Lemon-Sage Wine Mustard

When this post goes live it will be my birthday.  This year's birthday is a extra special because it's the last one of my 30's.  When I think about that, I sigh a little.  I know it's cliché, but where did the time go?  I am not so sure...but I do know I plan to make the most of 39.  Then next year at this time, we'll see how well I'm embracing the reality of 40.  Long sigh.  I have a feeling I might go into it kicking and screaming just a little bit. 

The birthday plans have been low key this year.  Just enjoying a few meals out with various family and friends.  My sister's birthday is 3 days prior to mine so we always celebrate together.  We went out on Sunday for lunch at a restaurant I've been wanting to try for over a year.  They specialize in seasonal ingredients and all their dishes are under 475 calories.  I have to say I was very impressed with how they spent their calories--will definitely be going back.  On the actual birthday Hubby and I are going to dinner just the two of us to steak house.  I'm not going to be counting the calories there--trust me!  Tuesday evening I'm slated for dinner with one of my closest friends for Mexican food and Thursday is dinner with the parents at a seafood restaurant.  Food, friends and family is the perfect way to celebrate. :)

I didn't necessarily plan a specific post to coincide with my birthday, and it just so happens this lemon-sage wine mustard is up next on the blog roster.   But I'm more than happy to celebrate with mustard! 

I LOVE mustard!  It's high up on my list of preferred and necessary condiments.  My family thinks I'm a little crazy about mustard in fact.  When I eat a hot dog for instance, the ratio of mustard to dog is about 50/50.  Yeah.  Really.  I guess my family has a point and it might be a smidge overboard.  What can I say?  I just cannot seem to get too much mustard on a hot dog.  And I like it all.  Yellow.  Dijon.  Grain.  Brown.  Honey.  Spicy.  I love the acidity and tang from mustard.  Yum.

When Hima of All Four Burners challenged us to use citrus in our monthly Can It Up project, I started looking for recipes.  I came across this lemon-sage wine mustard in my Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving.  I thought it would be kind of cool to make homemade mustard.  Plus I've only canned sweet things to date....jams, fruit butters, preserves, so this seemed like the perfect opportunity to combine my love of canning with my love of mustard.  That sounds silly as I read it back.  But it really was fun to make and I enjoyed the final product. 

The mustard is really very lemony.  The sage is subtle and the wine sings a nice little melody in the background.  Since the lemon is prominent, I've found I've enjoyed this accompanied with a little mayo too to balance it out. At least on sandwiches.  The sandwich pictured below is homemade ciabatta bread (courtesy of Hubby), turkey, grated sharp white cheddar cheese, mayo and lemon-sage wine mustard.  Delicious! 

Mustard is surprisingly easy to make.  The hardest part was finding the main ingredient.  Whole mustard seeds.  My first stop was Whole Foods.  They sold it.  In incredibly tiny portions.  My mustard would have cost a small fortune.  I know a lot of people love Whole Foods, but I really don't seem to have the best luck there.  Next I tried Sprouts (another local health food grocery store).  What's great about Sprouts is they sell spices in bulk bins/jars where you can fill up a bag with as much or as little as you want.  I've purchased many spices this way especially when I am using something new for a recipe and I don't know if I want to invest in a whole jar.  I was thrilled to see Sprouts had a huge container of mustard seeds.  I was able to eyeball a 3/4 cup portion and it cost right around $5 dollars.  Once I secured all my ingredients it was smooth sailing.

The mustard seeds get soaked in a sage steeped wine for a couple of hours.  The seeds soak up all the liquid from the wine and get transferred to a food processor along with white wine vinegar.  Several long pulses in the food processor allow the seeds to break down, but some grain is left.  It's nice to have a little texture from the seeds in the finished product.  The mustard goes into a pot on the stove to cook along with the lemon, sage, honey and salt and, then into prepared canning jars to be processed in boiling water. 

