Sauce and Balls

Alright, Alright… I apologize for the crass title. It was just too easy…

This week has been a tasty one so far – green smoothies and rainbow veggie wraps (the wraps were able to impress 3 out of 4 children, which is a success in my book). The smoothies were a mash up of some recipes for smoothies and juices I found on The Londoner – they all sound delicious, but I ended up using what I had on hand to save time – kale, spinach, ginger root, apple, lemon juice and a splash of pineapple juice – and a lot of ICE – this is not a drink you want to have at room temperature. For the wraps (which I didn’t have time to snap a pic of since they were gobbled up so fast, save for that one child … ahem… Ainsley… who pouted in disgust at the offending meal), I simply used flour tortillas, shredded carrots, diced red bell peppers, chopped romaine, and diced cucumbers. I used ranch dressing as the binding agent here and because my children love it in a way that borders obsession, but I have seen others use cream cheese.

I even managed to get myself to bed early last night after a busy day of writing, laundry, writing, laundry, driving around to pick up children, LAUNDRY… the only problem was that I woke up at 1 a.m. … for good. Was not able to fall back asleep. The green smoothie helped pick me up a little this morning, but it’s safe to say I am not operating at full speed (in fact, I am not even sure that metaphor sounds good). Lack of sleep means I am not super pumped to make dinner tonight (or do more laundry, seriously… is it multiplying?!), but then I remembered that I have my Homemade Super Special Lubrano Spaghetti Sauce in the freezer and I have all the ingredients to make my Florentine Turkey Meatballs! This may sound like a labor intensive Sunday supper, but it really isn’t. Granted the sauce takes some time to cook – but do it once and make enough to freeze two extra batches for future dinners. And the meatballs come together really quickly and after a quick sear on the stove top, they finish cooking in the oven. This meal really is a crowd pleaser, which always makes mealtime easier. And if you aren’t in the mood for red sauce, the meatballs well end up with their own gravy that is simply delicious – serve with a nice chunk of toasted ciabatta bread and a salad and dinner is done. Enjoy and let me know how the recipes turned out for you!