Yummy Meatballs with Herbs

These meatballs are so darn good!

They have parsley, onion, garlic and a yummy ‘secret sauce’.  The secret sauce cracks me up because the main ingredient is just silly. The original recipe came from one of these Workbasket magazines, but I couldn’t tell you which one without digging through the lot of them.

Lots of Workbasket Mags

Anyone remember them? I have a few… dating back to 1964. Are you digging that snazzy Red Riding Hood holiday get up from the 1975 cover I pulled just for you?

If you don’t recognize Workbasket, it was a great little publication that ran for years. Each issue had several projects including a knitting, crochet, and random or seasonal craft project. They also had a recipe page and sometimes a garden section- depending on what decade you were in. I noticed when I took this shot that the magazine was $.15 in 1964, $.35 in 1975, and by 1994 the price had skyrocketed completely out of control to $2.95. Can you even buy a magazine for $2.95 anymore?

Anyway, some great food and crafty gems were found in these little magazines, including the original meatball recipe (which did not have the parsley if you can imagine that!)

 Yummy Glazed Meatballs with Parsley and Garlic:

These meatballs are hefty- but you can make smaller ones if you like. This recipe will make 12-15 jumbo meatballs. I could probably eat a whole tray myself, but usually do a side dish or two to prevent that from happening.

Preheat your oven to *350.

*For the meatballs you will need:

• 3 pounds ground beef
• 3  eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 1/2 cup quick cooking oats
• 3 (or more)  cloves finely diced garlic OR 1 Tb garlic powder
• 1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley or 2 Tb dried parsley flakes
• 1/2 – 3/4 cup finely chopped onion (how much do you like?)
• 1 Tb salt
• 2 tsp pepper

Secret Sauce Recipe:

• 2 cups ketchup (this is the ingredient that cracks me up)
• 1-2 cloves minced garlic OR 1 tsp garlic powder
• 3/4 - 1 cup brown sugar (adjust to your sweetness preferences)
• 1/4 cup finely chopped onion
• 1 tablespoon Liquid Smoke flavoring  (all natural and you can add more after tasting if you like)

Mix together all the meatloaf ingredients. You will need to really put some muscle into this and mix it with your hands.

Roll into balls a bit smaller than a baseball- or about the size of a healthy tangerine if sports aren’t your thing.

Big Fat Meatballs!

Mix up sauce ingredients. I make extra to serve on the side because my family thinks every bite should be swimming in sauce. I have to agree-it’s pretty tasty stuff!

 Bake at *350 for 10 minutes to lightly brown then pour sauce all over and bake for another 35 minutes. You will probably need to cut into a meatball to check for doneness at this point.

Make sure you lick the testing fork. Mmmm. Put that fork in the sink. Now get a clean one out because double dipping is gross.

If the meatball is still pink at the center (not from the sauce) bake another 10 minutes or so. 

Now remove them from oven and devour- try not to burn your mouth!

* The original recipe called for evaporated milk. I don’t remember how much and since I never seemed to have it on hand and we omitted it from the recipe eons ago. There has been nary a complaint over the years so I don’t think it’s suffered any

I'm Melting...

It’s really been a hot summer here…whimper…

I don’t do hot. I’m a sweater weather person and love cold weather. There, I said it. Don’t send hate mail.

I drink a lot of herbal teas year round and make my own blends. In the winter I  brew warming teas, in the summer I need something to cool me down.  If you’ve ever made sun tea with tea bags then you can easily make herbal sun teas, too.

Lemon Verbena Herbal Sun Tea

If you are using fresh herbs from the garden, use two to three times as much as you would for dried herbs. Why? Dried herbs often have more potent flavor.

For a small jar of tea “concentrate” I use a handful of crushed herbs in a jar of cool water.

Some nice cooling herbs? You can use any of the mints, but I also like Lemon Balm, Lemon Verbena or a combination of all of them. I grow lots of Stevia, so I’ll stick a leaf or two in the mix for a touch of sweetness.

Tuck the crushed leaves in the jar, add water and close up the jar.

Now set your jar in a sunny place for the day.

Later that afternoon…

Strain out the herbs and taste. If you want to add a bit of honey, go for it!  If it’s too strong, add some water, then add your ice cubes. You can jazz up any teas up with a wedge of citrus fruit as a garnish. I like an orange slice with spearmint tea. And sometimes a bendy straw.

Refrigerate any leftover tea- it should be good for 24 to 36 hours or so before the flavor goes ‘off’

In the summer I’ll make a jar of herbal tea daily to have for the following day.

That way I never lose my cool

Unless you ask my kids.

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If you liked this post, and would like to learn more about growing your own herbs then sign up for my online classes at Growing Herbs For Beginners!

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When my gang gets sick I break out the Buck Tea!

Our Stinky Kinder Goat Buck

I know that doesn’t sound very herbal.

It is, and I’ll share the easy recipe below. It’s really a lemony hot, spicy herb tea.

So why do we call it Buck Tea?

Years ago my older kids gave it that name in order to terrorize their younger siblings.

We raise goats and know very well the gross behaviors that bucks(intact male goats) engage in.

OK, they urinate all over themselves and drink it-leaving a stinky mess running down their beards and legs. Evidently this drives the girls wild. Go figure.

Knowing this and being threatened with having to drink something called ‘Buck Tea’ you’d have been terrorized too. As soon as someone felt rotten, or started with a cough or runny nose I made a batch of tea up. The kid’s conversations usually went something like this:

” You’re sick? Ha! Now YOU have to drink Buck Tea, muaahhhahaha!”

