Crockpot Stuffed Meatballs

The longest relationship I've ever been in has been with my crockpot. She (usually) never lets me down. And this, well, this is one of those times where I love her more than life itself.

Taken—and adapted—from one of the uber popular Tasty videos on Facebook, each time I've made these meatballs every single person has cleaned their plate and gotten seconds.

There's nothing better than an easy meal that makes the whole house smell amazing that even a toddler will take seconds of and not throw a single morsel to the dog.

Crockpot Stuffed Meatballs

Ingredients 
1 jar of favorite red sauce
1 pound ground beef
1 block mozzarella cheese
1 egg
1 medium onion, diced
¼ cup of parmesan
½ cup of bread crumbs
1 clove of garlic, smashed
2 teaspoons of salt
1 teaspoon of black pepper
½ cup of milk
½ cup of Italian seasoning blend
½ teaspoon marjoram

Directions
Cube the mozzarella to be about the size of a square nickel. Mix together beef, onion, all spices, eggs, milk, parm and bread crumbs. Taking the beef mixture, form balls around the cubed cheese. Cover bottom of crockpot with red sauce, then add in meatballs. Smother meatballs in remaining sauce—covering them well. Cook on low for 4-6 hours. Serve with pasta, sauce from the bottom of the crockpot garnished with parmesan

Seriously The Best Cookie Recipe Ever

It is not often I can say without a shadow of a doubt I know something to be completely true. I blame that on being an overthinker and Catholic school. Without a shadow of a doubt, the following is seriously the best cookie recipe ever. I've baked and ate my fair share of cookies, so I can tell you this is easy-peasy and totally delicious—complete crowd favorite at my house.

I got this recipe via my darling and fantastic baker-mentor, my mother, when I was in college. She's been making these cookies since the 1980s. I have no idea how it crossed her path, but my god, I am so glad it did.

Typically, she used to make them at Christmas, and so we called them Santa's Cookies. Now though, we both make them at any/all times of year so I call them Momma's Cookies. Who cares what you call them, they are DELICIOUS. #trust

Previous to this post, the recipe is a print out from my college email address, that she sent me in 2008. I wanted to make them to impress a boy, go figure.

Momma's Cookies

Ingredients

• ¼ cup coconut 
• ½ cup chocolate chips 
• ½ plus 1/3 cup oatmeal 
• ½ cup cornflakes 
• 1 cup flour
• ½ cup brown sugar 
• ½ cup white sugar 
• ¼ tsp baking powder 
• ½ tsp baking soda 
• ¼ tsp salt 
• 1 stick of unsalted butter, melted 
• 1 egg 
• ¼ tsp vanilla 

Directions
Combine melted butter, egg and vanilla, beating well. Add all dry ingredients, mixing well. Once mixed, flatten dough onto piece of plastic wrap and place in the fridge for a few hours to let butter set. Once butter has set, I usually leave mine in for about an hour and a half, form into quarter-sized/small balls. Bake at 350° for approximately 10 minutes, longer if balls are larger or you like a crisper cookie.  

Southern-fied Arrabiata

One of my favorite things to make is a take on something I had during my whirlwind day in NYC earlier this year. I like to call it Southern-fied Arrabiata, because the base recipe is 100% Italian, but my starch is tried and true creamy grits. Seriously, this is probably one of the best dishes to come out of my kitchen.

Using Emeril’s lemon-garlic chicken thighs for the basis: The chicken thigh flavor is the perfect backdrop for the spice of sauce; the creaminess of the grits gives you a smooth finish. I just love it. Did I mention it is easy enough to make for a weeknight dinner?

Make this immediately.

 Southern-fied Arrabiata

Ingredients 

6-8 chicken thighs, can use either bone-in or boneless

¼ cup olive oil
½ cup all-purpose flour
2 cups thinly sliced onions
about one and a half heads of garlic, peeled and smashed
½ tablespoon crushed red pepper
Juice of about one lemon
1 and ¼ cup chicken broth
¼ stone-ground grits
¼ cup of Parmesan cheese
Splash of milk
Salt, for seasoning
Pepper, for seasoning
Parsley, for garnish

Directions
Season the chicken thighs with salt and pepper; dredging them in flour while an oven safe saute pan heats with oil. Add the prepared thighs to the pan, browning well—about 8 minutes on each side. Remove the chicken from the pan, and set aside. Add the onion and garlic, letting the onion wilt for about 2 minutes. Add crushed red pepper and let cook for another minute or so. Put chicken back in the pan with lemon juice and chicken broth. Bring everything to a simmer and cover tightly. Bake for 25 minutes at 350°. While the chicken is baking, boil one cup of water to prepare the grits. Once the water is boiling, add grits, with a splash of milk and some Parmesan cheese. Serve chicken on top of grits with parsley as a garnish and drizzled pan drippings. 

Balsamic Braised Chicken Thighs

I've made this recipe a few times and it is always delicious. Don't you love those? It is fairly easy—I wouldn't put it in the crock pot, dump it all and go category, but it is not highly labor intensive with seventy billion dirty pans and bowls either.

I like this recipe for a lot of reasons. In our house we love a good balsamic vinegar, the elevation of flavors you get from an infused balsamic cannot be matched, but with this recipe I go with just a high quality dark balsamic, no infusion needed and my husband pronounces it one of the best things he has ever eaten. Literally everything this recipe calls for is in my freezer or pantry at all times.

