Vintage Recipe Friday - Celebrating Love

What food is made with more love than an Italian Meatball recipe passed down from an authentic Italian mother?

This is exactly how I want to make meatballs, and I can't wait to try it and serve it with some great bread, perfect pasta, and real parmesan cheese! 

After watching the royal wedding today, I was teary, but definitely in the mood to celebrate. I always loved Princess Diana, and she would have been beaming today at the site of her beautiful sons in uniform, and William's sweet, lovely bride. Ah. Big sigh!

ITALIAN MOTHER'S MEATBALLS

Ingredients:

1 pound ground beef

1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs

1/3 cup water (more or less)

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 medium onion

1 garlic clove, minced

salt and pepper to taste

Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl, checking the mixture for moisture as you slowly add the water, making sure it is moist, but not so moist that it falls apart. Shape meatballs to the desired size and place on a broiler pan. (hint: wet your hands before shaping each meatball for more control) Broil in the oven until slightly brown on one side; turn and broil the other side. After meatballs are done, add to spaghetti sauce and simmer at least 20 minutes.

Well, it's no Westminster Abbey, but I have been cross-stitching some simple designs in DMC varigated floss (LOVE using varigated floss!) and here is my little church. Simple and sweet with one of those English trees. This stitched up rather quickly, so I think it would be cute to make three more all in different colors and panel them together for a wall hanging, or to frame.




I've been quite busy the last couple of weeks with many family activities, and my own things--such as a huge test I've been studying for--and I really want the weather to dry up, warm up, and let me plant my garden! Then I can get back to my writing and stitching.

Italian Roma Tomatoes - they are hearty!

Here are today's scenes from my greenhouse. I've been rearranging, cleaning up, and getting ready to move my starts outside again to get them weathered and ready to live in the garden all summer. 

 My romas, early girls, cherry tomatoes, and yellow pear tomatoes have done really well, starting from seed.


I did start the yellow pear a little late, but I'm going to plant them anyway and see how it goes!

 My potting bench is full of hanging baskets--I usually give my mom a fuschia for Mother's Day, but of course I had to have one for myself!

 

Fuschias, with their cascading romantic blooms, like to stay watered and growing in half-shade in order to keep their gorgeous blooms.

This is my aloe vera, living on the greenhouse and finally reviving itself from a long winter. I actually call it my "impatient aloe" because an impatiens plant, living next to it, in another pot, somehow grew some babies in the aloe vera pot! I think it's cute though.

I'm so glad I stitched up those felt love birds this past winter. They still flutter on my greenhouse, and I plan to stitch up more in summer colors and embroider on them!

Happy royal wedding day, and happy eating, writing, dreaming and stitching!

Beach Picnic Salad

Vintage Recipe Friday has an old-fashioned corn salad, fit to pack up and take to the beach with some cold chicken, fresh rolls and ice tea. Yum!

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FRESH CORN SALAD

Serves 4 to 6

INGREDIENTS

5 ears corn, shucked

1/2 cup diced red onion

3 tablespoons cider vinegar

3 tablespoons good olive oil

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/2 cup chopped fresh basil leaves

DIRECTIONS

In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the corn for 3 minutes until the starchiness is just gone. Drain and immerse it in ice water to stop the cooking and to set the color. When the corn is cooked, cut the kernels off the cob, cutting close to the cob. 

Toss the kernels in a large bowl with the red onions, vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper. Just before serving, toss in the fresh basil. Taste for seasonings and serve cold or at room temperature.

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I hope to make it to the flea market this weekend--I'm always looking for vintage home economic text books, old chintz tea cups and quilts to cut up. 

I don't need yarn, but I still love to shop for it! 

We have a favorite yarn shop that has all the really unique stuff, and it is soothing just to walk around and look at it, pet it, and dream.

Oh my goodness...we also have a wedding this weekend (I love weddings) and rehearsals and singing in the choir...when will I get to stitch? I'm sure I will, at least a little. Sleep would be nice too. Happy weekend dreams!