Meat balls in citrus sauce

If you've worked up an appetite and are looking for a hearty, satisfying meal, you've come to the right place. My mom concocted this recipe a few years back, and we just recently tried it again. It combines two flavors I never thought would complement each other so well: orange and tomato! I know it's weird, right? Well, let me tell you this: Orange is probably the ONLY citrus fruit that can combine with tomato.

A few years ago, my little sister invited a new friend, Jessie, over to spend the day. When we found out she was staying for dinner, my mom wanted to treat her with this dish because she knew Jessie would simply love it! We really talked this dinner up, telling Jessie how much she was going to enjoy it. We were really emphasizing our mom's cooking skills to impress our new guest. Unfortunately, after putting the dish together, my mom found out we were out of oranges to add to the stew. She figured grapefruit would suffice, and it would be a fun, new rendition of her recipe... NOT! We all sat down excited to eat, and unknowingly we all dug into this grapefruit and meat concoction. Well, I made eye contact with my dad, who then looked at my sister, who looked back at me, and all at once we looked at my mom, who likes everything, and saw her staring at her plate, refusing to look any of us in the eye. Then we all turn to Jessie who is trying to be polite by forcing the stew into her mouth. My mom finally looks up blurts out that we don't need to eat it. Well, poor Jessie went home hungry that night! Being the sweet girl she is, she offered to make us chicken quesadillas with her new quesadilla maker! 

Now it's been a few years since this incident and every now and then when we try a new recipe, we reminisce about the horrible grapefruit curse! However, my mom had her chance at redemption last night when Jessie came over again for dinner! We had a ton of oranges this time, and the meal turned out wonderfully! I'm not a big meat eater to begin with, but this is a dish I kept going back into the kitchen for seconds...and possibly thirds! :)

The recipe is a little more advanced, and it takes some preparation time, but trust me, it's worth it. The meal itself seems like a hearty winter stew, but the citrus flavor from the orange that's infused into the sauce, all combined with the bountiful  fresh vegetables from the stir fry, make this the perfect satisfying summer supper! Nice alliteration, huh?

Stir fry ingredients:

 Spaghetti squash (cooking directions below)
Mushrooms
1 large purple onion, chopped
Fresh spinach
1/2 green pepper, finely chopped
1/2 red pepper. finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, chopped
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tbsp. olive oil
Salt
Pepper

Directions:

1. Before all else, preheat oven to 350 to cook the spaghetti squash.
2. Cut the squash in half lengthwise and place (pulp-side down) on a cookie sheet or baking dish and bake for an hour.
3. Using a spoon, scrape out the pulp and seeds and disregard,
4. Take a fork and simply scrape out the "meat" of the squash. It will be stringy, resembling spaghetti. Set aside.

 5. In a skillet, heat olive oil and saute chopped garlic, onion, peppers, and mushrooms until the onions are transluscent.
6. Add spaghetti squash and soy sauce and saute until squash begins to brown.
7. Add the spinach and let sit until your stew is ready.

Stew Ingredients: 

 Meat:
2 pounds lean hamburger meat
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1/4 cup uncooked rice
1/2 green pepper, chopped
1/2 red pepper, chopped
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1 egg
Squirt of kethcup
Squirt of mustard
Salt
Pepper

Sauce:

Large can tomato sauce
1/2 cup sweet whine (your choice)
1 cup water
4 beef bouillon cubes
1-2 oranges cut in half
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp. butter 

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and combine with hands.
2. Form mixture into balls about the size of your palm.
3. Place meatballs into a large pot.
4. Add tomato sauce, wine, water, bouillon cubes, brown sugar, and butter.
5. Squeeze the oranges into the pot, and let the whole orange cook in the stew.
6. Bring the mixture to a boil.
7. Cook over low heat for two to three hours, or until the rice in the meat is tender.

Now get yourself a serving of the stir fry, grab a meatball or two, and pour the citrus sauce all over your meal and voila, you're officially in heaven!

Orange ya glad you tried this?! ;)

Cheers!
xx

Hummin' Veggie and Hummus Tart

This is another recipe I found while on Pinterest. The recipe comes from ecurry.com, but I used my own hummus recipe and added a few extra toppings! You can probably guess from the title of the blog that it's an Indian inspired dish, which is why this recipe really caught my attention. I've really gotten into curry and Indian meals ever since my time abroad in Australia. The lovely Aussies seem to be influenced by Indian cuisine! Plus, Indian recipes are generally very healthy!

This is a super healthy pizza option, and it truly is the hummus tart that will get you hummin'! Well, maybe not my dad. He's definitely a meat and potato man! We made the pizza this past weekend when one of my best friends, Lauren Stine was visiting. It was a perfect dish to accompany the mojitos we made before heading out to the country bar!

