Turkey Oatmeal Meatballs

Spaghetti and meatballs is such a great traditional meal, but it can get really heavy with all the pasta and greasy meatballs and cheese. These turkey/oatmeal meatballs are light and DELICIOUS. They do take sometime to make, but you can make a huge batch and freeze some of it for later and they still taste great.

Place half a large onion in a food processor and pulse until onion is in very small pieces. Then add 1 cup uncooked oats (not instant) and process until you get this kind of pasty mixture.

Next mix in the remaining ingredients. Spices, cheese, egg and ground turkey. Form into balls. I use a 1 tablespoon scoop to get them all the same size. It will make about 50 1 tablespoon size meatballs. Spray baking sheet or foil before placing them on to ensure they don't stick.

Then bake them 400 degrees (F) for 30 minutes, if your baking them from frozen it will take longer. They will be brown and slightly firm. Then enjoy! I added them to the sauce for a couple minutes before I topped off my homemade pasta.

Recipe

1 cup oats (not instant)

1/2 large onion

16-20 oz package lean ground turkey (I don't have exact size as I buy mine in bulk and they don't label the exact weight of the package)

1 egg

1/4 cup shredded Italian blend cheese

1/2 tsp each of salt, pepper, basil and oregano

1 tsp garlic powder (can substitute with a couple cloves of fresh garlic I didn't have any on hand when I made them)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees (F)

1. Add onion to food processor and pulse until you get small pieces

2. Add 1 cup of oats and pulse until you get a nice mixture there should be no large chunks and it will become pasty in texture

3. Add all remaining ingredients and mix together. Do not over mix you just want everything combined and distributed evenly.

4. Spray a baking sheet with nonstick spray. Portion out meatballs into 1 tbls size portions. Here it is super handy to use a 1 tbls spoon size scoop. You should get between 45-50 meatballs. You can really make them any size you want just adjust your bake time accordingly.

5. Bake 400 degrees (F) for 30 minutes.

6. Enjoy!

Crockpot Shredded Beef

One of my favorite things to do is make something in a crockpot. I mean hello "set it and forget it" as a famous infomercial would say. Am I the only one that used to watch them on Saturday mornings as a kid? There is nothing better then getting dinner in the crockpot in the morning then coming home hours later to a house that smells amazing and dinner pretty much ready to go am I right?

Another one of my favorite things is Mexican food: tacos, burritos, chips, salsa, nachos and fajitas oh my! I could eat Mexican food pretty much everyday for at least one meal. Maybe it was the whole living in Mississippi and Cleveland for the past 8 years and not having nearly as much Mexican food choices as I did growing up in Northern California. Whatever the reason is though, we eat Mexican food a lot in our house. One of the best things is making a huge crockpot full of shredded meat (beef, chicken, pork) and then being able to eat it for multiple meals. It is so easy yet so tasty.

Simply start with whatever meat you like (I used beef for this particular batch).
I browned 2.5 lbs of beef stew meat in a large pan with a little oil. Seasoned the beef with salt, pepper, chili powder, cayenne pepper, cumin and garlic powder. Transfer meat to the crockpot leaving the drippings/juice in the pan.

 Next I sautéed one large onion in the pan with the drippings/juice. Sautéed until the onion was soft and started to get a little color. Then transferred it all to the crockpot (juice and all)

 I then added orange juice and chicken broth to the crock pot and cooked on high for about 5 hrs. Shredded the beef and let it sit in the juice for another half hour.

Then I simply made tacos. I added a little Greek yogurt, cheese and fresh cilantro. But this is where you can go crazy with however you like it! Please leave me a comment on your experience with this recipe.

Recipe
Shredded Beef (or pork or chicken)

2.5 lbs beef stew meat (I have used chicken breasts, pork shoulder/butt as well)
Salt
Pepper
Garlic powder
Cumin
Chili powder
Cayenne pepper
1 large onion
1/2 cup Orange juice
1/2 cup chicken broth

1. Heat a little oil in a large pan

2. When oil is very hot dump in meat and sprinkle with all spices. You will end up using between 1/4tsp and 1/2tsp for the spices depending on how spicy you like it. I tend to use closer to 1/4 tsp salt/pepper/chili powder/cayenne pepper and 1/2tsp of cumin and garlic powder.
*I didn't measure the spices exactly for this particular recipe: I will update as I make it again*

3. Brown meat then transfer to crockpot. I leave all the drippings and juice in the pan

4. Cut onion into slices and Sautee in pan until the onion is soft and starts to get some color (take about 5 minutes on medium heat) The onions will absorb a lot of the juice and drippings.

5. Transfer onions to the crockpot

6. Add liquid to the crockpot and mix all together.

7. Set on high and leave for about 5 hrs, until the meat can be shredded with a fork.

8. Shred the meat and leave for about 30 minutes to absorb more liquid.

9. Eat!

The [Re]Launch

I wasn't sure whether or not to call this a Launch or Re-Launch of my blog. Way back when I started this blog it was really just a bunch of jumbled posts here and there. After I had baby boy #1 little R I intended for it to be a way for my family to keep up with my life since we lived thousands of miles away...well we all see how that turned out. It's been almost 3 years since I have posted in here.

