Meatballs for the Masses

Tonight is our annual New Year's Eve bonfire, complete with fireworks, loads of fun, and, of course, food. Our four oldest grandsons are joining us for the festivities.

These photos should give you a little insight into their personalities. They are a wild and crazy bunch of guys. Throw our two sons into the mix and, well, those finger foods had better be man-pleasing. And what better way to tempt these fellas than with yummy meatballs.

The first time I had these meatballs was at a friend's graduation party when I was in high school and it was love at first bite. I promptly asked her mother for the recipe and have been making them ever since. Except I no longer make my own meatballs. Instead, I look for good-quality premade meatballs like these from Sam's.

I simply put the frozen meatballs into a CrockPot hours before I need them to be ready (Tip: Add a CrockPot liner first and cleanup will be much easier) then pour the sauce over them.

For your sauce, you will need a bottle of chili sauce (this is sold by the ketchup), 6-10 oz. grape jelly, and one teaspoon of lemon juice. I made a double recipe, hence the two bottles of chili sauce and the 18 oz. jar of grape jelly (I used all of it).

Simply put the jelly into a sauce pan. Add the chili sauce and heat over low heat until the jelly has melted and no lumps remain. I use a whisk to help break up any lumps. (My apologies for the blurry pictures)

Pour the sauce over the frozen meatballs.

Put the lid on, cook on high or low, depending on how much time you have, stirring occasionally. One of the easiest appetizers ever. And always a crowd-pleaser. 

So what are you doing this New Year's Eve? Are you going out or staying in? And what are you looking forward to most in 2020?

Three time Carol Award finalist Mindy Obenhaus lives on a ranch in Texas with her husband, the youngest of her five children and two dogs. She passionate about touching readers with Biblical truths in an entertaining, and sometimes adventurous, manner. When she's not writing, she enjoys cooking and spending time with her grandchildren. Learn more a mindyobenhaus.com.

Happy New Year's Eve!

Hello, everybody!! Mary Jane here wishing you a VERY happy New Year's Eve!

If you haven't claimed your prizes, please be sure to contact us by our blogs or facebook pages so we can get those to you. :)

If you have a party planned but still don't know what to cook, check out our list of delicious appetizers, warm and filling easy recipes and melt-in-your-mouth delightful easy desserts!

Also, be sure to stop by Seekerville tonight for their annual New Year's Eve blowout! Lots of fun book chats and (of course) giveaways. Yours truly will be there around (counting backwards an checking time zones) 2PM Pacific Time so come on by and tell me what YOU do to beat discouragement!

I hope to see you there, and may your New Year's Day be peaceful and bright!

Happy New Year!!!! (Easy enchilada soup and the UGLY TRUTH)

Hellooooo, everybody!! Happy, happy New Year!! I loved 2013 (like really, really loved it) but I am even more excited by 2014! It's time for planning ahead, dreaming big dreams and making all those awesome resolutions. 

(First of all, I promise not to use so many exclamation points. Unless I'm really, really excited. *ahem*)

Let's get to today's recipe and then I'll drop the ugly truth on you. 

What's that, you say? You're not aware of the ugly truth??

Well, it's all around us, including in this recipe (and I don't mean the chicken, Kav!) and sometimes we have to smudge a few of those sharp lines to make the world a bit happier. Are you with me? No? Well, let me start and maybe you'll catch up on the way.

Behold. Shiny enameled stock pot. The cast iron stock pot left a HUGE rust ring on my lovely, vintage sink so it went to a good friend. (Something about leaving the bottom a bit wet and setting it on the white enamel. Whatever it was, it kills me that this sink has lasted a long, long time and I was the one to mark it up. UGH. Ugly truth, right there.)

 Apparently, enameled pots will NOT harm the pretty vintage sink. 

Unless I drop it. 

Which I won't.

 So, ingredients needed: one big bag of chicken breasts (fresh or frozen, but since this is a quick meal, the bag came out of the freezer). Corn tortillas. Cheddar cheese. Enchilada sauce.
You can make this with red sauce but I've never really liked red enchiladas.

Fill your stock pot half full of water. Add the sauce. Add the chicken. Turn it on high. (Sorry these pictures are so dark. It's winter. I need a sun lamp for my food pics.)

 Boil the chicken.

 Add ten to 12 corn tortillas. Let them boil with the chicken and stir a bit so they're in fairly large pieces. Ovoid over-stirring. That would make enchilada mush, which is still tasty but rather icky looking.

 Add about five or six thick slices of cheddar cheese and let that melt into the soup. This gives it a really nice, creamy flavor.

 Remove the chicken and chop into small pieces. Now is a good time to taste for salt, pepper, etc. I usually add a bit of salt and some cumin powder. MMMMMMM.....

