Archive | September, 2011

Italian Sausage Meatballs

26 Sep

On a Friday night, like several other nights, we couldn’t decide on what we wanted for dinner. Being indecisive really sucks. Especially when you barely had anything to eat all day and you are suffering from a hunger headache and getting cranky. 🙂  Oh yeah, not a pretty sight. lol.  At last minute we decided on a semi-homemade thin crust pizza. I was just going to purchase the pillsbury thin crust dough. I had already thawed out a lb of ground Italian Sausage for one of the toppings.  Anyway, Bryan and I decided to take a trip to our local walmart because we needed to pick up some things. As usual, we spent longer than expected and more money than expected! That is always a issue when going into Walmart.

Long story short, I ended up throwing a Digiorno Pizza in the oven and that was dinner…. Say what? You want to know what happened to that thawed out ground Italian Sausage huh?  Well I couldn’t put it back in the freezer the next day,so I thought what can I do with this. Meatballs!! Yup! That’s what I will make. I didn’t want to make a whole meal so I figured a little appetizer would be perfect. 🙂 These meatballs are great for snacking or can even be used for a Meatball Sub or even Spaghetti. Enjoy! 🙂

Italian Sausage Meatballs

By: Sonia “Blade”

Ingredients:

1 lb Hot Ground Italian Sausage

1/3 cup Diced Red Pepper

1/3 cup Grated Parmesan Cheese

1/3 Cup Shredded Italian Cheese Blend

1/3 Cup Panko Bread Crumbs

1 large Egg

1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2) Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl and mix well.

3) Form medium size meatballs, using 1 tablespoon of mixture for each.

4) Place in baking pan and cook for about 25 minutes until done.

5) Serve with Marinara Sauce.

*Makes about 20 meatballs*

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Strawberry Brown Sugar Pancakes

25 Sep 
When I was a little girl I would wake up 
to the sound to loud old school music blasting on the surround 
sound system and the aroma of something yummy for my tummy :) 
My dad would spend Saturday and Sunday mornings making 
breakfast for our family. Even though we would be annoyed by
the sound of the loud music waking up, we couldn't wait for
breakfast. I remember sneaking into the kitchen to sneak a 
piece of bacon when daddy wasn't looking. At least I thought 
he wasn't looking. :) He was so busy making his ginormous 
pancakes! Daddy made the biggest pancakes I had ever seen. We 
usually couldn't even eat a whole one, they were that big.
With daddy running through my mind, I decided to get up early 
in the morning and make some. Daddy usually made traditional 
pancakes but I decided I was going to do something a little 
different this time. Strawberries are my favorite fruit so I 
figured what better way to use them. I made Strawberry Brown 
Sugar Pancakes. I am still working on making my pancakes the 
same size. That will probably take a couple trial runs but hey, 
they say PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT right?!?


Strawberry Brown Sugar Pancakes
By Sonia “Blade”

What you need:

Dry Ingredients
1 ¾ Cup All Purpose flour
6 Tbsp Brown Sugar
3 tsp Baking Powder
¾ tsp Salt

Wet Ingredients
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 tsp Amaretto
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 cup 2 % Milk
1 large whole egg

Strawberry Mixture
2 cups Chopped Strawberries
¼ tsp vanilla
1/8 tsp Lemon juice
¼ tsp amaretto
½ tsp flour

1) For the strawberry mixture, combine strawberries, vanilla, 
lemon juice and amaretto in a small bowl. Mix in ½ tsp flour 
and set aside. 

2) Combine all dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Make a well 
in center.

3) In another bowl, whisk together all wet ingredients.

4) Pour wet mixture into well and mix together. 

5) Fold in strawberry mixture. 

6) Heat a greased skillet  over medium heat. Ladle mixture 
into pan for desired pancake sizes. Once several tiny bubbles 
form in pancake batter, flip them over and brown on the other 
side.

7) Plate and Serve. 

Serving Suggestion: Sprinkle with brown sugar and top with 
fresh strawberries.

Szechuan Shrimp and Asparagus

23 Sep

Hey Loves. I’m back! 🙂

As you can see, I decided to use a new platform for my blog and I absolutely LOVE it!  🙂 WordPress has a wide variety of custom options and I am very excited about this. It gives my blog a sleeker and cleaner look. I am still getting use to this platform. Blade’s Culinary Creations will be a constant work in progress because I want it to be great for you 🙂

Today was a pretty long day with work, the gym, blog editing and more. After all of this, I still needed to eat dinner. My first thought was “something quick”. Szechaun Shrimp and Asparagus was definitely a great choice. Not only was it quick and easy, it was delicious. Enjoy!  🙂


Szechuan Shrimp and Asparagus
by Sonia "Blade"

Ingredients:
12 Ounce Bag of Cooked Shrimp (thawed, remove tails)
12 Ounces Asparagus
1 tsp. Garlic
1 Tbsp Olive Oil

Sauce:
3 Tbsp Ketchup
1/3 Cup Water
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
2 tsp. Minced Ginger
¼ tsp. Sesame Oil
1 tsp. Sweet Chili Sauce
2 tsp. Honey
½ tsp. Sriracha
½ tsp. crushed red pepper flakes (add more if you like it spicy!)
2 tsp. Cornstarch

1) Combine all sauce ingredients in a bowl. Whisk together. Toss 
cooked shimp in sauce and set aside.
2) Cut (washed) asparagus into 2 to 3 inch pieces. Discard 
bottom tips.
3) Heat Olive oil in wok and sauté garlic until fragrant 
(about 15 seconds).
4)Toss asparagus into wok and cook until tender but still 
crisp. Approx 7 to 10 mins depending on thickness of asparagus.
5)Add  sauce and shrimp mixture to pan and toss all together 
until heated though about 5 mins on low heat. 

***Note: Please be sure not to heat the shrimp too long. 
This may cause shrimp to become rubbery.  
Raw shrimp may be substituted for cooked shrimp. 
Just be sure to add time cooking raw shrimp first.***

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