Family Dinner: Asian Meatball Casserole

Last night was Family Dinner night and it was Pannonica’s turn to choose what to make and cook. She chose asian flavored meatballs and I had the idea to make an easy casserole out of it. We used fried rice, some stir fry veggies, and the meatballs she made. It came out great! The whole family enjoyed it and there was just enough left over for both girls to take for lunch today. That’s a win win in my book!

It tasted so good, I almost forgot to get a picture! Thank goodness I remembered while packing the leftovers into the girls’ lunch boxes. This recipe was super fun and easy. When cooking by myself I probably would have stir fried my own veggies and made my own fried rice. I was taking into consideration my 8 year old’s enthusiasm and energy level after a long day of school. This whole meal probably took us 45 minutes from start to finish. When choosing a recipe to make with kids, you definitely need to keep in mind that they move much slower and so a 20 prep time will be longer. Keep it easy, let them do most of the work, and have a great time!

I’d love to hear what you and your kiddos enjoy making together. We can always use some new ideas!

Asian Meatball Casserole

Ingredients for the Meatballs

1/4 cup Panko crumbs

1 lb ground turkey white meat

1/4 lb ground turkey dark meat

1/2 tbsp ginger paste

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 tsp sea salt

3 scallions, chopped

1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

1 tbsp low sodium soy sauce

2 tsp toasted sesame oil

Casserole Ingredients

3 cups fried rice (I picked this up at my local Safeway deli counter, but feel free to make your own!)

1 bag of frozen stir fry veggies

Teriyaki sauce

How to Make the Asian Meatball Casserole

Makes 16

Preheat oven to 500F

Spray a non-stick cooking spray onto a cookie sheet and baking rack. Place baking rack onto cookie sheet.

Put all the meatball ingredients into a large mixing bowl. Mix it all together with clean hands. Roll mixture into small meatballs. Put into oven and cook for 15-18 minutes. Once done, remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes.

Turn oven down to 350F

Next, cook the stir fry veggies according to the bag. Either stove top or microwave works fine. (If you want to use fresh veggies even better! Try red bell pepper, green beans, carrots, broccoli, and mushrooms).

Once the veggies are done, pour them into a 8×9 baking pan. Add the fried rice and the meatballs. Drizzle 3 or 4 tbsp of the Teriyaki sauce on top and put in oven for 15 minutes. Serve hot and enjoy!

 

 

Dairy Free Baking – Cookies!

As of the New Year, I am now completely dairy free. Whether it’s forever or just for the 6 weeks my doctor recommended we’ll just have to see. I’m choosing to see this as a culinary adventure instead of a sentence of deprivation and am actually pretty excited about the experiment. Anyone else out there trying out a new diet for the new year?

My first official vegan recipe is, of course, a cookie. Unhappy with the taste of vegan chocolate chip cookies that I’ve purchased or had at parties, I decided to try something a little different. I’m calling it my Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Banana Snickerdoodle Vegan Cookie Yum! It took a couple of tries, but I’m really happy with this final product. Tell me what you think!

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Banana Snickerdoodle Vegan Cookie Yum

1 1/3 cup of all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

pinch of salt

1 stick of Earth Balance vegan butter

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup organic peanut butter (I used creamy)

1 large organic banana

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup rolled oats

3/4 cup semi sweet Ghiradelli chocolate chips

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees

In a medium size bowl, stir together your flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Melt your vegan butter. In a large bowl beat your melted vegan butter and the granulated sugar until frothy. Add the brown sugar and peanut butter until well blended. Peel and mush your banana. Stir the mushed banana and the vanilla into the sugar and vegan butter. Add the flour mixture just until incorporated. By hand, stir in the rolled oats and chocolate chips.

On an ungreased cookie sheet, scoop out 2 inch balls of dough evenly spaced about 3 inches apart. Bake for 8-10 minutes until the edges are turning brown. Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes before removing cookies from the sheet. Enjoy!