disher) onto a parchment paper cookie sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned. Let cool before serving.

Posted in Baking, Cookies, Desserts, Food, Fruit | No Comments »

Down 25%!

I’ve reached my next weight loss goal. I’m now down a bit more than 25% of my former self. On to 30% lost!

Posted in Ramblings, Weight Watchers | 2 Comments »

CSA Box, Week 18

Fruit, eggs, herbs, the biggest bunch of green onions I’ve ever seen, a huge pile of jalapenos, and some other assorted veggies 🙂

This week’s haul:

• Plums-Angelina
• Pears-Bartlett
• Peaches
• Apples-Gala
• Free-Range Eggs
• Oregano
• Rosemary
• Spinach-Cut Baby
• Potatoes-French Fingerling
• Hot Peppers-Jalapeno
• Scallions
• Carrots-Orange
• Broccoli x2

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Evenings with Emma

A couple pictures of Emma. The first is from yesterday evening after some fetch, snuggling with me as I sipped on cocoa and surfed the web, and the second is from this afternoon with her tolerating the little plastic fireman’s hat that I put on her 😀

Posted in Corgi, Ramblings | No Comments »

Cassie’s Skirt Steak Chili

This is another variation of my usual chili recipe, this time using skirt steak instead of ground beef. The chunks of beef were a great addition, and something I’ll definitely do again, but something about this bean combination was just a bit off, so I’ll try something different next time.

Cassie’s Skirt Steak Chili
Makes 4 generous servings

1 tbsp canola oil
1 lb skirt steak, cut into small chunks
10 large or 15 medium cloves of garlic, finely minced
2 tbsp dark chili powder (I prefer Gebhardt)
1 tbsp cumin
1/2 tsp onion powder
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
2 4-oz cans diced fire roasted green chiles, undrained
2 15-oz cans fire roasted diced tomatoes, undrained
1 can tomato paste (6 oz)
1 can pinto beans, undrained (15 oz)
1 can red beans, undrained (15 oz)
1 can black beans, undrained (15 oz)

Heat the oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add the meat and brown. Add 1/4 cup of water and deglaze the pan. Pour the meat and water into a large slow cooker. Add the remaining ingredients and stir to combine. Cook on high for 4 hours or on low for 8-10 hours. Serve warm.

Posted in Beans, Beef, Food, One Dish Meals, Slow Cooker, Soup | No Comments »

CSA Box, Week 17

No more tomatoes, and the summer squash is just about gone too, but the winter squash are coming in 🙂

This week’s haul:

• Flowers
• Plums-Angelina x2
• Pears-Bartlett
• Apples – Fuji x2
• Spinach-Cut Baby
• Winter Squash-Cha Cha
• Squash-Farmers Choice
• Carrots-Orange
• Cabbage-Savoy
• Broccoli x2
• Beets-Red Ace x2

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Birthday Fun

I celebrated my birthday on Saturday. Shaun and I went to Barnes and Noble and got some food magazines, wandered around the mall and did some early Christmas shopping and got some great owl votive holders and some Harvest votives to go with them, then went for lunch at The Keg, where I got a delicious piece of prime rib and creme brulee for dessert. 🙂

Here I am with Emma modeling a couple of my gifts 😀

The photo was taken with my new spiffy little point and shoot camera that is just perfect for taking along with me to corgi meet-ups and the like.

My folks sent me some great kitchen towels, a pair of spiffy silicone infused oven mitts, and some cut resistant gloves for shucking oysters 🙂

All in all a very nice day!

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Vegetarian Chili

This hearty crockpot meal is great for a fall day. I brought this into work for a potluck and cooked it all morning at my desk. One of our bosses is a vegetarian, so I wanted to make sure that he had something tasty and filling too 🙂 It’s loosely based off of this AllRecipes recipe. I kept it relatively mild for the potluck, but if I were making this for just Shaun and I, I’d add some chopped jalapeno and more chipotle chili powder (and halve the batch 😛 ).

Vegetarian Chili
Serves 12 as a main course (makes about 6 quarts)

1 15-oz can black beans
1 15-oz can garbanzo beans
1 15-oz can dark red beans
1 28-oz can crushed tomatoes
1 7-oz can diced green chiles
1 lb bag frozen corn
2 medium onions, chopped
2 large green bell peppers, chopped
4 stalks celery, diced
1 lb cremini mushrooms, quartered
2 tbsp dark chili powder
2 tsp chipotle chili powder
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp black pepper
4 cloves garlic, pressed

Stir all of the ingredients together in a large slow cooker. Cook on high for 3-4 hours, or on low for up to 10 hours. Serve warm.

Posted in Beans, Food, One Dish Meals, Slow Cooker, Soup, Vegetables | No Comments »

Halloween Socks

Late September means the Halloween stuff is starting to appear, and I got some cute new socks. My Halloween collection is growing big enough that I can probably wear them for 2 weeks leading up to the day 😀

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