 Turn the oven on broil. Cover the top of the soup with thick slices of cheddar cheese. I saw this recipe with Pepper Jack cheese and it looked GORGEOUS. But I don't like Pepper Jack. Put the stock pot in the oven (make sure it's oven safe, of course).

 After 3 minutes or so on broil, pull the pot from the oven. The cheese should be melted very nicely over the top and a bit crunchy. Think onion soup. Think lasagna. Think enchiladas...

Now, here's where the ugly truth comes in. I could just pop this on the table and everyone could  serve themselves, but you know I'm a FOOL for ramekins. I love how they provide a bit of portion control (all that late night writing and eating and writing and eating has not been kind to my rear end). 

But the recipe I saw had the ramekins put in the oven on broil, so they cooked separately.

 Two problems with that:
One- I don't want to clean off the baked-on cheese from a bunch of tiny ramekins. Nobody got time for that.
Two- the ramekins would be incredibly hot. I have toddlers (okay, and older kids who grab their food without thinking) so I avoid handing out 300F serving dishes.
 Here we'll blur those rough edges of truth and make a little happy in our world. Nothing dishonest, just... easier.
Dip the soup from under the layer of cheese and add a bit to every dish. Then, using a knife, cut a bit of the cheddar and lay it on top. Ta-DAH! Baked enchilada soup and nobody is going to the ER. It's still plenty hot, but not enough to hurt you.

 I added a bit of green onion to mine. A friend put corn in hers. The flavor is really amazing and if I had time, I think I might want to experiment. But as it is, I'm sticking with what I know...

 Now, the only ugly truth (cleaning up) involved here will be with this baby. And since I've made this dish three times now in this enameled pot, I'm confident in saying I won't be scrubbing for hours. Not even ten minutes. One dish dinner! Great for a crowd and it keeps well in the fridge. Leftovers!

And now, time for some more of the UGLY TRUTH. This is one of our closets, disemboweled. The innards of the little boys' closet was so tangled and so jumbled that nobody even knew what was in there. Sometime in May, my husband "sorted" part of the laundry room and "stored" things in this closet.
Yeah... Scare quotes and all.
Disaster.
 (And yes, I realize it's January, but what can I say? I've been too busy to deal with the closet problem. Until now.. Now is the time of reckoning...)

 One day, I'd had enough! (Specifically, Sunday evening.) We took everything from the closet and sorted it out. Bicycle helmets stayed, but girl backpacks from ten years ago? Out. Booster seat from 7 years ago? Out. Hallowe'en costumes for little girls when I've had only boys for the last ten years? Out.
You get the idea.

 Also, this ancient old house had 'do it yourself' closets made by the previous owner/builder. Note the awesome paneling. This was all over the house when we bought it 12 years ago. I think this is the last remnant. The closet doors never worked right. EVER.
(P.S. Like my home made light switch covers? One Lego magazine, one layer of mod podge. La voila! Lego light switch cover that made little boys squee with happiness.)

So, everything out. (Sorry, this pic is pre-clean up. Before we swept and scrubbed. Gross, eh?) In preparation for the new carpet in this room, I've got a new plan for this closet. No more ugly truth behind closet doors. No more heaven-knows-what in this space.

Ready??

Here's the plan:

A reading nook!!

You can find a hundred ideas like it on Pinterest here. Go check it out and see what I mean. And next week I will update on our progress! The little people are VERY excited to have their own reading space. We have bookshelves in every room, and they have two in their room, but THIS will be fun. I'm letting the kids decide among themselves what sort of design it will be. So far, I'm hearing a lot of dragons and castles and Legos. We shall see!

 Have a wonderful start to your NEW YEAR!!! I've partied hardy over on Seekerville last night for their New Year's Eve party so I'm going to need a nap.

But first, we're going to open our 'Good Things Jar', which we've been filling of all the wonderful things that have happened this year. We started January 1st 2013, and we'll open it today! We'll read each slip and applaud every small success, rejoice over every blessing, and reminisce over every good memory. 

From my family to yours, may this year bring peace and joy! Happy New Year!

Indulgent Times

** Disclaimer: I am writing this post on my Ipad and Blogger is not cooperating, so I aplogize if the pix are to large or anything else is caddywampus.**

Happy New Year, everyone! Wow, where has 2013 gone? But what a good year it was. For me, having the year bookended with LI contracts, one in January, one in December, was extra sweet.

I don't know about you, but I tend to let myself indulge between Thanksgiving and New Years. Then, by the time the calendar turns to January, I'm sick of eating. Sick of candies and cookies. Sick of my pants fitting just a little too snug. So then it's time to start eating right again and drop some of those unwanted pounds.

However, January doesn't come until tomorrow and our family has one last indulgent event of the season--my mother-in-law's birthday. Yep, she was born on New Years Eve, 91 years ago. Helen Obenhaus (sorry I don't have a pic) is not only the woman who introduced me to Ouray, Colorado, where her parents homesteaded in the 1920s and my books are set, she has also been all over the world, setting foot on every continent, all after the age of 60. Did you catch that? Every continent. Yes, she's the only person I know who has been to Antarctica.

