I'm a Little Italian: Grammie Teresa's Meatballs

Our next door neighbor's growing up, Aunt Rose and her daughter Lori, likely hosted more of my waking hours than my own family.  Aunt Rose was the best next door Grandmother ever!   There wasn't a single day that we wouldn't draw, sing songs (in Italian too), play cards and enjoy juice and cookies at her kitchen table.

Aunt Rose introduced me to red gravy and all of the pasta dishes that go along with it, pastina with butter, and zeppole's at the Italian carnival.  (The current tradition of fried dough doesn't hold a candle to confectioner sugar covered zeppole in a greasy paper bag!)  She once bought me a t-shirt that said, "I'm a little Italian" that was even more tongue and cheek than the author could have possibly intended. 

Imagine Aunt Rose's joy when I fell in love with and married an Italian!  Having her, Lori and her husband Ron at our wedding almost 10 years ago was such an honor.

The matriarch of my husband's family was Grammie Teresa, my father-in-laws mother.  Sadly, I only met her once before she had a severe stroke.  Imagine all of the food we could have made together! 

The recipe that follows in an homage to Aunt Rose and Grammie Teresa.  Since the best family recipes contain a little of this and a little of that, this is my brother-in-law's delicious adaptation.  It is a wonderful Christmas Eve dinner with homemade garlic bread and a salad followed by Christmas cookies!  Perhaps Santa will have a couple of meatballs in addition to his cookies.  That is, if there are any left.

Grammie Teresa's Meatballs and Sauce (Red Gravy)

Sauce (Red Gravy)

• 2 26oz jars of tomato sauce
• 3 26oz boxes of crushed tomatoes
• 1 t. pepper
• 1 t. onion powder
• 1 t. garlic powder
• 1 T. Italian seasoning
• salt to taste
• 1 T sugar

Mix all ingredients in a large, heavy bottomed pot. Simmer for several hours with the meatballs to combine flavors. 

Note: I substitute 28oz canned tomatoes with 26oz boxed tomatoes (such as Pomi) to reduce BPA exposure.  The acidic tomatoes causes a high rate of absorption of BPA from the cans.  Yes, there is BPA in jar lids however I believe this is the lesser of two evils.  My brother-in-law's recipe also calls for 1 can of tomato puree.  Since I have yet to find this boxed, I substitute with a third box of crushed tomatoes.

Meatballs:

• 1 cup Parmesan cheese
• 2/3 cup breadcrumbs
• 2lb ground beef
• 1 t. pepper
• salt to taste
• 2 t minced garlic
• 1 T Italian seasoning
• 2 large eggs

Mix the above ingredients and form into 1 inch balls.  Add the meatballs to the cold sauce to simmer.  (This method may require skimming fat from the top of the sauce as the meatballs cook.)

Alternatively, bake the meatballs at 350 for about 20 minutes to render some of the fat from the meat.  Then add the hot meatballs to the simmering sauce.

The Coffeecake that isn't

Exhibit A in The Coffeecake argument - the recipe titled Danish Pastry Wreath.  Case closed.  The Coffeecake is definitely not a coffeecake. 

Despite the name conundrum, my mom tore the recipe from McCall's magazine in 1974 and made it yearly until her death in 2000.  She would choose a December weekend for the recipe ritual - the tell tale sign of which was the yard stick laying across the counter top.  She used it to measure the dough while she rolled and folded the buttery layers into the famous Christmas morning concoction.  The Coffeecake is a braided pastry with flaky layers of sweet dough and almond filling and butter - lots and lots of butter.   If asked why she changed the name all those years ago I suspect she would shrug her shoulders and crack sheepish a smile having no idea herself.   What I do know is that this confection become known not just as a coffeecake but The Coffeecake and the official first breakfast of Christmas morning.

