Ham Balls - Comfort food to the Max

This is a recipe from my childhood. Both my aunt and my Mom made these ham balls whenever they were serving a crowd. The recipe makes 32 ham balls that are about 2.5-3.0 ounces each. Two ham balls makes a very generous serving. My brother has been making this recipe lately and says it is as popular as ever. Scalloped potatoes and a green vegetable make excellent sides to go with the ham balls. Believe me, these ham balls are comfort food to the max!

Ingredients:(recipe could easily be halved)

Meatballs:
21/2 lb. very lean ground ham
2 lb. lean ground pork
1 lb. ground round
3 eggs
2 Cups graham cracker meal
11/2 Cups milk
Have your butcher grind the three types of meat together if possible.

Sauce:

2 Cups condensed tomato soup
2/3 Cup vinegar
2 tsp dry mustard
21/2 Cups dark brown sugar

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all of the meatball ingredients together thoroughly. To make balls, use 1/3 Cup measure, heaped per ball. Makes 32 balls. Arrange balls in baking dish. Prepare sauce by combining all sauce ingredients and stirring well. Pour sauce over meat balls and bake in the 350 degree oven for 1 hour and fifteen minutes, turning balls once or twice during baking. 

Easy Valentine Dinner Menu

Happy Valentine's Day

Come on fellows, you can do it ! Here is the easiest valentine dinner menu you will ever see and if you make it for your sweetheart she will be thrilled!! 

Step one - order flowers and have them delivered. 

Step two - buy a heart shaped box of assorted chocolates.

Step three- Prepare all ingredients, i.e. peel potatoes, chop parsley, trim asparagus, etc.

Step four - preparing Alaskan king crab legs with drawn butter, new potatoes with parsley, and roasted asparagus. This is a menu anyone can prepare with minimal practice or work. For dessert share some chocolates from step two above. A little champagne or nice crisp white wine goes well with the crab.

Alaskan King Crab Legs

Ingredients: 

2 - 3 Lbs. King crab legs(available at Costco or any large food store)
8 TBSP butter

Preparation:

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Crab legs are only sold pre-cooked. They are steamed on the boats immediately after the crab are caught, so all you have to do is heat them up in the oven. Lay the crab legs out on a cookie sheet with sides and put into the 375 degree oven for 20 to 25 minutes. While the crab is reheating, place the butter in a microwave proof dish and melt the butter in the microwave on high heat for about thirty or forty seconds. Once the butter is melted, use a spoon and skim the froth off of the top of the butter. Place the melted butter into two ramekins or other small dishes to serve. When the crab is hot remove from the oven and serve. You will need a couple of crab or nut crackers to help get the crab out of the shell as you eat it. 

New Potatoes with Parsley

Ingredients:

8-10 small potatoes, about 1" in diameter. I like to use a mix of red                                                                      and yukon gold.
2 TBSP butter
1 TBSP finely chopped fresh parsley leaves

Preparation:

Before putting the crab in the oven peel about half of the skin off of each potato. I generally peel around the middle of the potato and leave the skins on the ends. Remove the leaves from a fistful of fresh parsley and using a chef's knife chop the leaves finely. Put the potatoes into a small pan of cold water. Add a pinch of salt. After the crab has been in the oven about ten minutes, bring the potatoes to a boil on the stovetop over high heat. Reduce the heat slightly but keep the potatoes at a boil, but don't allow them to boil over. It will only take ten to twelve minutes to cook small potatoes. Check them by poking with a fork. You will be able to tell when the potatoes are done as the fork with easily pierce the potatoes. When the potatoes are done drain them by placing a colander in the sink and pouring the contents of the potato pan through the colander. Dump the hot potatoes back into the pan you cooked them in and add the 2 TBSP of butter. Stir until the butter melts and covers all of the potatoes. Add the parsley and stir until the potatoes are nicely coated with parsley. Salt and pepper as desired. Cover with a lid and hold on the stovetop on low heat until the crab is done. 

Roasted Asparagus:

Ingredients:

1 LB fresh asparagus
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Course ground sea salt

Preparation:

Before putting crab into oven, trim asparagus. Hold one piece of asparagus in the middle with one hand. Using the other hand snap off the bottom of the piece of asparagus where it naturally wants to break. Lay the piece of asparagus down next to the rest of the asparagus and using a chef's knife trim the rest of the asparagus to the same length as the piece you snapped by hand. Lay the asparagus into a 9 x 13" glass baking dish in a single layer. Drizzle the asparagus with extra virgin olive oil and shake the baking dish so that the asparagus gets evenly coated with the oil. Salt lightly with the coarse ground sea salt. After the crab has been in the oven for about 15 minutes put the asparagus into the oven as well. The asparagus will take about 10-12 minutes to cook. 