So tonight, we will be celebrating her special day with some grilled steaks and who knows what indulgent dessert.

In the meantime, though, I allowed myself to indulge in one of my favorite dishes. One that is beyond easy, but I only allow myself to have it once a year, because otherwise I would be the size of the Goodyear blimp.

Frito Chili Pie is one of my most favorite things ever. (My brain is telling me we've discussed this recently, but not pinpointing anything, so I apologize if this post is repetitive) And you only need three, okay two, ingredients--Fritos and your favorite chili. (Number three would be shredded cheese)

And this takes easy peasy to a whole new level. 

Start with a bowl of Fritos.

Now heat up your favorite chili and  spoon it over the Fritos. You can top it all off with some shredded cheese, if you like. Stir it up and voila! Heaven in a bowl.

I love this stuff. Of course, it's hard to go wrong with Fritos, so why not find a way to make 'em a meal. :)

Is there something you absolutely love, but rarely allow yourself to have? Ooo...do tell.

Until next year, cheers, y'all!

Black Forest Ham Pinwheels

Jan here, astounded that it's time to turn that calendar page to 2014. Already! Does anyone else feel like 1994 was just last year?

So, how do you celebrate the new year?

Once in awhile we'll have someone over, but more often you'll find the six of us ringing out the old year quietly...if you count playing a game of Mexican Train Dominoes quiet!

We have a tradition of setting out snacky foods and grazing all night.

Well, at least until 10:00 or so. When we lived in the eastern time zone, we'd stay up and watch the ball drop in Times Square, but it loses a little of its punch when you're watching it two hours after the fact!

I like to try a new snack food sometimes to help mix things up, and this year I found a winner. I'm sure you're all familiar with these pinwheels. I've seen them in the deli cases at supermarkets, and they're always a hit whenever someone brings them to my son's office potluck.

In fact, it was after this year's potluck that my son asked me to try making them. So I searched online for a recipe, found a few, changed things up a bit, and came up with a treat I couldn't resist!

Here's the recipe:

Black Forest Ham Pinwheels

Ingredients:

8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 tablespoon minced onion
1 teaspoon dill weed
1 teaspoon horseradish (not horseradish sauce - get the real stuff)

8 ounces deli-style Black Forest Ham, sliced thin

I know this says "1 lb family size" - I made two batches and used it all.

4-5 flour tortillas, about 10" in size, room temperature (you can also use the low-carb tortillas)

This is so easy. First, mix the cream cheese, onion, dill weed and horseradish in a small bowl. Taste a smidgen, and add salt and pepper if you want. Remember that the ham is also salty, so you want your cream cheese mixture to be on the un-salty side.

The next thing to do is to lay a piece of plastic wrap down and lay a tortilla on top of it (you'll thank me later).

Spread some of the cream cheese mixture on one tortilla, thick enough to cover it, but not too thick. Lay slices of the ham in a single layer all over the tortilla. Then roll the tortilla up from one edge (not the plastic wrap - yet). Roll it  fairly tight, but you don't have to be a bully about it.

Now wrap the plastic wrap around it and set it aside. (This is where you'll thank me! Just try tearing off a piece of plastic wrap while you're trying to keep your tortilla from unrolling.)

Repeat until the cream cheese is all gone.

Refrigerate the rolls for at least two hours. When you're ready to eat them, unwrap them, and cut in 1/2-inch sections. (Let your minions snack on the ends).

Like most recipes, you can change this up to suit your own family. Here are some ideas for variations:

*Add dried cranberries to the cream cheese (leave out the horseradish for this one!)
*Use turkey instead of ham, or roast beef, or pastrami.
*Use nuts and dried fruit, and leave out the meat altogether.
*Add fresh chopped mushrooms.
*Add a layer of Swiss cheese on top of the meat.

The variations are only limited by your imagination!

We're planning to start our New Year's Eve celebration tomorrow night after daughter Carrie gets home from playing in the symphony concert. This year's concert sounds like fun - it's a Beach Boys tribute with a band called "The Kahuna Beach Party". (She's been humming Beach Boys tunes all month.)

We'll get the dominoes, set the snacks out, and spend the rest of the evening trying not to get too many points!

What are your New Year's Eve plans? Are you festive, or quiet? How do you like to ring out the old year?

And, of course, we must end with some gratuitous puppy pictures! This was Thatcher's first Christmas, and he did okay with the presents under the tree...as long as they didn't contain food of any kind!

Wynter always takes things a little easy. "Presents, you say? I'll go someplace where I can sleep!"

(By the way, don't forget to head over to Seekerville tomorrow for the big New Year's bash! Readers and writers alike will have tons of fun...and there will be prizes!)