On the level of how much we love balsamics, I love white pepper. To me, it is just a better choice when cooking. While the original recipe from which this one was born calls for black pepper, I really think the tang of the balsamic braise is highlighted better with white pepper. I also like to use chicken thighs over chicken breasts here; the flavors are really better captured.

I have served this with everything from pasta to rice, but I think I like pasta the best. As a side bonus, I can make enough pasta for the adults to pair with the chicken AND for the kids to eat with some butter. #winning

Balsamic Braised Chicken Thighs

Forgive me, apparently I need to wax my dining room table. Oops.

Ingredients
2 lbs. boneless chicken thighs
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 chopped yellow onion
1 can (14.5 oz.) diced tomatoes
½ cup balsamic vinegar
½ tablespoon basil
½ tablespoon marjoram
1 teaspoon thyme
½ tablespoon oregano
Garlic salt and white pepper, for seasoning

Directions
Heat the olive oil in a fairly large sauté pan over medium high heat. Season the chicken thighs with garlic salt and white pepper. Add the chicken to the pan, browning on both sides, about 4 minutes. Add the onion to the chicken, browning it for about 3 minutes. Smother the chicken and onions with the tomatoes (and their juices) plus the balsamic vinegar; stir well. Add the herbs one at a time, stirring well, bringing to a boil. Cover and simmer for about 20 minutes.

Seriously The Best Flank Steak Marinade

I'm a true believer in following the lead of a master. So when some super cheap flank steak found its way to my house earlier this week, and I really had no idea what to do with it, I turned to my reliable friend Iron Chef Michael Symon. Okay, so maybe he's not my actual friend.

I took his Grilled Skirt Steak recipe and tweaked it a little bit, following some advice I got from one of my favorite shops in Atlanta, Oli+Ve. My recipe calls for pineapple balsamic vinegar, which Oli+Ve currently does not have available online. For a similar flavor, you could try the mango balsamic or tangerine. Or you could just go with a regular, high quality balsamic from your local grocery store—it just won't have the same fruity, complex flavor. It's definitely worth the splurge for the flavored balsamics! I use them every single time I make a salad.

I put the marinade on the steak and let it marry in the fridge for about 36 hours. Mark grilled it over a charcoal grill and I swear I've never had meat that was that tender and that delicious. Ever. The meat had an absolutely incredible flavor. The marinade caramelized on the meat and it had the perfect amount of sweet, salty and heat.

Try it, you won't be disappointed.

Pineapple Balsamic Flank Steak

• 1 cup Pineapple Balsamic Vinegar
• 2 tablespoons Soy Sauce 
• 1/3 cup Brown Sugar 
• 2 Garlic cloves (smashed) 
• 2 tablespoons Thyme 
• 2 tablespoons Crushed Red Pepper 

Whisk everything together in a bowl. Place the flank steak in a ziplock bag and pour marinade over it. Place in the fridge overnight, at least, preferably about 36 hours. Take the steak out 30 minutes prior to grilling. Grill for about 8-10 minutes on each side. Let meat rest for about 10 minutes before slicing across the grain. 

Chicken Milanese

During my final year in Tuscaloosa I became a total creature of habit. One of those habits included going to the Rec gym during the lunch hour three days a week and running on the treadmill while I watched The Chew. I love cooking shows and the fun dynamic The Chew has is unmatched, plus I'm addicted to their recipes. They make really awesome recipes with pantry staples, like this Chicken Milanese from Iron Chef Michael Symon.

Y'all it is so good and so easy! I follow his directions pretty much exactly on the chicken (though I typically use boneless chicken breasts and add basil to my breadcrumb mixture). While the chicken is cooling slightly, I toss some greens with chunked mozzarella cheese and halved cherry tomatoes on the plate, top with the chicken, drizzle with some oregano infused olive oil and a squeeze of lemon juice before serving.

It's delicious, and most importantly, it's very light. You feel full but not like you're going to explode—which is how we quantify recipes around these parts, especially during the summer months.

Sun-Dried Tomato and Herb Crusted Salmon

Ever give a man a gift you think is the coolest thing ever and them be like "ehh, it's neat."

No? Just me? Shit.

That's what happened with Mark's Christmas present two years ago: a basket for grilling fish. I didn't notice until recently, but he's never used it. So, when we purchased a really nice piece of salmon from Costco, I suggested he use the basket to grill it with a little concoction I thought would be good.

Let's just say he's glad he listened to me and the "neat" Christmas present has been vindicated! 

Y'all, seriously, try this on salmon immediately and thank me later.

 Sun-Dried Tomato and Herb Crusted Salmon

 First, spray your basket (or tin foil) with olive oil skin side down. Rub two or three pinches (about a teaspoon or so depending on the size of your fish) of cayenne, basil, dill and garlic salt into the fish. Smother the herbs with the juice of a full lemon. Slice about a quarter of a cup (give or take depending on your fish's size) of sun-dried tomatoes. Place them on top of the fish. Cover the entire thing with the slices of two lemons on top of the fish. Grill skin side up for a few minutes to give it a sear, flip it, and then watch until it looks nice and flaky.