First, choose your meats wisely. Many classic meatballs recipes call for a mixture of ground beef, ground pork, and ground veal. For me this is the gold standard of meatball mixes. In the past, when I was feeling ambitious, I bought a pound of all three meats, took a third of a pound from each package, and mixed them together. I would freeze the remainders and usually forget about them.

Most of the time, I was a tad lazy and used all ground beef for my meatballs. They were still good, but nothing like the luxurious flavor and texture the three meats offer.

So I was thrilled when the nice people at Suzy Sirloin sent me a few packages of their Gourmet Meatball and Meatloaf Mix. It’s a mix of beef, pork, and veal, perfectly portioned and ready to cook. I tested it out, and no surprise, the mix of meats really does make all the difference, giving the sauce a rich, savory flavor.

(To get your own meatball mix from Suzy Sirloin order it online. Or in NYC, you can find it at Gristedes and Morton Williams among other spots. Suzy Sirloin also offers ground beef, ground lamb, steaks, pork, and more, all of which I’m now going to pick up based on the deliciousness of the meatball mix.)

I have my Italian mother-in-law to thank for the second and third tricks. In the past I had made my Italian meatballs in the “standard” way – combining the meat, breadcrumbs, egg etc. Form into meatballs, brown in a pan, remove, start the sauce in the pan, add back in the meatballs and simmer.  Whew!

When I saw Iolanda making her meatballs in February I was honestly stunned for a moment. Her first trick was to make the sauce first and add some of it to the meatball mixture. This gives the meatballs a hint of tangy flavor. Her next trick was to skip the browning step all together and just simmer the meatballs in the sauce. I had always wondered why her meatballs were so tender, and here was why! Yes, you have to cook the meatballs longer, but it’s almost completely unattended and you skip the browning time on the front end.

So before it gets too hot, take a leisurely afternoon and make meatballs in sauce. This recipe will likely give you three meals – two with meatballs and sauce and one with just leftover sauce (which can be frozen). Sometimes I serve the meatballs and sauce with pasta, other times just with delicious bread to sweep up every drop of the leftover sauce on the plate. It’s that good.

Meatballs in Sauce

The Sauce:

2 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 small onion
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
crushed red pepper (to taste)
Two 28 oz. cans crushed tomatoes
½ teaspoon sugar
1 ¼ teaspoons kosher salt, and more to taste

The Meatballs:

1 lb. ground meat, preferably a mix of beef, veal, and pork. Or just ground beef
1 egg, beaten
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
¼ cup chopped parsley
½ cup panko or other breadcrumbs
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
freshly ground pepper

1. To make the sauce: heat the olive oil over medium heat in a Dutch oven or other large pot. Add the onion and a pinch of salt. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook until the onions are soft, but not brown, about 8 minutes. Add the garlic and crushed red pepper and cook for another minute or two. Add the crushed tomatoes, sugar, and 1 1/4 teaspoons salt. Bring to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes.

2. Taste the sauce, adding salt and/or freshly ground pepper if you’d like. Remove a half-cup of the sauce and let it cool enough so that it won’t burn your hands. Cover the pot and let the sauce continue to simmer.

3. Add all of the meatball ingredients, plus the ½ cup of cooled sauce to a large bowl. Using your hands, mix gently until all of the ingredients are incorporated. Form the meat into balls about the size of large walnuts and drop them gently into the simmering sauce. Continue to cook the sauce, covered, for 2 hours. Stir occasionally to make sure the meatballs aren’t sticking to the bottom of the pan.

4. Taste one last time for seasoning, adding more salt and pepper if you’d like. A few torn basil leaves are nice at this point as well. Serve on pasta of just on a plate. Either way you’ll have some happy eaters at your table.

Pesto is delicious on pasta, obviously. I also like it spooned over roasted chicken, on steamed or roasted potatoes, and dolloped on hard-boiled eggs. Nearly any food that needs a little zing will take well to this tangy sauce.

To make the streamlined version of this pesto, skip steps 1, 2 and 3. Your pesto will be a bit less smooth and have a little less depth, but will still likely be a hit with eaters of all ages.

Spinach Pesto

5 oz. package baby spinach
½ cup pine nuts or blanched almonds (such as slivers)
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 cups packed basil leaves
1 small clove garlic, roughly chopped
¾ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
freshly ground pepper to taste

1. Preheat the oven to 375º F. Place the pine nuts on a baking sheet and toast until lightly browned, about 5-10 minutes. This can also be done in a dry sauté pan over medium heat. Make sure to keep an eye on the nuts regardless of which method you choose. They burn quickly.

