Ikea Swedish Meatballs

I think Swedish meatballs are delicious. I think Ikea Swedish meatballs are the most delicious! On our drive down to Utah last weekend I begged David to let us stop Ikea. Even though we're moving across the country in a few weeks he agreed. I said to him, "I'm not planning on buying anything, I just love to look around. Besides, I want some Swedish meatballs." He replied with, "What do Swedish meatballs have to do with Ikea?"

!!!!!!!!!!

My eyes about popped out of my head. This guy had never been to Ikea before! Um, hello??? Swedish meatballs have EVERYTHING to do with Ikea! Now we really had to stop and get this guy some meatballs! Our first stop the cafe was closed, so obviously we had to go back again.

David experiencing his first Ikea Swedish meatball! He only got five meatballs (this was right before all-you-can-eat-sushi) so he has this tiny little bowl with five little meatballs on this giant tray. Haha. I wanted to bring a bag of frozen ones home, but since Ikea is 4 hours away from home, I didn't think they would make it. Luckily, I discovered a book called "Swedish Cooking" in the store! (I searched the Ikea website and several others but can't find the book anywhere online...) I was really excited, now I could make Swedish meatballs at home! And that's exactly what I did this week.

Ikea Swedish Meatballs (Recipe from "Swedish Cooking")
Ingredients:
1 onion (I only used half)
1 tbsp butter
1 lb mixed ground meat, such as beef and veal (only had beef, worked just fine!)
1 egg
2 1/2 cups breadcrumbs
salt
pepper
1 cup milk
1/2 bunch parsley
2 tbsp butter/lard for cooking

Peel and chop the onion. Melt the butter in a pan and saute the onion. Thoroughly combine the meat with the egg and breadcrumbs, then mix in the onion. Season the meat mixture with salt and pepper and knead into a smooth mass. Add enough milk to keep it supple (I didn't use the entire cup). Finley chop the parsley and stir into the meat mixture. With damp hands, form small balls from the mass (I got almost 30 out of it). Heat butter or lard in a pan and brown the meatballs on all sides (Mine took about 12 minutes until they were done, use a meat thermometer for more accuracy on done-ness). Serve with rice.

NOMS!!!!! (I had more of a meatrectangle going on there on the left! Mmm, nice and steamy) They were absolutely delicious! For this particular batch a used I cream sauce packet I got from Ikea while we were there. But...I'm kind of a sauce hog. We had leftover meatballs but no leftover sauce! So, obviously I had to find a way to get some more sauce, and this recipe from recipezaar did wonderfully. :)

Cream Sauce
1/2 cup half-and-half
1 cup low sodium beef broth
1/4 teaspoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon white flour
1 tablespoon butter
salt, to taste
white pepper

Melt butter in pan and add flour, whisk till golden brown and flour is cooked. Add Beef Stock and Cream until desired thickness. Season well with salt and pepper.

Simple and delicious! Enjoy your weekend! The hubs and I are going camping. :)

I'm sharing this recipe at these parties!

Dad's Reuben Sandwiches

Do you know what is bliss? My dad's Reuben Sandwiches. And my bliss, I mean like died-and-gone-to-heaven bliss. I mean I-could-eat-this-everyday bliss. I mean OH-MY-GOSH bliss. SO GOOD. The funny thing is...I don't like most of the ingredients in Reuben Sandwiches by themselves. HATE Swiss cheese, not fond of rye, corned beef is gross. Yet...these ooey, gooey, artery cloggers are SO incredibly delicious. I've had Reubens at restaurants but none of them were as yummy as these. Maybe because I find thousand island dressing to be disgusting...and this perfect recipe has none! But...I guess if you want, you can taint the perfectness of this recipe with thousand island to make it more authentic...but, I don't recommend it.