All this pizza contains is a thin crust, almost like a cracker; a hummus sauce; and heaps of vegetables. I like to prepare my hummus mixture the morning of the meal, or the day before so all the flavors can really soak in, but it's completely fine to make it on the spot!

Hummus Ingredients:

1 can chickpeas, drained (reserve liquid)
3 garlic cloves
1 tsp. olive oil
1/2 tsp. salt
pepper
1 tsp. cumin
1 tbsp. crushed red hot peppers (optional)

Directions:

1. Place all ingredients, besides the reserved liquid, in a food processor. Slowly add liquid until you've reached your desired consistency. I probably add less than 1/4 cup.

This hummus recipe is great for dipping veggies or chips, too!

Vegetables:

1 purple onion
Zucchini
Eggplant
2 tomatoes
Mushrooms
Baby spinach leaves 
6 cloves garlic
salt
pepper
olive oil 

Directions:

1. Saute vegetables in olive oil and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and desired herbs.

Crust Ingredients:

2 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup plus 2.5 tbsp. olive oil
1.4 cup plus 1.5 tbsp. very cold club soda
1 tsp. salt
pepper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

1. In a bowl, combine flour, salt, pepper, and herbs with a whisk.
2. Whisk club soda and oil together until it's just about creamy. (This takes about 2 minutes)
3. Pour the oil and soda mixture into the flour mix and stir together with a fork. Do this until the mixture becomes dough-like and there is no extra dry flour. If the dough seems too dry, you may add more club soda in very tiny amounts.
4. Use your hands to quickly bring the dough together. Do not handle the dough too much. The dough should be soft not sticky!
5. Place the ball of dough on an un-greased cookie sheet or pizza pan. (We use a 12 inch pizza pan). Press the dough with your fingers until it covers the pan. Do not use a rolling pin!
6. Prick the crust with a fork.
7. Bake crust for about 12 minutes, or until the crust is golden.

Putting it all together:

1. Let the crust cool to a warm temperature.
2. Spread the hummus mixture over the tart.
3. Pile on all your delicious veggies!
4. Warm the entire tart in a 350 degree oven for about 5 minutes.

Now go sit out back on a nice summer evening, and enjoy a heavenly slice of your hummus and veggie tart! Don't forget the mojitos!

Cheers!
xx


 

Pumpkin Patch Brownines

I know it's prime summer time, but if we can celebrate Christmas in July, there is nothing wrong with celebrating fall a few months early! Plus, today's 80 degree weather felt like a fall day compared to this past week.

I saw a recipe for chocolate chip pumpkin brownies while procrastinating on Pinterest and I had to make them immediately! They're a super light, low-fat dessert. There's absolutely no butter and only 1 tablespoon of olive oil in the whole recipe.

Another plus about these brownies is you can make them with gluten-free flour. My mom and I have been researching the rave on gluten-free diets, and lately we have been experimenting with it by cutting out or substitution certain ingredients. My mom, sister, and I all find gluten-free foods are much easier on our digestion systems.

I made these browning the first night with regular all-purpose flour and they were great, and tonight I made them with gluten-free rice flour and they were just as good! Actually, I found them to be a bit more moist and gooier! This recipe is inspired by Pennies on a Platter, but I added a few ingredients, and made some ingredient changes.

Pumpkin Patch Brownies 

Ingredients: 
Heaping 1/2 cup of pumpkin puree  
1 whole egg
2 egg whites
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 tbsp. vanilla extract 

1 cup rice flour (or all-purpose flour)
1 tsp. baking powder 
1 tsp. dark chocolate unsweetened cocoa powder   
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon 
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp. salt
2/3 cup brown sugar 
1/4 cup mini chocolate chips
1/4 cup cinnamon chips

Directions: 

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Spray 9 inch round cake pan.
3. In a large bowl, combine pumpkin puree, eggs, vanilla, and oil  with a spoon until smooth. Set aside. 
4. In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking powder, spices, salt, and brown sugar. 
5. Add flour mixture to the wet ingredients and stir.
6. Add chocolate and cinnamon chips.
7. Pour batter into the pan and spread evenly.
8. Bake for 22 minutes. (They may seem too gooey, but take them out and let them sit in the pan and they will continue to cook. If you want a brownie that isn't this moist, bake longer.)
9. Place on a wire rack to cool.
10. Cut into pieces and serve.