2. Bring a medium-sized saucepan of water to a boil. Add the spinach leaves and cook for 10 seconds. Drain, pushing out as much water from the spinach as possible, and reserve.

3. Let the spinach and pine nuts cool for 5-10 minutes before proceeding with the rest of the recipe.

4. Add all of the ingredients to a food processor and blend until smooth. If the pesto seems too thick (especially if you didn’t blanch the spinach), add more olive oil. Taste for seasoning, adding more salt and/or pepper if necessary.

To store the pesto, place it in a container and cover it with a thin layer of olive oil. It will keep in the fridge for three days or in the freezer for up to a month. I like to divide the pesto into three batches: one for the fridge and two for the freezer. It’s like dinner insurance.

A couple of months ago Parents Magazine asked me to shoot some cooking videos for their website. I won’t lie – on the first take, I was surprisingly, crazily nervous. But, happily, I got it out of my system and ended up really enjoying myself. We shot six videos, and a couple of them are up online now:

Marinating

How To Saute

I’ll post the rest when they’re available.

And all joking aside, Rachael, no worries — you can sleep easy.

But those days have passed my friends.

Thanks to a cupcake-decorating workshop the other day at Dylan’s Candy Bar, sponsored by Jelly Belly (who it turns out makes a bunch of other things besides jelly beans), I feel empowered, inspired, and cupcake-confident. My daughter Rosa and I, and the other guests, were treated to a hands-on workshop with Alan Richardson and Karen Tack, authors of Cupcakes, Cookies & Pies, Oh, My, Hello Cupcake, and What’s New Cupcake?. They demo-ed four spectacular cupcakes – a red, high-heeled shoe; an pastel-perfect flower; a “grass-topped” cupcake crowned with a candy-filled chocolate Easter egg; and, my daughter’s favorite, a sweet little lamb.

After each demo, it was our turn to decorate. The designs looked complicated and very difficult to achieve. I was frankly skeptical that our cupcakes would even remotely resemble theirs. But with Alan and Karen’s step-by-step directions even Rosa could make a cupcake that looked darn near professional.

It was official: Alan and Karen are cupcake superstars. And, happily, I came away with some excellent cupcake decorating tips:

- As Alan said, “more is more”. This is the time to gild the lily and go over-the-top with candy decorations.

- Freeze the cupcakes before decorating them so they don’t get mashed and squashed while you’re turning them into an artistic masterpiece. The chilled cupcake will also help keep the frosting from getting gooshy (technical term). Don’t worry about serving frozen cupcakes. They will thaw completely within an hour or so.

- Don’t settle for boring cupcake liners. Check out a local baking store, craft store, or even your grocery store for colorful cups. You can also order a wide variety online.

- The most important tool in cupcake decoration is an offset spatula. It will run you about eight bucks and change the way you frost forever.

- To spread your base layer of frosting start with a big dollop on your offset spatula. Spread it across the top of the cupcake all the way to the edge of the liner. Wipe the spatula clean (this will get rid of any crumbs) and smooth the top, leaving as much or as little frosting as you desire.

- No need to buy specialty pastry bags and tips to pipe decorative frosting. Use a freezer weight Ziploc, fill it halfway with frosting, snip a corner, and pipe. Don’t be cheap! Use the freezer-weight bag. I have learned from experience that a regular sandwich baggie does not do the trick.

- Warm frosting is the enemy. If your kitchen is warm, keep half of your icing in the fridge while you’re working with the other half.

- Other than the offset spatula, there’s no need to buy specialized tools. Use what you have around the house: scissors, tweezers, toothpicks, a serrated knife… Put all of these tools in one place and call it your cupcake pantry.

- Karen and Alan believe all candy and sweets are fair game for cupcake decoration from marshmallows to jelly beans, Milano cookies, and candy corn. Don’t be afraid to cut them or tweak them any way you’d like.

- And here’s a tip from me: go ahead and buy your frosting. Duncan Hines is delicious, and really, these are just cupcakes! Save your energy for the decorating fun.

The one downside (or perhaps it’s an upside) of the experience: our cupcakes were almost too cute to eat. Almost.

Alas, this is not a perfect world.