You'll notice this mustard doesn't have a bright yellow color.  I had always assumed the mustard seed is where the color came in.  But I learned that it actually comes from one of the spices in yellow mustard, turmeric.  Since this mustard is turmeric free it has a much more muted yellow, almost pale brown color.  Don't let the color fool you, this mustard has quite a zing! 

It's great on sandwiches.  And I envision it accompanying homemade pretzels, grilled bratwurst or hot dogs or a honey baked ham. 

Enjoy!

Lemon-Sage Wine Mustard
from Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving

Makes 5 four ounce jars

1 bunch of fresh sage (enough to yield 1/3 cup finely chopped plus 1/2 cup roughly chopped)
3/4 cup dry white wine (I used Pinot Gris)
3/4 cup yellow mustard seeds
1 cup white wine vinegar
Grated zest and juice of two large lemons
1/2 cup liquid honey (I used regular honey)
1/4 teaspoon salt

Finely chop enough sage leaves to measure 1/3 cup and set aside. 

Coarsely chop remaining sage leaves and stems to measure 1/2 cup and place in a small stainless steel saucepan with the white wine.  Bring to a boil over medium heat, while stirring and pressing on the sage to release as much flavor as possible.  Remove the pan from the heat and cover.  Allow to steep for 5 minutes.

Using a fine mesh strainer or sieve, drain the safe infused wine into a bowl while pressing down on the sage to remove as much liquid as possible.  Discard the sage and return the wine to the saucepan.  Add the mustard seeds to the wine and cover with a lid.  Allow to sit at room temperature for about 2 hours or until the mustard seeds have absorbed most of the moisture.

Prepare your lids and jars by washing in hot soapy water.  Place jars in a water canner, ensuring jars are covered with water and bring to a boil.  Place lids in a small sauce pan over low heat.  Set screw rings aside. 

Transfer wine soaked mustard seeds to a food processor or blender, including an residual liquid.  Add vinegar and process until the mustard seeds are well chopped but still has a slightly grainy texture. 

Transfer the mixture to a stainless steel medium-large size saucepan.  Add lemon juice, zest, honey, salt and the 1/3 cup of finely chopped sage.  Turn heat to high and boil, stirring continuously.  Once boiling, reduce heat to low and allow to gently boil, stirring often.  Allow mustard to reduce by 1/3 of it's volume, about 20 minutes (note--mine only took 10 minutes).  The book cautions from allowing the mustard to get too thick as it can prohibit proper heat penetration during canning process. 

Remove one jar at time from the canner using tongs, discarding the water and hold with a doubled up clean kitchen towel.  Ladle hot mustard into hot jars leaving 1/4 head space at the top.  Remove air bubbles by using a thin chopstick around the mustard.  Wipe any residue off the rim.  Place a hot lid on top and secure using a screw band until resistance is met and turning until fingertip tight (do not over tighten).  Repeat until all the jars are filled. 

Place prepared jars in canner.  Allow the water level to sit at least 1 full inch above the jars.  Bring to boil.  Process for 10 minutes with lid on the canner.  Once they've boiled for 10 minutes, remove the canner lid and wait 5 minutes.  Remove jars from canner and cool on a kitchen towel, undisturbed for 24 hours. 

Turkey and Sweet Potato Shepherd's Pie

So the dieting isn't going so well.  Remember my simple calorie counting strategy?  Apparently it would actually help if I was actually counting (and logging) my calories.  Like everyday.  Turns out estimating calories in my head is probably not very accurate.  Since October 1st I've lost 3 pounds and gained back 2.  Not quite the results I hoped for.  Time to refocus. 

I'll be getting some healthy inspiration from my best friend Crystal's new blog, Both Halves.  Crystal and I go way back.  We have been BFF's since our sophomore year in high school.  Back in the day we both used massive quantities of hairspray and may have been known to coordinate outfits on occasion.  Though we've pretty much abandoned hairspray and no longer wear matching outfits, we do have a common love of food, and more specifically, baking.

