Homemade Swedish Meatballs with Cream Sauce

Tonight I really felt like Swedish meatballs. We used to enjoy the ones you can buy and reheat from IKEA, but when my food intolerances began we soon found we couldn't eat them any more.  The meatballs were fine, but the sauce mix they sell is loaded with MSG and flavour enhancers, which make my skin itch and gives me a pounding headache.  Very disappointing... That was until I discovered a recipe for Swedish meatballs on one of my favourite food blogs, Skinny Taste. So, so very happy and grateful to have found a homemade alternative! And the best part is, I think it tastes 100 times better than the IKEA version.  I couldn't eat their meatballs now, even if I didn't have food problems; their texture seems all wrong, like that used scopes of dog food (sorry IKEA!) and my sauce has so much more flavour going on.  I've tweaked the original recipe from Skinny Taste to suit our tastes and to the products I can use, but it's still very similar. You can use whatever you like, I've just used products that work for me.

My hubby and I like to serve this recipe with oven-cooked chips, but it's also delicious served with mashed potato or you could serve it with your favourite pasta.  Cranberry sauce, or the more authentic Swedish Lingonberry Sauce, is optional, but we find that the sweet fruitiness of the sauce is a nice contrast against the savoury meat and cream sauce. 

I think this would be a good family meal. You could totally serve the cream sauce over mashed potatoes, sweet potato, roasted pumpkin, peas and corn... whatever your family prefers. You could also sneak more minced/grated veggies into the meatballs to trick your pick eaters into eating something healthy. I'm thinking next time some finely grated carrot and zucchini would both bulk these babies out and make them even more nutritious.  Even without the extra veg, they're still pretty guilt free, with a serve of meatballs and sauce measuring up at around 323 calories per serve. 

Homemade Swedish Meatballs with Cream Sauce

Serves: 4 (approx 5-6 meatballs per person)

500g Coles 5 Star Beef Mince

1 cup homemade breadcrumbs or Panko

1 whole free-range egg

1 medium onion, minced

2 sticks celery, minced

1 tsp minced garlic

1 tsp allspice

1 - 1 1/2 Massel beef stock cube

1L warm water + 1/4 cup warm water

2 dessert spoons Philadelphia cream cheese spread, 80% fat free

2 dessert spoons cornflour

Start by putting your beef mince into a large bowl. Add the breadcrumbs (or Panko, your choice), egg, onion and celery, garlic and the allspice.  Time to get your hands dirty!  Roughly mix the ingredients together with your hands.  Using a 1/4 cup measuring cup, scoop up meatball mixture.  Split in half, so you have a 1/8 cup sized serve, and roll into a neat ball.  Arrange on a plate or cutting board as you go until all the meat mixture is rolled into balls.  The mixture should make about 18 - 22 balls. 

Raw meatballs bathe on hot beef stock...

In a large, high-sized frying pan, add your litre of water and stock cubes.  Stir gently to dissolve the stock and bring to the boil.  Reduce heat to low and gently add your raw meatballs, one at a time, being careful not to splash yourself.  It's easiest to start from the outside of the pan and work your way into the centre of the pan.  Cover and cook for about 20 minutes.  Don't touch the meatballs during the cooking time or they may break apart!

No longer raw, but cooked and tender. Set aside while you finish the sauce.

Remove the meatballs from the liquid with tongs and set aside in a covered bowl to keep warm. Keep the beefy liquid on the heat.  Add the Philadelphia cream cheese spread and whisk into the liquid.  Mix the cornflour with the 1/4 cup of warm water and add to the cheesy stock mixture, and whisk in.  Keep on a low heat, whisking as the sauce begins to thicken.  Remove immediately when it reaches your desired thickness, and serve over your meatballs and choice of side.

Thick creamy sauce, infused with the herbs and spices from the meatballs.

Load up your plate and enjoy!

Cream sauce smothering the oven chips.

Sweet cranberry sauce to go with my savoury, tender meatballs. Yum!

