Meatballs Sandwiches

What says comfort food more than homemade meatballs sandwiches blanketed in gooey Mozzarella cheese!

I finally came up with a meatball mixture that I like. I'm not a snob about most foods but when it comes to meatballs, I am. It seems that most are either too soft or I just don't like the taste of them.

There's nothing fancy in these meatballs but the combination of flavors make them taste really good.

Meatballs
1 1/2 lbs lean hamburger - next time I will try a
hamburger/pork/veal mix for even more flavor
1 C. plain bread crumbs
2 eggs
3 tsp. Italian seasonings
2/3 C. shredded Romano or Parmesan cheese (don't use the stuff in the can!)
2 tsp. onion powder
1 - 2 tsp. hot pepper flakes

Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl. Shape into meatballs a little larger than a golf ball.

Add meatballs to a large frying pan to which you've added a little 0live oil. Brown meatballs on all sides. Remove from pan once meatballs are browned all over - they will not be cooked in the middle at this time.

Drain any remaining grease from the pan. Add sauce (either your own recipe or jarred) to fill pan 1/2 full. Carefully drop the meatballs into the sauce and stir to cover with the sauce. Cook sauce and meatballs for 20 - 30 minutes on medium/low heat until the meatballs have finished cooking.


For sandwiches you will need:
meatballs and sauce
1/2 lb. Mozzarella cheese slices
semi hard rolls

Halfway split open hard rolls, making sure to not cut through the bottoms.

Fill rolls with 2-3 meatballs and a little sauce. Cover with cheese.

Lay rolls on a baking sheet. Put tray under broiler to melt cheese.


The end result is so delicious!

Free food if you're out & about today

Did you know that today is National Beverage Day? ....neither did I ;)

Arby's is celebrating NBD by offering a Free Iced Fruitea
when you say "I'm parched. Fruitea Me!"

Fruitea comes in Passion Fruit, Mandarin Peach, Diet Peach
and Diet Blackberry flavors.

Good on May 6, 2009

**********

The Oprah Winfrey Show and KFC have teamed together to offer
a Free 2 piece Kentucky Grilled Chicken Meal.

Coupon is being offered to printed until 9:59pm CDT 5/6/09
www.unthinkfc.com

I had to try several times before I could get the coupon to print.
Once you get through to print it, you can print up to 4 copies of the
coupon.

The coupons are good from 5/5/09 to 5/19/09, excluding 5/10/09.

There have been several posting that some stores are not accepting
these coupons. You could play it safe and call ahead first or just
stop in and try to use them. If the counter person won't accept
them, try talking to the manager on duty. It's legit- here is the link to
Oprah's website where it is listed.

**********

Border's Books Free 12 oz. beverage from Seattle's Best Coffee.

Valid in-store only. May 6, is the last day for the promotion.

Must print coupon.

While you are there, they are offering a 30% off coupon off the list
price of one item - valid in-store only.

On the move!

It's moving day for us!

Hopefully I'll be back online by Friday evening. See ya then!

Please keep us in your thoughts that all goes well today and tomorrow!


Tami

ABCs & 123s - Cookies for Teacher Appreciation Week

Teacher Appreciation week is May 3-9 this year.

Looking for something fun and tasty to give to your favorite teacher? Bake a batch of these cinnamon sugar cookies to say "Thank You" for all of their hard work.


What You Need

1/2 cup shortening (part butter or margarine)
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
2 2/3 cup flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 cup sour cream


What You Do

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Mix shortening, sugar, egg, & vanilla thoroughly. Blend dry ingredients. Add to sugar mixture alternately with sour cream. Divide dough; roll out on a well-floured board. Cut with cookie cutters (metal cookie cutters w/ open tops are the easiest) You can make these as thick as you want... the thicker, the chewier.

Place cookies on lightly greased baking sheets. Bake 6-7 minutes or until very lightly browned around the edges. Remove to cooling racks to cool completely before icing.


Choose The Right Icing:
If you are planning on eating the cookies immediately and not storing them, you can frost them with confectioner's sugar icing. This quick and easy icing will harden slightly once it's on the cookies but will not harden enough to stack the cookies without ruining the designs on your cookies.


Confectioner's Sugar Icing:

2 cups powdered sugar
2 TBSP water
1/4 tsp. of flavored extract such as vanilla (optional). Make sure to use clear extract because any color will tint the icing.

If you are planning on packing the cookies in containers, I would recommend using this Royal Icing recipe. It takes a bit more work in the beginning but the end results are quite worth it when the cookies keep their "freshly made" appearance. This icing will harden to allow stacking in containers without ruining any of the cookie's designs.

Royal Icing:

1 1/2 TBSP meringue powder
2 cups sifted icing sugar
3 tablespoons cold water

Mix on low with a hand mixer for 10 minutes.


Decorating Cookies:
Divide icing into 3 bowls. Tint one bowl of icing green, one bowl red and one bowl blue. Decorate cookies and give ample time to air dry.

Freezing Cookies:
Line a baking sheet with wax paper, then lay cookies in a single layer onto the paper. Freeze. Once frozen, the cookies can be stacked on top of each other. To thaw, place cookies in a single layer on a baking sheet or plate-do not thaw cookies while they are stacked together or the icing will stick to the other cookies.

Thrifty Thursday - my magazine craze

Ok, I admit it...To go along with my cookbook addiction, I'm addicted to collecting and reading magazines! Very rarely do I ever purchase a subscription to any magazine. Instead, I buy them at thrift stores and yard sales or once in a while I will get lucky and find some that someone has listed on Craigslist or FreeCycle for free.

My husband and I went hunting through our local Habitat for Humanity Restore today. I love wandering around places like that. I didn't find anything that I was looking for but I did get a great deal on 6 Southern Living magazines that are filled with recipes and decorating ideas that I can't wait to try. :)



I only paid $1.00 for all of them!


Magazines and good deals....that makes me happy!!!

This is my Thrifty Thursday deal of the week.


Here are more great Thrifty Thursday bloggings.