Crystal has been baking and blogging with me for the past year and half with Club:Baked.  She recently gave her blog a complete makeover and really focused her point of view.  Both Halves is about embracing and balancing a love of traditional desserts with a love of healthy clean eating.  The mast head on her blog says it all...3 beautifully stacked blocks of butter on the left and a bundle of fresh mint on the right.  She's posting raw (vegan) desserts that definitely intrigue me (an area I have a lot to learn in).  Like this totally unbaked Raspberry Ganache Fudge Cake.  Hello chocolate.  Desserts aren't the only thing on the blog menu.  I also have my eye on this healthy Italian Rabe recipe and I'm looking forward to more inspiration from my girl! 

Believe it or not today's recipe is pretty healthy, despite the fact it comes from Paula Deen (no offense Paula).  It's a Thanksgiving take on Shepherd's Pie.  The bottom layer is ground turkey, carrots, parsnips, celery and onion surrounded by a sauce of chicken stock, tomato paste and a bit of flour to thicken it.  The top is a light fluffy sweet potato mash.  It's a nice pre-cursor for the flavors to come in just a week and half when Thanksgiving arrives.  Which I can't wait for by the way.

This dish can be made ahead and baked when you are ready to eat.  It serves 8 so there are plenty for leftovers for us.

Enjoy!

Turkey and Sweet Potato Shepherd's Pie
adapted from Paula Deen

Serves 8

3 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 1/2 pounds of sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed (1-1 1/2 inches)
Salt
2 large carrots, peeled and diced
2 stalks of celery, diced
1 parsnip, peeled and diced
1 large onion, diced
2 tablespoons of freshly chopped thyme
2 tablespoons of freshly chopped rosemary
1 pound of ground turkey (Paula uses 2 lbs)
1/4 cup tomato paste
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons of flour
2 cups low sodium chicken broth
4 ounces of softened cream cheese
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 10 ounce bag of frozen peas

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Spray a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray.

Place cut sweet potatoes in a medium sauce pan and cover with cold water and add salt to taste.  Bring to a boil and reduce to simmer for 15-20 minutes or until potatoes are tender.

Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add 1 tablespoon of butter and olive oil.  Add carrots, celery, parsnips and onions and cook for about 8 minutes or until vegetables are tender.  Season with salt and pepper.  Add ground turkey and cook until lightly browned and cooked through.  Season generously with salt and pepper.  Stir in tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, flour and chicken broth and cook for 5 minutes or until sauce thickens.  Add frozen peas and stir.

Meanwhile, drain the water from the potatoes and add to a large bowl.  Add in cream cheese and remaining 2 tablespoons of butter and use a hand mixer to turn the sweet potatoes into a mash.  Add some of the hot potato mixture into the eggs, to temper the eggs so the hot mixture doesn't scramble them.  Season with salt and pepper.

Place meat mixture in the bottom of your prepared baking dish.  Evenly spread sweet potatoes over the meat mixture.  Place the dish on a baking sheet and bake for 35-45 minutes or until shepherds pie is bubbling and top is lightly golden.

Meatball Marinara

Hubby's been on a pasta making kick which in turn has made me take an interest in making a great sauce for his fresh made pasta.  In my early cooking days I thought the best way to make a good marinara was to buy a jarred sauce and doctor it up with things like peppers, mushrooms, onions, garlic and sometimes ground beef.  Those sauces were okay, but they were not anything that really gave you that wow factor. Coming up with a homemade marinara sauce that's wow worthy has been on my cooking bucket list for a while now...

I'm happy to say, I've found "my sauce"! 

I sort of threw this recipe together based on a You Tube video I watched (and eventually made the recipe ...to be seen here soon) and two other recipes I found online.  I didn't have all the ingredients for any one the recipes, so I made up my own combining these recipes and using what I had on hand.  Many timesSome times when I experiment in the kitchen, I am not always overwhelmed in a positive way by the results.  The marinara gods were with me, though, and this recipe has that special something something I've been looking for. 