This was always followed by the victim’s sobs,weeping, mild hysteria, then sniffcoughwhimpersniff…sniff…

Thankfully they have all outgrown that stage.

If you want to make your own Buck Tea you’ll need just three ingredients:

A lemon.

One Lemon

some Dried Sage -Salvia officinalis:

Some Dried Sage

and Cayenne Pepper power…I mean powder

Some Dried Pepper Powder

Here we go-

You can make a cup at a time, or a pot full. I’ve listed approximate amounts of each ingredient for different quantities. I usually make it up in pots, but I make everyone drink it. You know-just to be on the safe side

To make a Mug:

1 TB dried sage

a wedge of lemon

Shake of cayenne

Honey or Stevia to sweeten

~~~~*~~~~

To make a jar…

1/2 cup dried sage

1/4 or 1/2 of a lemon (more cuts the sage flavor and makes it more lemony.

Dash or two..or three of Cayenne pepper

Honey or Stevia to sweeten your cup

~~~~*~~~~

For a pot (usually a 2-3 quart pot)

Sage In The Pot

3/4 to 1 cup dried sage

1 or 2 lemons. If I have them I’ll use two for a full pot, I like the lemony flavor.

Shake-shake-shake-shake in your Cayenne*

*You want the tea ‘hot’ enough to clear sinuses, but not so spicy that your taste buds go up in flames.

“How To Make Buck Tea” for Mugs and Jars:

Making Buck Tea in a Jar

Put your sage into jar…you can use a strainer or tea ball if making yours in a mug.

Heat water to just boiling and pour hot water into mug, or jar.You can also be smart and lazy and just microwave the water in your mug or jar.

With a tea ball- load it up with sage, drop it in the hot water and bounce it up and down a lot to wet the sage.

In a jar you will mix the loose sage into the hot water. It will not want to mix in and will tend to float. Just keep pushing it down with a spoon. Within a minute or so it will start to absorb the water and settle down nicely. Squeeze in the lemon juice and toss the lemon rind into the jar. Really. Then poke it down.

Add the Cayenne and mix it.  Cover it. Let site for at least 15 minutes, longer if possible.

If the taste is too strong, add some water to your mug. Everyone here does that-except me. I’m a tough old bird.

Strain or remove tea ball.

Sweeten to taste.

Strain Your Buck Tea

“How to Make Buck Tea” by the Pot:

Add your sage to the pot, and then add about 5 or 6 times the water…so 1 cup of sage to 5 or 6 cups of water.

Add your cut lemons-squeezing in the juice and tossing the rinds into the pot.

Heat to almost boiling and add your Cayenne. Turn off heat,cover and let sit as long as possible before drinking-but 15 minutes anyway.

Strain

Sweeten to taste and water down if needed.

~~~~*~~~~

You can drink this through out the day whenever you feel a cold coming on-which is why I make big batches of it. We find when you first feel ill and begin drinking Buck Tea, it seems to completely knock out or at least slow down a virus.

You can also freeze Buck Tea!

I use small containers-one serving size each- and keep a few on hand. It saves time when someone needs it and I don’t have time to mix up a batch. Simply thaw, heat, and drink!

* This recipe is NOT set in stone! You just need the three components but if you want more lemon, use it! More Cayenne? Sure, go ahead! Want to make it in a Teletubbies Tea Cup? Why not!

If you try it, I hope this recipe helps you and your family feel better.

I’d love to hear about it…unless you have a horrible reaction to Sage, or peppers, or lemons, or something.

Lemons

Did you like this post? If you want too learn to grow your own herbs,come visit our sister site and take our free online class at Growing Herbs for Beginners!

This post was shared on Mind body and Sole’s Wildcrafting Wednesday.

A really excellent herb-snack, these Rosemary glazed nuts are beautiful and simple to make.

Six ingredients is all it takes. Mixed nuts (or just your favorites) fresh Rosemary, Cayenne pepper, butter, brown sugar, and sea or Kosher salt. You can find Nigella’s recipe here.

You can tweak the recipe and add a bit more cayenne for those that prefer the spicier stuff.

Me? I’ll add more Rosemary next time since I love the stuff.

Either way, it’s all really good!

Gluten Free Herbed Bread

Gluten free herbed bread, that is… this is a recent dietary adjustment at our house.

I combined a gluten free bread mix from Bob’s Red Mill along with another GF bread recipe I found. I tossed in some herbs, ( see below) a variety of seeds, and baked the whole thing into a large round loaf. Surprisingly it  turned out very nicely!

I never know what I’ll get when I start to experiment like this – sometimes I get carried away… *blush*

 It made a flavorful heavy/hearty “whole grain” style loaf. When paired with a steaming hot mug of beef stew, the herb bread was the perfect “dunking” companion.

I have long added herbs to my ‘regular’ flour breads and rolls, and now continue to experiment with my gluten free breads. Thankfully there are many great GF blogs I follow for great recipe ideas! If you are interested let me know and I’ll post a few of my favorites.

Here are some herbs to add to your breads. Try pairing a few of them together, or for your first try, you might just go with a single herb.  Adding seeds such as caraway, dill, coriander, and others can add great flavor to breads and rolls, too!

You could also do plain bread or rolls served with an herb butter. Herbed butter is SO easy to make and really delicious with vegetables or breads. OK, with anything really.

Yum!