Why I am re-launching. So the idea came to me a couple weeks ago. I have been way more active on my social media, as a result of me becoming a Beachbody coach (I will save that story for another day). I started posting photos of my food and was overwhelmed by the response people where giving me. I had numerous requests to write a cookbook which seemed crazy. Me write a cookbook? I could never! But then I began to think maybe not so crazy? That's when the blog idea was born. Instead of writing a cookbook which would take months or years to get polished and ready to publish I can share my recipes via a blog. I can share them slowly over time and see how they go over. I can have others test the recipes and give me feedback...for free! Then if things progress then maybe I can consider putting together a cookbook.

So while my intentions for this blog are generally going to be food/recipe related that won't be the only thing that I post about. I also want to share a glimpse into my crazy life! There will be kid posts, fitness posts and probably some other random posts as well because well that's life. I am so excited to share this all with you. I also ask you please be patient at my blog will be under a constant state of remodel for a little while; while I try and get things the way I like them. You may notice changes day to day as I fuss around with layouts and design. Thank you for joining me on this crazy exciting journey.

Welcoming our Baby Boy

If anyone ever tells you that being a parent is easy from the start then they must have a secret I don't know. These first three weeks have been full of highs and lows. But lets start from the beginning...labor and delivery. It was Wednesday night (15 Jan 14) and we had ordered Chinese take out as we were both exhausted from working a full day. It was business as usual in our house. Art had the next morning off as I was supposed to have an OB appointment, since I was going to be 4 days past my due date, and he was going to go with me because we anticipated discussing induction. I went to bed on the earlier side as I was just exhausted while Art was savoring the fact he could sleep in the next morning and stayed up later than usual. I woke up around midnight with cramping feeling, but I thought maybe it was just the Chinese food. So I didn't wake Art up because I didn't want to read too much into it, since I have had zero signs of labor to this point. When the cramping started getting a little stronger and were pretty constant 6-8 min apart I realized this was probably not just cramping but contractions. After 2hrs I decided I need to wake Art up and let him know I think I was having contractions. So over the next hour they started to increase in intensity. When people said you will know that you in true labor they were not kidding, there is no mistaking a true contraction. They started getting really painful but still about 5 min apart, so we were advised by labor/delivery to not come in till they were 2-3 min apart for 2 hrs straight. By around 4:30 I wanted to die. So we finally decided it was time to go in. We got the car packed up and headed to base, for what seemed like the longest car ride of my life. When we got up to labor and delivery they hooked me up to monitors and checked my cervix. They said my contractions were still about 5 min apart and only 3 cm dilated. Seriously, this was going to be a long night...so I thought. But around 6am (I think but really time was all kind of a blur at this point) they moved me into one of the actual labor and delivery rooms, so I guess they did believe I was in true labor at this point. I was in so much pain I was having a hard time breathing through my contractions. Yeah my idea of an all natural labor out the window I wanted the drugs and I wanted them now. I finally got an IV with some drugs and man the world was a much better place. I actually fell asleep for a little while it was awesome. The nurse said they had decided to give me some pitocin to speed up the labor as it wasn't seeming to progress very much. Then all of a sudden I don't know how long I was out of it for (maybe an hour) but all of a sudden the medications were not working anymore. I was in the worst pain of my life, I think I was literally screaming/begging the nurse for more drugs. I must have seemed like a crazy person. They checked my cervix again and low and behold in about an hour I had gone from 3 cm to 9 cm, ummmm no wonder I was in pain. This baby was on his way and fast. I wanted my epidural and I mean I wanted it like yesterday...the anesthesiologist could not make it up fast enough. But I did finally get it and let me tell you he was my new best friend. I think the nurse said I got another hour or so of rest after that. Then she woke me up and told me it was time to start pushing (around 11am). I pushed for less than an hour and our beautiful baby boy joined us! It was the most amazing thing to see him for the first time. I remember the team (nurse/techs) saying they were surprised at how fast it went, they all thought that maybe I would deliver by the end of their shift that night because in the beginning I was progressing so slowly. So the nurse told me, if I ever have another child be aware that once I start active labor it could go real quick. It was truly an amazing experience and I am so thankful for my amazing husband who helped me through everything. I am thankful for the staff who were also amazing at getting me through it all and taking amazing care of all us in the hospital.
Welcome to the world Ryan Valeri 16 Jan 14 at 11:52!

Let the Waiting Game Begin

So tomorrow will mark the start of week 39, which means baby boy could be here any day. I don't know how I feel. I mean I am anxious, excited, nervous and scared all at once. I can't wait for baby boy to be here, but definitely have moments of sheer terror. I mean I will be responsible for this precious little one, that is scary. I know everyone tells me the minute I see him it will all come naturally, but I can't help and worry.
Lets do a quick stats update
Weight: about 25 lbs gained
Names: TBD
Due Date: Jan 13, 2014
Days left of work (potentially): 5, and yes I am still working full days with a full patient load.
Sleep: uncomfortable
Movement: he is running out of room, but still moving like crazy
Cravings: food in general. I am always hungry...but I get terrible heartburn.
I hate taking photos of myself but here is one from a few weeks ago (35 weeks).