Last year, I made it a goal to break from tradition and try all new dishes for Thanksgiving. This year, I’m going to mix and match. I really missed my mom’s cornbread-sausage stuffing (the essence of Thanksgiving for me), so it’s going back on the menu. I’ll probably stick with tried and true buttermilk mashed potatoes, but maybe mix up the green veg with the kale and brussels sprouts salad recipe I saw in Bon Appetit. Instead of sweet potatoes I’ll revisit a butternut squash casserole I loved.

Cranberry sauce… not sure yet.

Rolls… yes, there will be rolls. Which ones? Good question.

Pie? Eek. I don’t know. Pecan this year?

I have ordered a turkey, so at least there’s that. I am going to try dry-brining for the first time.

So I have my work cut out for me over the next week and a half! I just saw this make-ahead Thanksgiving planner from Melissa Clark in the NY Times. She shares a smart timetable for those of us who like to make as much ahead of time as possible. Now, if only I could decide on the menu….

Newsflash: I have a sweet tooth. That is probably not a shocking revelation to anyone who knows me even in passing. I love me some baked goods.

I try to contain my love for all things dessert to the weekends, when I’ll try a new cake, cookie, pie, or cobbler recipe. I always aspire to give away or throw away the leftovers by Monday, and occasionally I even do it.

Since we’re planning on moving this week (although, at the rate this move is going it might be the following week…), all of my bakeware is in boxes. So this weekend required an uncomplicated, special-equipment-free dessert, and when I saw a recipe for Silky Chocolate Pudding on the fabulous Smitten Kitchen blog I knew I found my mark. Rich, creamy, and delicious, the pudding hit the spot. And best of all (or worst of all?) there are no leftovers to agonize over.

Click here for the recipe.

She’s a prodigy, right? A chip off the old block.

Well, maybe. Truth be told I really can’t take any credit other than having the good fortune to be on the invite list to an event at Virgil’s Real BBQ to celebrate the opening of a Virgil’s outpost at the Atlantis Paradise Island resort in the Bahamas.

At the Virgil’s in Times Square Rosa and I were met with delicious pina coladas (virgin of course…don’t be crazy) and yummy finger foods. But within minutes Rosa was whisked off to a special kids-only cooking class. After donning a chef’s hat and apron, and under the friendly and enthusiastic direction of chefs from Virgil’s and Atlantis, she and several other kids made their proud and hungry parents a gourmet lunch.

Apparently, this is one of the many activities kids can do at the Atlantis kids club, Atlantis Kids Adventures. They can learn to make everything from pizza to frozen fruit treats in a huge, colorful kitchen while their lucky parents lounge on the beach. Sounds like a plan to me!

After their cooking adventure we ate the fruits of our children’s labor: the muffins, chicken, shrimp, and cole slaw, plus barbecue brisket and mac ‘n cheese. Dessert was scrumptious banana pudding.

Rosa and I left Virgil’s stuffed and happy. She is ready to book her trip to the Bahamas, and heck, if she keeps cooking for me I’ll even buy the ticket.

–

The corn muffins were one of the highlights of our meal, and, happily, I scored the recipe so I could make them at home. I’ve simplified the recipe a bit, but they’re still savory and delicious thanks to the flavorful add-ins. One word of warning: the first time I made them I thought I was being clever by baking them in paper muffin cups. Bad idea! These muffins are so moist that they stuck to the paper, and I lost about a quarter of each muffin. Just grease your muffin cups well with Pam, bake, and then use a knife to gently loosen them from the sides of the cups.

Virgil’s Cornbread Muffins
Yield: 12 muffins

Ingredients:

Cooking spray
½ cup yellow cornmeal
¼ cup flour
¼ cup sugar
1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
1 cup buttermilk
¼ cup milk
1 egg, lightly beaten
3 Tablespoons melted butter
2 oz. shredded cheddar cheese, about one cup
corn from one ear, or about one cup frozen corn kernels
2 scallions, chopped
2 Tablespoons chopped cilantro

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Spray a 12-cup muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray, like Pam.
2. In a medium-sized bowl whisk together the cornmeal, flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.
3. In a large bowl whisk together the buttermilk, milk, egg, and melted butter.
4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir just until the dry ingredients are moistened. Stir in the cheese, corn, scallions, and cilantro.
5. Spoon the batter into the muffin cups and bake until golden brown, about 18-20 minutes.
6. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes and then transfer the muffins to a cooling rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

His Op-Ed in today’s Times, though, was terrific. He started by busting the myth that fast food is cheaper than “real”, home-cooked food. He continued on to dismantle the other common excuses for fast food’s popularity:

- fast food is cheaper on a per calorie basis
- people can’t afford real food
- people don’t have access to fresh food
- people don’t have time to cook (Actually, as Bittman notes, “The average American watches no less than 90 minutes of television a day.”)