If you follow the steps above everything will be done at the same time and you will be able to serve a dinner to your Valentine that looks like this:  

Grandpa is back !!

Hear ye, hear ye.

Grandpa is back !!

You haven't heard from me in a long while and there is a good reason. We sold our condo and moved out on August 29th. We bought a forty year old townhouse last June and went through a total renovation. The renovation was supposed to be done on September 1st, so that we could move in right after moving out of the condo, but best laid plans didn't materialize. We spent six weeks living with our son and his family. We finally moved in to our renovated townhouse on October 10th. We were here for one week, buried up to our eyeballs in boxes, and then we left town for 8 days to attend a reunion of my Officer Candidate School class at Fort Benning, Georgia. I hadn't seen any of those fellows for 48 years and it was really fun. The Army did a great job of hosting us and showing us around Fort Benning, as well as explaining the current programs that are housed at the base. After the tours, I am convinced that there are many many very fine young people who have volunteered to serve in the Army and protect us all if need be. Rest assured, we are in good hands.

So, all of that said, you can see why I haven't been posting a lot of new recipes lately, but I hope to get back to it soon. Tonight we had our first cooked meal in the new house, and it was wonderful to just sit and relax over a simple dinner of grilled filet mignon, boiled new potatoes and a nice green salad. Easy, nothing fancy, but tasty never the less. Maybe there is a lesson to be learned there. The best part of any meal is the place where you have it and the people you share it with. You will be hearing from me again soon. 

Kitty's Cafe

Thursday is generally the day of the week that neither Jan nor I have anything scheduled, so we try to go out for a lunch date or do something else fun when we can. We have been wanting to try Kitty's Cafe for some time. Howard Hannah, the owner and executive chef at the Rieger Hotel, one of Kansas City's top restaurants was quoted as saying that "Kitty's has the best pork tenderloin in KC." 

As you can see from the photo Kitty's is not much more than a hole in the wall. It houses a kitchen, a counter at which you place your order and another counter that has about four eat-in seats. Four or five people can stand comfortably waiting on their orders, but not any more than that. There is an outdoor dining area that is sheltered by an open sided aluminum top. A few wrought iron tables and chairs complete the ambience. 

When we placed our orders for tenderloin sandwiches and fries we were asked if we wanted the regular. Since we were new customers we inquired as to what constituted a regular and were told that the regular came with, onion, tomato, lettuce and hot sauce. We had them hold the onion but went for everything else. 

Our order came out about ten minutes later, hot out of the fryer. The sandwiches had three thin slices of pork tenderloin, each breaded and fried to a lovely golden color. The toppings were as advertised and we were happy that the hot sauce wasn't too hot. Just enough to give the sandwich a delightful little kick. I had a bite before we got the picture taken, but here is what the sandwiches looked like:

I think you can see in the last photo that I enjoyed the pork tenderloin a lot. 

Kitty's is not a place for a dinner date, but if you want a good old fashioned pork tenderloin sandwich and some fries to go with it, give it a try. You will think it is fun and tasty!!

Tina's marinated and grilled flank steak

My daughter Tina is a very good cook. This is one of her go-to recipes. She marinates the meat the day ahead and then pulls it out of the fridge to grill on the day it will be served. It is really simple and very tasty. When you grill the meat, don't overcook it. Flank steak is a pretty tough cut and it will get tougher the longer you grill it. To serve,slice it across the grain into the thinnest slices you can manage. That will make the slices very tender. 

Ingredients:

11/2 to 2 Lbs. flank steak
1/2 Cup vegetable oil
4 TBSP soy sauce
4 TBSP lemon juice
3 Cloves garlic, diced
4 TBSP thinly sliced green onions
2 tsps Lawry's seasoned salt 
1/2 tsps pepper

Preparation:

24 hours before serving, combine all of the marinade ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix together well. Put flank steak into a large sealable plastic bag. Pour marinade over the meat. Seal the bag and shake gently to cover all of the surfaces of the meat. Refrigerate until ready to cook. Grill over medium high heat. Baste with remaining marinade. It only takes a few  minutes per side to cook. Remove from grill. Let rest for 5 minutes and slice thinly. Goes well with fresh sweet corn and some sliced tomatoes from your local farmer's market. 

