Magic Marshmallow

If you do a lot of baking you most likely have brown sugar in your pantry. I always have brown sugar because I am obsessed with cinnamon buns, in fact I am eating one as I write this.

Okay, back to the brown sugar. Something that stinks about brown sugar is that it tends to get hard after awhile and then you have to throw it away therefor wasting money. To combat this I put my sugar in an airtight container and then I pop in a marshmallow. Marshmallows are magic little things, aren't they?

Delicious Meatballs- Minimal Effort (because I'm lazy)

Wednesday night for dinner we had meatball subs- a hearty and simple meal that we all love (when I say we all I mean my husband and I- my son has been anti-meatball lately and my daughter is pretty much anti-meat).

I have made meatballs baked in the oven, simmered on the stove and a mixture of both methods but my favorite way to prepare them is in my trusty Crock Pot! They always come out unbelievably tender with no crusty outside layer (I am like a five year old and do not like my food burnt or crusty).

As for my ingredients, I use whatever I feel like at the time. A little of this and a little of that usually suits me well. This time I used 97% ground beef that was marked down at Target, whole wheat seasoned bread crumbs, an egg, grated Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper (if I have onions on hand I use them too but they're not something I will go buy just to make meatballs).

I throw everything into the bowl into whatever amounts look right to me and then get my hands dirty and mix it all up.

Yum, a big ball of meat. Once mixed I roll the mixture out into balls.

Then plop- the meatballs get thrown into the slow cooker with a jar of sauce (no homemade sauce in this house- I have time limitations called two kids who won't leave me alone for more than a mere minute). Once in the slow cooker, cook on either high or low depending on how much time you have. Cook meatballs until they reach 160 degrees on an instant read thermometer.

Not only does making the meatballs this way make them tender and delicious but it also frees up precious time before dinner. I can make these earlier in the day and then when it is time to eat we have fresh cooked meatballs ready to eat instead of me rushing around trying to throw everything together. Plus, the house smells wonderful all day- yum!

Mashed Potatoes- Here's a Tip...

I made mashed potatoes for dinner to accompany our pork tenderloin. I really love mashed potatoes but they never seemed to come out right when I made them.

Then I read an issue of Cook's Illustrated that solved my problem (that magazine makes me swoon). Instead of boiling the potatoes, you steam them!

Steaming the potatoes cooks them evenly all the way through which means no gross lumps and it leaves in the potato flavor (boiling them literally boils out the flavor and many of the nutrients).

It is really easy to do- put a large pot of water on the stove and bring to a boil. Place a metal colander inside of the pot, put the cut up potatoes (I cut mine into one or two inch pieces depending on the size of the potatoes I am using) into the colander and then place a lid on top.

I steamed my potatoes for about 15 minutes but it all depends on how many potatoes you are using and how big the cut up pieces are. Just dump your hot potatoes into a bowl and make your mashed potatoes as you usually would.

I promise you, steaming potatoes is the way to go and makes mashed potatoes completely fool proof.