Simply Savory Spaghetti and Meatballs

It's my favorite night of the week! Time to whip out the Frank Sinatra classics, pour myself a glass of Chiblas Blanc, throw on my apron, and begin chopping! But before I give you the Kufera women's savory spaghetti and meatballs recipe, I want you to go into your kitchen cabinets and throw away those cans of prepared spaghetti sauce, and don't dare go into your freezer and reach for the frozen meatballs!

Now I'm not going to lie to you and say this is a Rachel Ray 30 minute meal. It takes some preparation time, but the dinner is so fresh, light, and delicious you will be happy you spent a few extra minutes in the kitchen. I'm not kidding when I say I won't order spaghetti at any restaurant ever again, unless I happen to go to Italy one day, because nothing I've ordered has yet to compare to this recipe.

We have this dinner once a week, and it's by far every one's favorite in my household.

Simply Savory Spaghetti and Meatballs 

Spaghetti Sauce Ingredients: 

1 can Hunts Diced Tomato 

1 can Hunts Diced Tomato Sauce  

2 tbsp. Extra Virgin Olive Oil

4 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 small yellow onion, chopped

1 green bell pepper, diced

1/4 cup Rice Vinegar (We use Nakano Seasoned Rice Vinegar, all natural inflused with roasted garlic) This ingredient honestly makes the whole sauce!

2 tbsp. brown sugar 

Chopped Parsley 

Chopped Basil

Salt

Pepper 

Oregano 

Italian Seasoning

Directions:

1. In a saucepan, saute onion, garlic, and pepper in olive oil over medium heat until onions are translucent.
2. Add salt, pepper, oregano, and Italian seasoning.
3. Add the can of diced tomato, the tomato sauce, rice vinegar, and brown sugar.
4. Once heated, keep the sauce simmering.

Meatball Ingredients:

2 lbs. of lean ground beef (use at least 85% lean, but I like to use 93%)
Handful of bread crumbs (such as Panko)
1 egg
1 tbsp. mustard
1 tbsp. ketchup
Salt
Pepper
Oregano
1 clove of chopped garlic
Chopped parsley (this keeps them moist)
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Place all ingredients in a large bowl and mix with hands.
3. Form meat into 2-inch balls and place in a large baking dish.
4. Bake for 45 minutes.

Voila! That is all. While the meatballs are baking and the sauce is simmering, cook your noodles according to the package. You can use any type of noodles, but we prefer classic spaghetti noodles.
 

See, that wasn't too bad, right? Now all you have to do is make a plate of your simply savory spaghetti and meatballs, top it off with some freshly grated Parmesan cheese, add a side salad, and of course, refill your empty glass of wine! As the Italians like to say, "that's amore!"

And the best part about cooking gourmet from your own kitchen is you don't have to get a doggie bag to take home. In our house, our dog even gets his own puppy-sized dinner plate. Even Frosty says this dinner is DOGGONE good!

  

 

Let me know if you make this and how it turns out!
Enjoy!
xx

Second Annual Cupcake Wars!

For those of you who don't know, I have another blog following my adventures in the Land Down Under. Now that my adventures are over, I realized how much I missed blogging. I decided to create a blog that really captures my love for cooking not only desserts, but to also share my new desire to create healthy meals! However, my very first post is anything but healthy!

Luckily for you, you get to hear about the Kufera women's second annual Cupcake Wars! However, you're not so lucky because well, you don't get to taste them! But don't worry, I ate enough for everyone.

Two years ago (we skipped last year) we created the Kufera Cupcake Wars, and my mom won with her lemon meringue cupcake. Sadly, my attempt to lure the judge with one of his favorite candies, Reese's Pieces, failed to get me the glory as the first ever cupcake champ. My sister, Elyse, also fell short with her Milky Way cupcakes.

So this evening, my mom, sister, and I took our top secret recipes into the kitchen and locked my dad away in the living room! He's the judge so he is not allowed to know anything about our cupcakes and who bakes what. We occupied and totally destroyed the kitchen for four hours. After all our hard work, it was finally time to call Papa Walt into the kitchen for the taste test!

So the judge is responsible for two categories: appearance and taste. Each cupcake is rated on a scale of 1 to 10 in regards to how well the cupcake is presented and on how mouth watering it is. We set out all three cupcakes with a score card in front. We placed dad at one end of the table while the three of us competitors stared him down from the opposite end. My sister and I were both determined to beat my mom since she showed us up the first year!

 The first cupcake was my mom's. It was called Rollin' in the Dough. The cake itself was a basic homemade yellow cake, but the clever part was she placed a ball of chocolate chip cookie dough in the middle! She then topped it with her homemade butter cream icing, sprinkled it with mini chocolate chips, and topped it with a miniature homemade chocolate chip cookie.