Susie's Pasta Salad

I haven't been doing a lot of blogging lately because we have been very busy. Two and a half years ago we sold our home and moved into a high rise condo in mid-town Kansas City. We have loved the experience, but decided that we wanted a place with our own deck and a little outside space for a pot or two of flowers and herbs. Consequently, we sold our condo and found a forty year old townhouse in Leawood, Kansas, that we are having totally renovated.  It is almost like building new, as we have to pick out flooring, tile, cabinets, paint, lights, etc. etc. We are moving out of the condo on August 28th and hope to have the townhouse done by September 1. Wish us luck with that.

Now back to food ! A couple of posts back, I mentioned we had really enjoyed some pasta salad that our neighbor Susie shared with us. I promised to post the recipe when I got it, so here goes. It is quite simple and really really good. 

Ingredients:

1 box of bow tie pasta, cooked per package directions
1 Lb bacon, cooked extra crispy, and chopped
3 heads of broccoli, chopped
1/2 cup sweet yellow onion, chopped
1/2 cup salted sunflower seeds
(for the dressing)
11/2 cup Miracle Whip
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup white vinegar

Preparation:

Combine first four ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix well.
In a separate bowl combine the Miracle Whip, sugar and vinegar. Whip with a mixer until the dressing is smooth. Add the dressing to the other ingredients and combine well with a wooden spoon. Stir in the sunflower seeds at the end. Refrigerate and serve when chilled. Thank You, Susie !

Eggplant Parmesan- quick, easy and tasty

Eggplant parm is quick, easy and really really tasty. This is an especially easy recipe and the only time I ever use sauce from a jar. I like to feature the eggplant in the dish and don't want to overpower it with sauce, so cheating and using a good quality marinara from a jar is okay for this recipe. I served the eggplant parm tonight with a mixed green salad and a white balsamic dressing and some crusty italian bread and it made a great meatless, yet filling meal. Here is a step by step process for making Eggplant Parmesan:

Ingredients:(Serves 4)

2 Small eggplant-peeled and sliced
1 Jar good quality marinara sauce- I used Emeril's
2 Eggs
3 TBSP milk
2 Cups Italian bread crumbs
1/2 Cup olive oil
1- 8 Oz. Package finely shredded mozzarella
2 TBSP grated parmesan cheese

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Peel eggplant and slice into 3/8" slices. (Some people like to leave the skin on but I don't.)

Sliced eggplant

Peeled eggplant

Cover the bottom of a 9"x9" glass baking dish with marinara sauce, about 1/4" deep. 

Crack 2 eggs into a flat pan. Add the milk and whisk together. Add some of the Italian bread crumbs to another flat pan. Replenish as required.

Italian bread crumbs and egg and milk mixture

Dredge the eggplant slices a few at a time in the milk and egg mixture until coated on all sides, and transfer slices to the italian breadcrumbs. Turn and dredge slices until evenly coated with the bread crumbs. Set aside on a paper towel. 

Pour olive oil into a large skillet and place on a burner on medium high. Fry the breaded eggplant slices in the hot oil, a few at a time, until golden brown and tender. Don't let the oil get too hot. The eggplant should just sizzle a little while cooking.When slices are done use a tongs and lay on the marinara in the 9x9" dish. Repeat until the pan has a single layer of eggplant slices covering the bottom as in the photo below.

First layer of eggplant on the marinara

Continue frying eggplant slices and add another layer over the first layer of slices until you have a double layer filling the dish. Pour more marinara over the second layer of slices and brush it around until evenly coated. I ended up using just a little more than half of the 25 Oz. jar of marinara. Don't use too much sauce or the dish will get soupy. 

Cover the top of the dish with enough of the finely shredded mozzarella to make a 1/4" layer of cheese. Spread the parmesan cheese over the top of the mozzarella so it looks like this:

Bake in the 350 degree oven for about 20-25 minutes, or until the dish is hot and bubbly and the cheese has melted and has just begin to brown. Let sit for at least 5 minutes before serving. To make a larger batch use 2-3 large eggplant. Use a larger baking dish and adjust sauce and cheese as needed.