mini meatball subs

Ian and I had some friends over yesterday to watch the Broncos vs Ravens game. I decided to make mini meatball subs and used a recipe by Giada De Laurentiis (which you can find here), but ended up modifying it quite a bit. To begin with, I wanted to double the recipe and Ian wasn't able to find veal at the grocery store so we ended up with 1.5 lb each of ground beef and ground pork. I doubled the other ingredients and made one batch of the meatballs, but they didn't hold together very well...so I added one more egg, another tablespoon of ketchup, and 2-3 more tablespoons of bread crumbs, plus more salt and pepper. This seemed to do the trick and the meatballs came out really well. Then I added the marinara sauce and stuck it in the fridge overnight. The next day, shortly before our guests arrived, I assemble the sandwiches, wrapped them in foil and kept them warm in the oven. They were a huge hit and very easy to serve!

Note: One change I would make to this recipe in the future is to bake the meatballs, rather than fry them. It took much longer than I thought to fry all the meatballs (partly because I doubled the recipe), and being stuck in front of the stove for so long wasn't fun. Plus, I've baked meatballs before and I think they've turn out just as well if not better.

My friend Courtney took a photo of Lute, and as you can tell, he's literally at the center of the party...his favorite place to be! I'm still not sure how a 95 lb dog is able to fit under our coffee table.

 

P.S.
As you may have noticed from the meatball sub picture above, we got a new camera!!!!! I'm no longer using my iphone and the difference is incredible! We went with the Canon Rebel T31 DSLR camera and are loving it!!!!

Thanksgiving Recap

I'm happy to report that Thanksgiving went off without a hitch at the Parkman house! It was a gorgeous day in DC and it was so nice to have friends and family over. Our youngest guest, Jake, is Lute's new best friend after giving Lute copious amounts of attention (Lute's favorite thing!) and playing "football" on the back deck. I wished I'd snagged a picture of them, so cute!

I think our table turned out pretty well too! I wasn't planning on doing a floral arrangement for the table, but Ian got me this awesome Teco vase for my birthday and I thought it would look great with our plates, plus I found some beautiful flowers while I was doing a bit of last minute shopping for all of my Thanksgiving recipes and that sealed the deal. I also added some red hues with napkins and pomegranates.

I love snapdragons!

Ian and I prepping the appetizers

I've never cooked a whole turkey before, and I have to admit I was a little nervous about how it would turn out. I followed a recipe from The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook, which calls for you to place the turkey breast side down and then flip it half way through the cooking process to allow the bird to cook evenly and for the breasts to brown. Flipping the turkey was easier than it sounds (just use clean pot holders or towels), and I have to say, the turkey turned out great!  I like America's Test Kitchen cook books, because they do a great job explaining why they use certain techniques and give tips about the best ingredients and tools to use.

Per usual, my favorite dish of the night was one of the desserts. Smitten Kitchen's apple cider caramels were divine! The flavor was so complex and so so so good. The next day I commented to Ian that I was surprised at how few of the caramels were left (I'd made a lot, plus we had three other dessert options for only 7 of us), and he said Jake had slipped a few in his pocket before leaving. A kid after my own heart!

The caramels and white chocolate bark

I hope everyone enjoyed Thanksgiving as much as I did.  I certainly have much to be thankful for!