Salisbury Steak Meatballs

It's official. It took awhile, but it happened. Winter struck. So now it's chilly and there is sometimes snow and there are really only 2 things to be happy about with this wintry turn of events: Christmas and comfort food. Rich...warm....satisfying comfort food. And I've already decorated for Christmas so...until the 25th....it's comfort food time. And these meatballs are TOTAL comforting deliciousness.

I'm not like a person who's into salisbury steak-it always seems like a gross cafeteria food that is shown on TV. BUT when I found this recipe for salisbury steak meatballs...they sounded pretty darn fantastic. With the exception of the fact that there were mushrooms in it and Michael and I don't dig the 'shrooms. So I changed up the recipe a smidgen by removing the mushrooms BUT to keep some of that flavor I used truffle oil. Which is one of my favoritest favorite things.

But forreals this recipe is pretty darn simple to make (there's even a slow cooker option, although I'm never patient enough for that), and it's quickly become a favorite of mine and Michael's. And considering how darned repetitive and boring my dinner options tend to get (picky eater alerrrrt), it's always nice to add something new to the lineup!

So essentially what we end up with are really rich and flavorful meatballs in a gravy-like sauce situation and I like to serve them over mashed potatoes/mashed sweet potatoes but you can also spoon them over some noodles or some such. You do you boo.

Weekly Meal Plan Menu (Week 40)

You probably have tons of Thanksgiving leftovers and likely don't need much meal planning this week, but just in case we are here with lots of one pan meals that are full of comfort to get your through the cold lull between Thanksgiving and Christmas!!

This week’s meal plan was brought to you by:

Foodtastic Mom | The Spiffy Cookie | Big Bear's Wife | The Pajama Chef | Pies and Plots | The Cooking Actress

Something Saturdays (11/26/16)

Happy Thanksgiving week!!! How was your turkey day?

I started the festivities with a dinner at Michael's mom's on Wednesday with all his siblings + his brother Christopher's girlfriend, Katie. Then, on actual Thanksgiving, we had lunch with Michael's stepmom's family (SO YUMMY) and then dinner with his mom's side of the family. Lots of fun was had, lots of food was eaten.  (Speaking of yummy food--on Sunday, at Table 6 for my belated birthday dinner with my mom, I tried the chicken and waffles and it was a TRANSCENDENT FOOD EXPERIENCE. ahhhh)

Yesterday I binge-watched Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life (more on that at the end of the post), and worked. I also did some Christmas decorating this week-yayyy!

Today I'm kind of chilling and then my best friend (who lives in St. Louis) is coming over to see me and the new house! Extra Yay!

World Vision Gift Catalog-Giving the Gift of Giving Back!

Rosemary's family were given 5 goats through World Vision Gift Catalog, and that changed their lives

Thanksgiving is this week. And it's the time we think about all the things we have to be thankful for. But-we should also think about all of those who aren't as fortunate. That is why, today, I'm going to chat with you guys about World Vision and the amazing work they do--and how you can help families in need merely by ordering from a selection of beautiful, handcrafted, gifts via the World Vision Gift Catalog! You can pick from over 250 poverty-fighting gifts, ranging in price from $16 to $39,000, and as a result you're improving the quality of life for struggling children and families in the U.S. and around the world. The money raised from the purchase of these handcrafted gifts goes to the Where Most Needed fund, which supports a variety of World Vision’s programs around the world. (Of course there are also TONS options to just straight up donate or sponsor as well!) Last year alone, more than 650,000 people were helped through funds generated by the catalog-now THAT is the holiday spirit! <3

This video helps give you the run-down on the gift catalog and how it works! (Plus...it's a cute video)

Something Saturdays (11/19/16)

GUYYYYS-Thanksgiving is next week! EEEE!

But I'm getting ahead of myself. How was this past week for you? It's been pretty great for me! Sunday was my birthday and it was a great day-we had lunch at Table 6--which is now my new favorite restaurant. It's like modern with trends done in a classy way, if that makes sense? And the food is PHENOMENAL. I had a cheeseburger and truffle fries that were to die for and Michael had an amazing Monte Cristo sandwich with raspberry chutney and bourbon maple syrup. Then we shared their PB Insanity dessert: also SO.DANGED.GOOD! We actually liked it so much that we're going there again tomorrow with my mom for a belated birthday dinner with her. I think I might try their chicken and waffles this time! Anyway, back to my birthday-then we also put together a new cabinet to house my cookbooks that I got from Target and set up our office/loft area! I also got to FaceTime with my brother and his girlfriend on Sunday AND Monday so it was a pretty great week :) Monday-Wednesday I just got stuff done around the house (I also had a pasta sauce fail that made me so gosh darned frustrated I can't even talk about it....let's just say 3 batches got thrown out because they were all inedible. GAH!) Thursday and Friday I worked, and Friday web ordered a sectional!! It's sort of custom-ordered so it won't come in for another like 7 weeks but I'm so excited!!! 