Isn't homemade pasta pretty?

What makes this sauce special is actually the meatballs.  The Italian sausage flavor from the meatballs, perfume the sauce with a mild spice that takes the sauce to the next level.  And if you think turkey meatballs are "boring", I assure you these are not.  In fact, I really want to make this for my dad and not tell him the meatballs are turkey.  He pretty much believes turkey is NOT substitutable for beef.  But I'm pretty certain he'd like these.  The meatballs are tender and the Italian sausage flavor comes through, but doesn't over power.  It really is just right.  At least for me, Hubby and our niece who helped us make the most recent batch.  This recipe is most definitely a keeper.

I remembered to add some fresh grated parmesan...Mmmm

Note - If you are a vegetarian and don't plan to make the meatballs, I recommend following the sauce recipe and adding 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper (depending on your spicy tolerance) to bring a little heat.  Also note, I haven't tired this myself, but this is what I would do based on tasting the sauce before the meatballs go in.   

We've been enjoying the sauce and meatballs over fresh made pasta, though dried pasta would work well too.  And it makes fabulous leftovers for a meatball sandwich! 

Enjoy!

Meatball Marinara
from The Ginger Snap Girl

Serves 6-8

For the marinara sauce:

3 tablespoons olive oil
8 roma tomatoes, cut in 4 slices lengthwise
4 cloves of garlic smashed with a pinch of kosher salt to form a paste
1 medium onion diced
2 14 ounce cans diced tomatoes
1/2 can (3 oz.) tomato paste
1 1/2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 cup white wine (or use chicken broth if you don't have wine)
1 cup chicken broth

Heat dutch oven or large sauce pot on medium high heat and add olive oil.  Add tomato slices in a single layer (slightly overlapping is okay) and season lightly with salt and fresh cracked pepper.   Cook in oil for 3-4 minutes until the tomatoes start to get tender.  Flip tomatoes over and add garlic and cook on medium high for 2 more minutes.  Stir the tomatoes and garlic.  You should smell garlic and the tomatoes should start to break down.  Add minced onions and cook until tender about 3-4 minutes.  Add remaining ingredients and stir until combined.  Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low and simmer the sauce.  Cover and cook for 20 minutes. 

While sauce is cooking, make the meatballs (see meatball recipe below).

When the sauce has cooked for 20 minutes give it a taste.  Does it need a little more salt?  Sugar? Pepper?  Add additional seasoning as needed (I've made it twice and added just a touch extra salt at this point).  Use an immersion blender to blend in sauce until smooth (there will still be some chunks, that's okay).  If you don't have an immersion blender, you can puree the sauce in batches in a stand blender and return sauce to the pot.  Add meatballs making sure each meatball is covered in sauce.  With heat on low, cover and cook 30 more minutes, until meatballs are cooked through but still tender, stirring sauce and meatballs every 7 to 10 minutes.  Remove cover and continue cooking on low for 15 minutes. 

For the meatballs:

1 lb ground turkey
1/3 lb mild (or sweet) Italian sausage
1 egg
1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
1/2 cup finely chopped onions
1/3 cup fresh grated parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon fresh parsley finely chopped
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dried basil

Mix all ingredients in a medium bowl until thoroughly combined and Italian sausage is even distributed.  Using a medium cookie scoop (about golf ball size) scoop out meatballs onto a baking sheet lined with foil.  Once all the meatballs are scooped, use your hands to roll into rounded balls.  Once all the meatballs are rolled, gently place each meatball in the sauce.

Serve over 1 pound of your favorite store bought or home made pasta.  Garnish with fresh grated parmesan cheese.