She delicately placed the cupcake on top of a giant mound of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream, which is my dad's favorite! Right then and there I had a bad feeling we were going to have a repeat of our last war. As soon as he bit into her cupcake, his eyes lit up with delight. I must admit, chocolate chip cookies are my FAVORITE, and her cupcake was quite scrumptious.

 Next up was Elyse's cupcake, the Oreo Blast. Elyse also played her cards well, picking my dad's other favorite ice cream flavor, cookies and cream. I'm telling you, my dad is easy to please if you hand him either cookie dough or cookies and cream. We just recently went to Busch Gardens on vacation and he walked out with a giant ice cream cone with both flavors, just like a little kid would ask for! Anyway, Elyse's cupcake was also a homemade yellow cake. Like my mom's, hers had a prize on the inside! In the middle hid an Oreo truffle made from chopped up Oreo cookies mixed with cream cheese. She topped the cupcake with a homemade cookies and cream icing! She spread a very thin layer of icing on top and dusted them with powdered sugar. Then, Elyse attempted to outshine my mom and me as she turned into architect Elyse, crafting her own Oreo cookie pedestal. As you can see, she did a great job!

Finally it was time to try my cupcake, the Krunk Kahlua Bear! Yup, that's right, my cupcake had the good stuff in it! Once again, I tried to win over my dad, turning his favorite drink into a cupcake. Whenever we sit outside at night by the fire, or float around in the pool, we make Kahlua and Creams to drink together. My cupcake (the recipe can be found below) was a homemade vanilla cake infused with Kahlua and Bailey's Irish Cream. I topped it off with a homemade Kahlua butter cream icing and dusted the top with Hershey's cocoa powder. I took the classy route and presented my cupcake in a cocktail glass filled with a shot of Kahlua. I cleverly named it the Krunk Kahlua Bear. One reason was, I was definitely feeling a little krunk after continuously taste testing my icing, and second of all I wanted to add a little Aussie flare to my cupcake-Kahlua Bear, Koala Bear! Very similar, right?!

So after he took a bite of each cupcake, we were ordered to turn around as he filled out the evaluation sheets. After a few long minutes, he announced the winner. We all tied for presentation, but there still had to be a winner. Certain members of this family can be rather competitive, so there would be no allowance of a tie! My dad finally announced the winner. He continued to tell us how delicious all three cupcakes were, but if he was going to choose a winner, it was going to be the Rollin' in the Dough. Yup, for the second year in a row, my mom came out with the victory. I know it sounds rather suspicious, but I suppose she won fair and square! haha. Elyse and I do learn from the best.

Anyway, my sister and I threw quite the fit and really turned this into cupcake wars! But the best part was definitely when we smashed our cupcakes in the winner's face. As the saying goes, revenge is SWEET... literally!! It was all fun and games and the start to a wonderful family tradition! We had a great night baking away and crafting our own cupcake displays.

Happy and high on sugar!

The Krunk Kahlua Bear Recipe 

I got the inspiration for this cupcake from a blog I found through Google, Baked Perfection. The author's were called White Russian Cupcakes, but I tweaked them by substituting Bailey's Irish Cream for Vodka, and as always, I added extra vanilla extract!

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup sugar

6 tablespoons butter, softened

1 large egg and 1 egg white

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup milk

1/8 cup Bailey's Irish Cream

1/4 cup Kahlua, divided 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Mix flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl and set aside.
3. In a separate bowl, beat together sugar and butter with a mixer until well combined.
4. Add the whole egg and the egg white, one at a time.
5. Add the vanilla, Bailey's, and only 1/8 cup of the Kahlua. Set the other 1/8 cup aside.
6. Gradually add the flour mixture in three increments. After adding one third of the mixture, add 1/4 cup of the milk. Then add the second third of the flour mixture followed by the remaining 1/4 cup of milk. Finally add the remaining 1/3 of flour.
7. Bake for 17-20 minutes. A toothpick inserted in the middle should come out clean. Mine only took 17 minutes. Don't overcook your cupcakes or they will dry out!
8. While the cupcakes are still warm, brush the tops of the cupcakes with the 1/8 cup Kahlua you set aside.
9. Remove from pans and cool completely on a wire rack before you frost them.

Kahlua Butter Cream:

1 stick of butter, softened

3 cups powdered sugar

pinch of salt

3 - 4 tablespoons Kahlua

Directions:

1.Beat butter until creamy. 

2. Add salt. 

3. Add powdered sugar 1 cup at a time, beating until combined. 

4. Add Kahlua 1 tablespoon at a time until you reach desired consistency. (I only used 3 tablespoons.)

 Now enjoy! Let me know if you make them and how they turn out!