Salted Caramel Dark Chocolate Crack Pie

I CAN'T EVEN WITH THIS PIE.

IT IS LIT. IT IS ON FLEEK. IT IS FIRE. IT IS COOL BEANS AND GROOVY AND FAR OUT, DUDE! All the things kids have said in recent and not so recent times to describe something that is just next level fantastic.

Ok, now that I've fully expressed the extent of my excitement, let me just give you a little info about crack pies. Crack Pie is a dessert that originated at Momofuku Milk Bar and it's essentially a gooey sugar custard filling in an oatmeal cookie crust. And it's addicting sooo I'm guessing that's where the name came from. And it's tasty, forreals, no doubt about it. BUT...well...it pales in comparison to this version.

I'm so happy that I decided a salted caramel crack pie should exist. And that it would probably be too sweet and one note so I should add some dark chocolate to balance it, and add whole new levels of decadence. Sometimes...sometimes I have pretty good ideas. Gotta say.

So there's a crunchy ridiculously amazing brown sugar oatmeal cookie crust (which I baked with a little caramel sauce on it because why not), and then a layer of dark chocolate, and then gooey salted caramel crack pie filling. And salt on top. It's rich and sweet and salty and I love it so much and am so stoked that there's a whole other pie of this sitting in the freezer, waiting to be adored.

And look....I'm not saying you have to make it for Thanksgiving. But...I'm not not saying it, either.

Weekly Meal Plan Menu (Week 38)--THANKSGIVING EDITION

SO-Thanksgiving is almost upon us!! Thusly, we though for this week's meal plan we'd share tried and true recipes for you to make and serve for Thanksgiving! Seriously...this is good stuff.

(PS-today is also my BIRTHDAYYY! Yayyyy! Happy birthday to MEEE!

This week’s meal plan was brought to you by:

Pies and Plots | The Cooking Actress | Foodtastic Mom | The Spiffy Cookie | Big Bear's Wife | The Pajama Chef

Something Saturdays (11/12/16)

The election happened this week. And that is all I will say about it. (Well...and I'll leave you with this blog post from Annie's Eats because it is so eloquent and true and perfectly summarizes my feelings.)

In other news, Michael and I didn't have any luck furniture shopping last weekend BUT we did have luck on Tuesday! There's a local furniture store that works with brands and is able to custom order stuff so we're able to put together the exact sectional we want for our living room, yay! Wednesday, to get out of my post-election funk, I hung out with Michael's mom and sister and we had dinner, which was nice. 

Tomorrow is MY BIRTHDAYYYYY and we're going to check out a new-to-us restaurant and then I'm going to have Michael help me with working on doing stuff for the new house--since it's my birthday I might as well utilize the leverage that gives me :P

ALSO-Thanksgiving is coming! If you're looking for some recipe inspiration check out this round up of Thanksgiving recipes, or this list of recipes for Thanksgiving and for Thanksgiving leftovers, or this list of Thanksgiving desserts! And check in for tomorrow's meal plan-it's a special Thanksgiving round up!

Weekly Meal Plan Menu (Week 37)

This week’s meal plan was brought to you by:

Big Bear's Wife | The Pajama Chef | Pies and Plots | The Cooking Actress | Foodtastic Mom | The Spiffy Cookie

Something Saturdays (11/5/16)

Hihiiii people! IT'S NOVEMBER! whaaaa? Like...it's only a week and a day until my birthday! That's crazy-town.

How did you Halloween go? Mine went pretty well! I ended up getting out of work early so I was able to be at our house to hand out candy to all the trick or treaters-and I do mean ALL. I gave out approx. 150 pieces of candy. I almost ran out. It was A LOT. But um...when did kids stop saying "trick or treat"? Or even dressing up AT ALL. I'm serious when I say there were a good chunk of kids, young and old, just wearing jeans and hoodies-not makeup, no masks, nothing. I don't get it. The majority still had some sort of costume-age but I was shocked by how many didn't. 

This week was fairly boring-just getting stuff done. But I did make and photograph some recipes for this little bloggy blog so yayyy!

Today Michael and I are going to do some furniture shopping, wish us luck!