Baked Turkey Meatball Bites

This past weekend we watched 3 of 4 NFL playoff games.  I'm not a sports girl.  Normally there is very little sports going on in our household unless the Chicago Bears or Cubs (from Hubby's home town) are in some kind of playoff or final game.  Chicago was not in any of the games we watched. But Hubby's Dad was in town and he follows football.  I won't lie, I have zero interest in the game of football.  What does interest me is an occasion to cook and bake.  And football watching is perfect for whipping up some finger foods.  Seems like we've been on an appetizer kick lately.  Our New Years Eve eve was an appetizer feast.  And so was day 1 of football watching.  I tried out two new recipes, roasted red pepper crostini and these baked turkey meatballs.  Both were a hit with Hubby and his Dad. 

As I was getting everything together for the game, Hubby came into the kitchen and grabbed a finished meatball hot off the baking sheet.  He said, "these are really good!"  Score!  Hubby is a big fan of turkey as an alternative to beef.  It's been a slow conversion for me, but I am finally getting to a place where I don't mind using ground turkey in place of beef.  And in many cases I'm really starting to like it. 

These meatballs fall into that category.  They pack a lot of flavor with onions, garlic and Parmesan cheese.  I really like using fresh herbs in meatballs because they bring a bright flavor that you don't get with dried herbs.  In this recipe I used fresh Italian parsley.  Next time I will add basil in too. 

What I like about this recipe is it's a good base recipe and you can add flavors to suit your tastes.  I served them with barbecue sauce, but I think they would also be great with your favorite marinara sauce or even a basil pesto.  I also like that these meatballs are baked and not fried, making them a fairly healthy option.

The meatballs are easy to put together once you get the chopping out of the way.  If you have a small cookie scoop it's a cinch to portion out equal size meatballs.  Basting the meatballs with sauce for the final 5 minutes of baking gives them a nice color and a lightly glazed crust.  You can serve them straight from the oven with some extra sauce on the side.  Or you can throw them in a small crock pot or a medium saucepan with some extra sauce to keep them nice and warm until your party starts.  Stick a toothpick in them and these bite size meatballs are ready to go.

Our appetizer trend continued on day 2 of the football bonanza.  However they came from the restaurant/bar where we set up camp for the last of the 4 games.  Apparently none of the teams my father-in-law picked to win, won.  Sorry Jerry!

At least we were well fed. 

Enjoy!

Baked Turkey Meatball Bites
adapted from bakespace.com

Yields about 42 small meatballs

Ingredients:

1 pound lean ground turkey
1 egg, lightly beaten
3/4 cup breadcrumbs (plain or seasoned)
3 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup finely diced white or sweet onions
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh flat leaf (Italian) parsley
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 cup of your favorite barbecue sauce, divided into 1/4 and 3/4 cups.  You could also use marinara sauce in place of barbecue sauce.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350.  Line 2 baking sheets with foil and spray with non stick cooking spray. 

In a large bowl, combine all ingredients except barbecue sauce and gently mix together until fully combined.  Using a small cookie scoop or a tablespoon, portion out 1 1/2 inch size meatballs and gently roll them between your hands to round them out.  Place on baking sheets about 1 inch apart.  Bake for 8 minutes and turn meatballs using a metal spatula.  Return to the oven and cook for an additional 6 minutes.  Remove sheets from oven and lightly brush each meat ball with 1/4 cup of the barbecue sauce.  Return to oven and cook for an additional 5 minutes.

Warm the remaining 3/4 cup of barbecue sauce in small saucepan or in a small bowl in the microwave.  Serve immediately.  Or you can add the sauce along with 1/4 cup water to a small crock pot and add the meatballs to keep warm for a party.


For other healthy Super Bowl snacks check out the round up on Eat Yourself Skinny.

A Gym Membership and Hot Mess Meatballs!