Dad's Reuben Sandwiches (makes 4)
8 slices Russian rye bread
1 12 oz can corned beef
4-8 slices Swiss cheese (depends on how cheesy you like your sandwich, I use 2 per sandwich myself :D)
1 14.5 oz can sauerkraut
mayo (I also use mustard)
butter

Spread mayo onto bread slices. Add Swiss cheese then sauerkraut. Slice corned beef into about 8 slices (this is easier if it's refrigerated for 30 minutes or so) and place on top of sauerkraut. Add second slice of bread to make a sandwich. Liberally butter outsides of sandwich. Heat butter in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add sandwiches and fry until golden brown (a few minutes). Flip, fry on other side until golden brown. The cheese should be melted and the inside warm. Serve immediately. Now, I mean so immediately, that you should have everyone already at the table eating their veggies and then as soon as the sandwiches are done, put them on their plates. There should be no down time between cooking at eating! :)

OMG!!! There are not many things I love more than this sandwich. Even if you don't like Reubens, I suggest trying it anyway. I don't like any of these ingredients alone, but together, it's magic.

UH-MAZE-ING!!!!!! I made them for dinner the other night, and I'm making one now for lunch. :D

Everything Bagels

Um...where did my last post go??? It just disappeared! Very weird...I guess my blogging noobness got in the way of things again.

I realize that from reading a lot of my most recent posts it seems like all I ever do with my free time is sew. That my friends, is false. I have plenty of other things I like to do, and one of them is cook. I LOVE to cook. I watch Food Network all day to hone my skills and I love to try out new recipes. One of my all time favorite things to do is to try a recipe for the first time. I was lucky enough to have this experience this weekend.

On Sunday, I was craving bagels. Not just any bagel, a hearty everything bagel. However, I don't shop on Sundays, so I couldn't go out and just buy one. What's a girl to do?? After moping for a few minutes, I realized that it should be easy enough to make one, right? Right! I found this recipe in an amazing cookbook my mom got my for Christmas, Family Dinner Cookbook by Debbie G. Harman. I tweaked it a little bit to turn it into everything bagels, but you can just omit that part if you're not an everything fan like me.

Everything Bagels
1 package active dry yeast
1 1/2 cups warm water (not hot!)
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
4 1/2 cups flour (plus 2/3 cup more to incorporate while kneading)
baking soda
1 Tbs cornmeal (optional)

To make it everything:
1 Tbs onion powder
1 Tbs garlic powder
1 tsp poppy seeds
1 tsp sesame seeds
1 tsp caraway seeds
1 tsp salt (kosher works best)

Directions
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Combine yeast, warm water, and sugar together to dissolve. Let stand 5 minutes. Meanwhile, combine seeds and spices and reserve 1/4 of it for topping. Add the rest while gradually adding 4 1/2 cups of flour to the yeast and sugar mixture. Beat with a dough hook using an electric mixer or knead on a floured surface for 6-7 minutes until smooth. When smooth, knead in the extra 2/3 cup until a stiff dough forms. Let stand for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, fill a large saucepan 3/4 full with water. For every cup of water, add 2 teaspoons baking soda. Dust cornmeal onto a baking sheet. (This just gives the bagels more of a bakery feel) Bring water and soda to a boil. Divide dough into 12 pieces (this will make mini bagels, to make regular sized bagels only divide it into 6 pieces). Shape each pieces into a flatted round disk. Press thumbs into the center and pull dough outward to make a center hole. Drop each bagel into boiling water for about 10 seconds. Remove with a slotted spoon and let drip for 10 seconds before placing on the cornmeal dusted baking sheet. Use the remaining 1/4 of the spice/seed mixture to dust the bagels. Lightly press the seeds down to keep them from falling off. Bake for 8-10 minutes (8 for the mini bagels, 10 for the larger ones) until golden brown. Cool on wire racks and enjoy!

These are DELICIOUS! They taste just like they came fresh from a bakery down the street.

Enjoy!! They're very good with a nice hot cup of lemon tea. Just make sure when you try to be good and add less brown sugar, you don't "accidentally" pour a scoop in your mouth.

I'm linking this recipe up to Craftaholics Anonymous' Recipe Swap!