One thing to note about my mom's recipe box is that the most famous family recipes often contain brand name products.  Some examples include:

• The Coffeecake (Zweiback Toasts)
• Hungry Jack Casserole (Campbell's Pork n Beans, Hungry Jack biscuits)
• Cherry Jello Salad (Coke, Jello)
• BBQ Hot Dogs (Kraft BBQ sauce)
• Roadside Potatoes - (Ore Ida Hash Browns)

While my own grocery list avoids brand name products in favor of homemade alternatives, seeing these recipes and tasting their flavors brings me back to her kitchen and our table (and my grandmother's and great grandmother's and Auntie Lowell's).  They are some of the best and most vivid memories I have of growing up.  Hopefully my boys will look back fondly at memories of my kitchen and our table - which happens to be the one my mom set her meals on too.  

Being a grown up now I make slight modifications to The Coffeecake recipe.  I never felt like she added enough of the sugary glaze.  Let me tell you - I add plenty now!  Zweiback Toasts are not easily found so I substitute with Melba Toast.  I'm sure you could use plain bread crumbs among other things but it feels sacrilegious not to use one brand name product for another.  I also substitute whole wheat pastry flour or white whole wheat flour in lieu of all purpose. 

As kids The Coffeecake made Christmas rounds with us and was shared with relatives along the way.  The volume of people it fed dictated the serving size - I always recall it being a sliver as so many enjoyed it during our travels. 

On this Christmas (and everyone since she died) I break out my yard stick and spend a weekend making The Coffeecake.  On Christmas morning we cut everyone a big, warm piece and have a toast to Naunie.

The original recipe

The dough after resting for 30 minutes.

The dough with butter layer rolled in.

Before

After
Yes, that is the butter soaking through the brown paper bag.
Frosting will be poured on once it's cooled.

Christmas 2011: Homemade and made in the USA - with a Wii

Inspired by the World News series of Made in America, I set out to make our holiday as made in America as possible.  What I quickly realized was that it is very much possible but requires a lot more time and effort.  And forget running out to Target or Walmart as made in the USA does not live on their shelves.

A good amount of shopping for the boys came from www.fatbraintoys.com.  The site allows you to search by gender, age and even country of origin which was a huge help. 

In addition to the bought toys I found a great blog tutorial on making a super hero cape out of a large men's t-shirt.  It looked pretty easy so I gave it a try!  I made a couple of modifications including using heat n' bond to adhere a second layer of fabric to help it stand up more.  I also found super hero t-shirts which allowed me to use the emblem from the front of the shirt as a decal on the back of the cape.  Score!

Wyatt's is Batman and Patrick's is Superman.

A close up of the Velcro closure neck.

Another blogger idea was homemade play doh.  I saved peanut butter jars for the last couple of months and made red, green and "white" play doh.  I embellished a bit by scenting it with peppermint essential oil and dressed up the uncolored doh by folding in glitter after it had cooled.  Add a couple of cookie cutters and voila!  Instant Christmas gift that the boys will love.  Here is a picture and the recipe:

Homemade Play Doh

2 T oil

Food coloring
1 Cup Flour
1/2 cup salt
2 tsp cream of tartar
1 cup water
Essential oil (optional)

Add all ingredients to a saucepan. Cook over low heat until mixture is firm, about 4-5 minutes. Remove from heat, and set clay mixture on wax paper to cool.
Store in an airtight container.

A couple of surprises - pleasant and otherwise:

• PEZ is made in Connecticut.
• Hershey's giant solid kiss is made in MEXICO.  Hershey, PA?  Anyone?
• Shrinky Dinks are made in the USA and purchased at a Concord, NH small business toy store. 
• Piece Time Puzzles in Nottingham, NH makes their puzzles and will also make a custom photo puzzle with a little notice.  We uploaded a picture from our Cape vacation. 
• Wilson brags about their football line being made in OHIO.  From my research it appears that only the official NFL football is made in Ohio.  The Wilson football line in Walmart were all stamped as made in China.  (I've emailed the company directly as their website indicates that their products are all made in the USA.  I beg to differ.)
• Etsy.com is a wonderful resource!  The boys' 2011 Christmas ornaments are handmade by a woman in Oregon.
• Crayola paint is made in the USA.

And yes, the Wii is NOT made in the USA.  But that's OK... just about everything else I found is.  :-)