When Hubby and I joined a gym (for the first time in our lives) February of last year we also changed our eating habits. Perhaps I should take a step back here and say prior to this I was in complete denial about the food I ate. I ate what I wanted and to be blunt, didn't think much about it. I didn't want to know. I mean, I knew that certain things I ate, lots of things, were not "healthy". But I didn't care, because I enjoyed eating the food I loved. The problem with that is obvious. Eventually it catches up with you. I was able to "get away" with it for quite some time, which is fortunate in some ways. But I had some work to do. It took a change in eating habits and my view on food. Though exercising is great and it certainly helps expedite weight loss, for me, it's really all about the food. Healthy ingredients, portion control and moderation are key to successful weight loss and maintenance.

Fast forward a year and 2 months and I'm still maintaining my goal weight. I won't lie and say it's because I go to the gym 5 days a week or that I eat all healthy all the time. I work out less than I'd like to admit, but by and large I try to make good food choices on a day to day basis and then I splurge here and there, and there. Joining Sweet Melissa Sundays baking group is going to be one of those splurges. But I digress.

Not long after we started our journey to better health and fitness we came across a new cooking show that surprisingly is NOT on the Food Network. It is on Lifetime. Cook Yourself Thin is a half hour show that features one woman each episode who wants to change her eating habits without giving up flavor and still lose a few pounds. The three hostesses of this show take favorite calorie laden dishes, including comfort foods and desserts, and make low cal versions. Low cal doesn't mean a sacrifice in flavor or satisfaction in this case. I have tried several Cook Yourself Thin recipes and have not been disappointed with one. Some favorites are Penne Alla Not-ka (the first time I made the Hot Mess Meatballs I served them with this dish--delish!), Cauliflower Mashed Potatoes, Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins, Oatmeal Cookies, French Onion Soup, and of course meatballs.

This meatball recipe is actually part of the Cook Yourself Thin "Scumptious Skinny Spaghetti & Meatballs". I skipped the Scrumptious Spaghetti part which took away the marinara sauce cooking mechanism. What about baking them instead? Yeah, that sounds like it might work. This is where the "Hot Mess" enters the picture.


Now I know this isn't pretty. But trust me when I say it was tasty. Baking actually worked out fabulously in my opinion (if you can look beyond the mess). The meatballs were lightly browned on top and caramelized with flavor on the bottom. The Parmesan cheese melts in the meatballs and oozes out all over the baking sheet. That oozy goodness browns up into a delicious Hot Mess packed with flavor. Serve these with your favorite marinara sauce and a side of steamed or roasted veggies and you have a healthy, tasty meal on your hands. Enjoy!


Hot Mess Meatballs adapted from Cook Yourself Thin's "Scrumptious Skinny Spaghetti & Meatballs"

I'm only including the meatball part of the recipe here:

2 slices of favorite sandwich bread (I used wheat)
3/4 cup water
1/3 pound group veal
1/3 pound ground pork
1/3 pound ground turkey breast
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1 large egg
1/2 small onion
1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley
2 Tablespoons chopped basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes (I only used a pinch)

Remove crusts from bread, place bread in medium bowl and pour water over. Let sit 10 minutes, and gently squeeze out excess liquid. Put bread in a large bowl; discard water. Tear bread into small pieces.

Add all the ground meats, cheese, egg, onion, parsley, basil, oregano, salt and red pepper flakes to bowl with bread. Gently toss to combine, maintaining a light touch to keep air in the meatballs. Roll the meat mixture in your hands to create meatballs slightly larger than a golf ball.

Here's where the recipe takes a turn. The original recipe calls for cooking these meatballs in simmering marinara sauce and serving it with whole wheat pasta. But the first time I made these I wanted to use the meatballs in another Cook Yourself Thin recipe for "Penne ala Notka". So I baked mine instead.

Preheat oven to 375. Line a baking sheet with foil and coat lightly with non stick cooking spray. Place meatballs on the sheet leaving about 1 1/2 inches between each meatball. Bake for 20-25 minutes until cooked through.