The core issue, he declares, and I strongly agree, is that many people see cooking as work and fast food or takeout as a reward, “a pleasure and a crutch”.

People just don’t want to cook.

Bittman continues with thoughts on how to change that attitude (Kids Cooking Classes!), our “food carnival” culture, this feeling that food should be instantly available without any effort other than getting in car or dialing a telephone.

Yes, eating real food takes some work, maybe 20-30 minutes a day. But the rewards are incalculable.

One way I find new chicken recipes is by adapting dishes created for other meats, especially pork. One of my recent favorites is this dish I found in Everyday Food. It’s an Emeril recipe (!) for cumin-orange pork loin. I’ve made it several times using pork tenderloin (already an adaptation…). Tonight I tried it with chicken breasts and was really pleased with the result. I made a few other tweaks, and ended up with this recipe:

Orange & Cumin Chicken Breasts
3-4 servings

3 to 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 ¼ teaspoons kosher salt
1 Tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
3 Tablespoons sherry vinegar or white wine vinegar
2 Tablespoons orange marmalade
juice of one navel orange
chopped cilantro for garnish

1. Preheat the oven to 400° F.

2. In a small bowl, mix together the cumin and salt. Rub the cumin-salt mixture all over the chicken breasts.

3. Heat the olive oil in a large, oven-proof sauté pan over medium-high heat. Place the chicken breasts in the pan and cook for 5 minutes per side.

4. In the meantime, whisk together the vinegar, marmalade, and orange juice.

5. Pour the orange mixture over the chicken breasts and transfer the pan to the oven. Bake until the chicken breasts are just cooked through, about 20 minutes (longer if the breasts are very large).

6. Transfer the chicken to plates or a serving platter. If the orange sauce seems too thin, cook it over medium-high heat for a minute or two to thicken it. Drizzle the sauce over the chicken, top with cilantro to taste, and serve.

If you don’t have an oven proof sauté pan, after browning the chicken on the stove-top transfer it to a baking dish, top with the orange mixture, and bake. The only downside here is that if you want to thicken the sauce after baking the chicken you have to put it back in the pan (another downside: two dishes to wash).

Any other favorite chicken breast recipes I should know about?

The recipes I developed for the Parents project appear in the September and October issues. But even more fun was working with the women directly and coming up with plans of attack to help them.

There were a few main strategies I focused on. One was what I have dubbed the First Commandment of Weeknight Dinners. A second, a.k.a the Second Commandment of Weeknight Dinners, is Prep Ahead.

Prep as much as possible ahead of time. That might mean spending an hour Sunday afternoon chopping and bagging vegetables for the next couple of days or even whisking together a simple marinade on a weekday morning for your pork chops or chicken breasts.

Prepping ahead is essential for me, and yesterday afternoon I knocked several items off of my weeknight dinner prep list:

- Roasted beets for a salad Monday night

- Blended together a dressing for the beets. (Before eating tonight I sliced the beets and tossed them with the dressing. There will likely be enough beet salad left for me to take for lunch on Tuesday.)

- Stirred together a ginger-soy sauce marinade for tonight’s pork chops.This morning I put the chops in a Ziploc bag with the marinade.

- Washed and trimmed sugar snap peas.

- Toasted sesame seeds for the snap peas.

- Washed and chopped cauliflower for Wednesday night’s dinner.

- Made a soba noodle salad for Rosa’s (and my) lunchbox this week. I added some shredded chicken left over from Sunday’s dinner.

This doesn’t cover me completely for the rest of the week, but it sure made dinner tonight a breeze and will continue to help me out later in the week.

All that prep took me about an hour-and-a-half, including clean-up. Ninety minutes isn’t nothing; it’s a chunk of time that some weekends I don’t feel like putting in. But, I usually do it. Having healthy, less-stress family meals is important to me, and I know that I have to make the prep a priority.

Bagging cauliflower on a Sunday afternoon isn’t sexy. But on Wednesday night, when I’m walking in the door at 6 PM (if I’m lucky), I’ll be happier to see that Ziploc than my husband.

Just kidding!

(But, seriously, I love having pre-prepped veggies in the fridge.)