Sunday, March 22, 2015

Swedish Meatballs

I have a delicious recipe to share with you for Swedish meatballs! These must be good, because I'm not all that crazy over meatballs, but I am obsessed with these!

Before I give you the recipe, I need to tell you: We adapted the recipe.
This means we made a change! In the normal recipe, it calls for onions. Well, we don't put those in and it still tastes amazing! So in the recipe below, I won't list it but if you go to the source, you'll see it in the list of ingredients.
Oh! And one more thing:
THANK YOU ELLIE FOR THE HELP, I'M GIVING YOU CREDIT! :)
Now, let's get to the recipe!

Swedish Meatballs Recipe

Ingredients:



  • 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
  • 1 pound ground beef
  • 1 pound ground pork
  • 1/2 cup Panko (Japanese-style breadcrumb)
  • 2 large egg yolks
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
For the gravy:
  • 1/4 cup unsalted butter
  • 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
  • 4 cups beef broth
  • 3/4 cup sour cream
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
Instructions:
  1. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook, stirring frequently for about 2-3 minutes
  2. In a large bowl, combine ground beef, ground pork, Panko, egg yolks, allspice and nutmeg; season with salt and pepper, to taste. Using a wooden spoon or clean hands, stir until well combined. Roll the mixture into 1 1/4-to-1 1/2-inch meatballs, forming about 24 meatballs.
  3. Add remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil to the skillet. Add meatballs, in batches, and cook until all sides are browned, about 4-5 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate.
  4. To make the gravy, melt butter in the skillet. Whisk in flour until lightly browned, about 1 minute. Gradually whisk in beef broth and cook, whisking constantly, until slightly thicker, about 1-2 minutes. Stir in sour cream; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
  5. Stir meatballs in and cook, stirring occasionally, until heated through and thickened, about 8-10 minutes.
  6. Serve immediately, garnished with parsley, if desired  






Sunday, March 1, 2015

Peach Mango Smoothie

My mom created this delicious peach mango smoothie herself and we wanted to teach you how to make it as well!
Smoothies are really good, healthy snacks to have so I hope you enjoy!
Now to the recipe!

Peach Mango Smoothie Recipe

Ingredients:
  • One handful of diced frozen mango
  • One handful of sliced frozen peaches
  • 1 cup of peach nectar, chilled
  • 1 container (about 6 ounces) low-fat peach yogurt
  • 1 tablespoon frozen lemonade concentrate
  • 1/2 cup club soda (fizzy water), chilled (we made our own using a soda stream machine!)
Instructions: 
  1. In a blender, combine the mangos, peaches, peach nectar, yogurt, and lemonade concentrate.
  2. Process for 30 seconds, or until smooth and creamy
  3. Stir in club soda and serve!










Saturday, February 21, 2015

Chocolate Mug Cake

Hello! Welcome back to my blog, Cooking with Ally! Today I will give you a mug cake recipe! :) It's a great recipe to make when you have a craving for something sweet but don't want to make a whole bunch. It's just enough for one person or two smaller portions to share.

Chocolate Mug Cake Recipe



Ingredients:
  • ¼ cup all-purpose flour
  • 2 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
  • ¼ tsp. baking powder
  • 2 tbsp. granulated sugar (you can add 1 tbsp. more to make it sweeter)
  • ⅛ tsp. salt
  • ¼ cup + 1 tbsp. milk
  • 2 tbsp. vegetable oil
  • 1 tbsp. hazelnut chocolate spread (aka... NUTELLA!!)
Instructions:

  1. In a medium bowl, whisk together dry ingredients.
  2. Whisk in the milk and vegetable oil until all ingredients are combined and batter has no clumps.
  3. Pour batter into a microwave-safe mug. You want enough head space for the cake to rise without pouring over (14-ounce mug is recommended).
  4. Add 1 tbsp. of hazelnut chocolate spread in the middle of the batter. Just plop it in the middle, you don’t need to push it down or sink it into the batter.
  5. Place a paper towel into the microwave and set the mug on top (this is just to any catch batter if your mug cake overflows).
  6. Microwave mug cake for about 70 seconds on high (ALL MICROWAVES ARE DIFFERENT SO YOU MAY USE LESS OR MORE TIME).
  7. Carefully remove from microwave and enjoy!
    (If you want, you can top your mug cake with other things! We just use ice cream and whipped cream for ours.)
















Sunday, February 15, 2015

Chocolate Thingies

Hello! Thanks for stopping by my blog! As you all probably know, yesterday was Valentine's Day. I hope you all had a great Valentine's Day! We went to a friend's house and we were in charge of bringing dessert! We went a little chocolate crazy! We made lots of chocolate thingies! (Watch video below to understand what I mean!)



Wasn't that funny? Now, lets get to the part you've all been waiting for!
The recipes!

We made chocolate covered strawberries and pretzel rods. We used a homemade chocolate sauce that hardens when chilled! Our "secret" trick is to use good, quality ingredients. Here's the recipe:

Chocolate Dipping Sauce

Ingredients:
    • About a 1/4 pound of chocolate (we used Trader Joe's Pound Plus Belgium Milk Chocolate Bar)
    • About 1/2 Tbsp of coconut oil (we used Trader Joe's coconut oil)
Instructions:
  1. Line a cookie sheet with wax paper.
  2. Combine ingredients in a microwave safe bowl.
  3. Microwave on high for 1 minute.
  4. Stir.
  5. Continue microwaving in 30 second intervals, stirring after each interval until chocolate is completely melted.
  6. Dip strawberries and pretzels (or whatever your heart desires) into the chocolate sauce.
  7. Place chocolate thingies on wax paper lined cookie sheet.
  8. Chill in fridge to firm up chocolate.
  9. If desired, drizzle with melted colored candy melts, like we did, then chill again.



Finished Chocolate Thingies!
Chocolate Dipping Sauce
See? Quality ingredients make a big difference!