Easy Swedish Meatballs

This recipe makes four generous servings. 

I had never thought about combining these two soups to make a sauce.  Swedish meatballs are a favorite meal of mine and I like a good onion flavor in the sauce so I decided to try this. 

Swedish meatballs don't usually contain rice.  This was a way for me to use up some cooked rice that was in the fridge.

After combining the two soups, I heated the mixture up in the microwave to speed up baking time.  Add the sour cream just before you pour the mixture over the meatballs.  Next time I'll add additional sour cream to the sauce.

Putting the meatballs and sauce in the microwave for three minutes before baking in the oven will shorten baking time by about one-third.

Serve over noodles or mashed potatoes.

SWEDISH MEATBALLS

1 lb. ground beef

1 cup cooked rice

Salt and pepper

1 can Campbell’s Cream of Onion Soup

1 can Campbell’s French Onion soup

½ cup sour cream

Mix ground beef, rice and seasonings.

Using a disher, measure out mixture into 16 meatballs.

Spray a non-stick skillet with oil;  brown meatballs.

Combine undiluted soups and sour cream.

Put browned meatballs into an 8” square casserole.

Pour soup mixture over meatballs.

Bake, covered, at 325° until heated thoroughly.

Biscuits

It's been years since I've made biscuits from scratch.  They're not something I eat often because they're so full of fat and calories, but I grew up having them on a regular basis.  My momma would make big pans full for our family and I doubt if she ever really measured the ingredients.  She always baked them with the sides touching in a 13 x 9 pan so the tops and bottoms were nicely browned but the sides were soft.  Knowing her, she probably put melted bacon grease in the pan and dipped the biscuits in it, turning them over before she'd put the pan in the oven.

I don't remember her ever using buttermilk or butter for the fat in her dough.  Momma used a lot of Crisco in her cooking so I imagine she spooned that into the flour mixture.

These turned out pretty darned good.  I grated the butter into the flour mixture and used a pastry blender to mix it up so there weren't visible pieces of butter in the dough.  Three tablespoons of sugar made them taste sweeter than I like so next time I'll try using two.  My dough was a little dry, probably because of the moisture content in the flour I used so the dough wasn't as smooth as it should have been when I cut it.  

Using a 3" round cutter the recipe made nine big biscuits. I baked them  in a 7 x 11 pan sprayed with Pam, with the biscuits touching each other.  The biscuits rose enough in the oven while baking that the pan was completely full.

Commercial baking powder is a 4:1 ratio of cream of tartar to baking soda so I'm guessing that adding additional cream of tartar is what makes the biscuits lighter.  You can omit the cream of tartar and the recipe will still be fine.

You could even stir in grated cheddar cheese and some parsley and brush the biscuits with garlic butter before baking to make Red Lobster style biscuits.

BISCUITS

3 C. flour

3 T. sugar (try using 2, these were too sweet)

½ tsp. salt

4 tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. cream of tartar

¾ c. cold butter

1 egg

1 c. milk (I used buttermilk)

Heat oven to 450°.

Mix dry ingredients. Cut in cold butter until you have pea sized pieces of butter.

Add milk and egg.  Mix until combined.

Turn onto floured surface and knead 10-15 times.

Pat out to ¾ - 1” thick.

Brush tops with melted butter.

Bake on greased baking sheet or use parchment paper 15-18 minutes.

Cheddar Bacon Cauliflower Potato Salad

A friend sent me this recipe from a low carb recipe blog.  It's really delicious.  I steamed the cauliflower in the microwave and next time I make this I'll get it just a little more tender.

Precooked bacon pieces were used in place of the bacon strips.  I keep a large bag of them in the freezer and just crisp them up on a paper towel in the microwave.  Frying bacon is a chore that I do not enjoy!

Dried dill was used so I cut the amount down.  If you like raw onions, the 1/4 cup might be okay.  I really don't so I used less onion too. 

Photo found online.

CHEDDAR BACON CAULIFLOWER POTATO SALAD

Top of Form

Bottom of Form

Ingredients

• 1 large head cauliflower
• ½ cup grated cheddar
• ⅓ cup mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup chopped red onion
• 6 slices fried bacon, diced
• 2 hard boiled eggs, peeled and diced
• 1 tablespoon dill
• 1 teaspoon mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper

Instructions

1.     Chop the cauliflower into bite-sized pieces and place in a steamer basket. 

2.     Steam for 3-5 minutes or until tender-crisp. 

3.     Add the cauliflower to a large mixing bowl and place in the fridge to chill for 2 hours.

4.     Add the remaining ingredients to the bowl of cauliflower and stir well to combine.

5.     Serve immediately.