Honey Garlic Meatballs (or sauce for meat)

===

Okay, this one is all about the sauce.

I have used homemade meatballs, with my meatloaf

recipe (see below), and I've also used store-bought frozen

meatballs, if I was crunched for time. Or lazy ;)

This sauce, in my opinion, would also be great for

chicken or pork. It's a bit Asian, but very mild.

===

Honey Garlic Sauce

-

INGREDIENTS:

-

~ 4 garlic cloves, minced

~ 2-4 Tbs. butter/margarine (or oil if you prefer)

~ 3/4 c. ketchup

~ 1/2 c. honey

~ 3 Tbs. soy sauce

(*If you wanted a more Asian, less ketchup-y flavor,

take the ketchup down to 1/2 c. and add 2-3 more T. of soy sauce.)

===

DIRECTIONS:

-

1.

In a sauce pan, wok, or small/medium frying pan, melt the

butter over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook til tender

(you may need to stir to keep from burning the garlic.)

-

2.

Add the ketchup, honey and soy sauce and bring to a boil.

-

3.

Once bubbling, cover and reduce temperature to low.

Let simmer for about 5 minutes, stirring so the bottom

doesn't scald.

-

4. That's it! Add the cooked meatballs into the saucepan, or

pour the sauce over the meatballs and mix up.

Serve over rice, with potatoes, or even with pasta.

===

~~~

Meatloaf / Meatballs

-

INGREDIENTS:

-

~ 2 lbs. ground beef

~ 2-4 eggs (depending on how moist you want it,

and how much bread you'll use)

~ 3-4 slices of bread (or you may use bread crumbs if you prefer)

~ 1/2-3/4 c. diced yellow onion, or 2-3 T. dried onion flakes

 or dried minced onion

~ Salt and Pepper

===

DIRECTIONS:

-

1.

Preheat oven to 350 for meatloaf, 400 for meatballs.

-

2.

Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl.

Make sure everything is incorporated.

-

3.

For meatloaf, press into a cakepan, or into

one or two bread loaf pans.

For meatballs, form into 1-2 inch balls and place

on a baking sheet or in a cake pan.

-

4.

Meatloaf will cook about an hour, depending on

how thick it is. Meatballs will typically cook in

about 30-45 minutes.

===

*For meatloaf, we always use this Sweet & Sour sauce,

which you pour over the meatloaf before baking.

It's so delish.

Marinade How-To (and an approximate pork chop marinade recipe ;)

I very clearly remember hearing something on Food Network

that I never forgot about marinades:

To make a marinade, you need 3 things:

an acid, an oil and your herbs/flavoring.

-

I can honestly say that there are a couple of bottled

marinades and sauces that I love, but that after learning that,

I'm also not afraid to whip up my own marinade!

-

So a few weeks ago when all we had left in the fridge was

pork chops, I threw together a few things and it was yum!

(This is not a specific recipe, cuz the husband "accidentally"

threw away my post-it note recipe...)

-

PORK CHOP MARINADE:

-

Mix in a large bowl:

-

2-4 c. soy sauce

3/4 c. brown sugar

1/4 c. lime juice (or lemon, or pineapple...)

1 T. sesame oil (this stuff is powerful!)

1/2 an onion, diced (or a couple tablespoons of onion flakes)

3-4 cloves garlic, crushed

a couple tablespoons of garlic, sliced, diced or crushed

1/2 c. veg oil

-

Stir and smell- if it doesn't smell like you want it to,

you could add more of any ingredient, depending

on what you think it needs.

Also, there's not much seasoning in this marinade,

other than the salt in the soy, so season your meat when you

cook it!

For pork chops, this was yum.

Olive Garden Alfredo Sauce

This is not a joke ;)

I've tried a handful of alfredo recipes- all of which are good,

but none of which have had that certain Olive Garden taste!

HELLO!  This is super simple and tastes so perfect!

INGREDIENTS:
1 stick butter
2 T. cream cheese
1 pint heavy cream
1 t. garlic powder
S&P
1/2 to 2/3 c. parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS:
1. In a medium saucepan, melt butter, cream cheese and heavy cream together.
-
2. Add garlic powder, parmesan and season with S&P (I'm not a huge pepper fan BUT to make this taste authentic, I've found I need a good amount of pepper.) 
-
3. Simmer for 10-15 minutes over low heat, stirring constantly (til parm is melted and sauce is creamy.)
-
4. Serve over hot fettucine noodles.  (I like to use angel hair too, for a less heavy meal!... and chicken!)

===
(On pinterest, I've also found an Olive Garden salad dressing and salad recipe, and a breadstick recipe, but I haven't tried them yet...)