Oven-Fried Chicken Tenders with Chinese Five-Spice Barbeque Sauce

My husband LOVES chicken. The truth is, if he could, he would eat it every day, every meal, until he grew feathers and a beak. Wanting to try something a bit different tonight from the usual crumbed chicken, I went hunting on the internet and found this recipe. The smell of the tenders cooking is wonderful, warm and almost nutty from the spices and sesame seeds.  The five-spice powder smells just like a health food market my mother used to shop at when I was little. Warm and comforting. Combined with the barbeque sauce, the flavours are sweet, subtly spicy, a little sour and salty. The kind of thing one expects from most Asian-style cooking. 

Oven-Fried Chicken Tenderloins with Chinese Five-Spice Barbeque Sauce

Oven-Fried Chicken Tenders

3/4 cup Panko (Japanese-style breadcrumbs)

2 tbsp sesame seeds

1 large egg

1/2 tsp Chinese five-spice powder

1/2 tsp salt

400g chicken tenderloins

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (fan-forced).  In a large saucepan, toast Panko and sesame seeds over medium heat for about 5 minutes, or until golden, stirring frequently to ensure even heating. Transfer to a plate or bowl.

In a medium bowl, with a wire whisk or fork, mix egg, five-spice powder and salt until foamy.

Dip the tenderloins in the egg mixture, then in the crumb mixture to coat. Place the tenderloins on a baking tray and cook for 13 to 15 minutes, or until they've lost all pink colouring throughout. Do not turn over while cooking. 

Crispy, golden crumbed tenderloins...

Chinese Five-Spice Barbeque Sauce

1 tbsp olive oil

1 small onion, chopped

1/2 tsp Chinese five-spice powder

1/2 cup tomato sauce

1 tbsp brown sugar

1 1/2 tbsp cider vinegar

1 1/2 gluten-free Worcestershire sauce

While the tenders cook, in the same saucepan used to toast the Panko and sesame seeds, heat oil over medium heat.  Add onion and cook 8 to 10 minutes, or until soft and lightly browned. You can add a pinch of salt to stop the onion browning too much.  Remove from heat; stir in tomato sauce, sugar, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce and five-spice powder.  Return to a low heat to warm the sauce through.  Pour sauce into a small bowl and serve with the cooked tenderloins. 

Barbeque sauce... sweet, spicy saucy goodness!

And this is the finished product!

Together at last, golden crumbed chicken tenders with delicious barbeque sauce.

Serve with a nice salad on the side, or if you're feeling a little more decadent, serve with oven-bake chips, and dip away at that warm barbeque sauce. 

A twist on this recipe would be to use chicken breast sliced into "fingers" and serve as finger food at your next party. 

Homemade Meat Lovers Pizza, Including Pizza Dough

So, yesterday my hubby decided he wanted pizza for dinner, which was all good with me because I'd been craving pizza for about a week! We just used our favourite meats, but you could put any topping you like on yours.  Sliced chicken breast, bacon, onion and pineapple with a barbeque base is a nice alternative, or you could throw all your favourite vegies on there. My dough instructions are for a bread machine, but if you don't have one, check out my notes at the bottom of this post to find out how to make pizza dough without the aid of a machine.

Pizza Dough

4 cups of bread flour

1 cup luke warm water + extra 1/2 cup

1 tsp dry yeast

1 tsp white sugar

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 olive oil

1 tsp dried Italian herbs

Put ingredients into your bread machine according to your machines instructions. Mine calls for the liquid first. Put in a cup of water, then the flour and other dry ingredients on top.  Set to a dough only setting and start mixing.  Check it as it goes.  Depending on your flour you may need to add more water.  I've been using Wallaby brand flour, which seems to need more water. But check it and see how you go. If the dough looks too dry and crumbly and not coming together, then add a bit more water, about a tablespoon at a time. With my dough, it sounded a bit sticky after the water went in (by that I mean it was making squidgy noises as it was mixing!), but came together perfectly in the end. You might find you need to get in there with a spoon to make sure everything comes together when you're adding the water... sometimes dough just needs a little encouragement, you know.

The completed dough...

Once your machine goes BEEP to let you know it's done mixing and proving your dough, turn it our onto a floured bench top. Divide into equal parts.  We like thin crust and get four large bases out of this mix. If you prefer thick crust, you could just divide it in half to make a thicker base. 

Divide by pinching to two, then pinch those into two again and so on.

Once you've divided it up, it's time to get your rolling on!  The trick to rolling out even shaped and sized pizza dough is not to move the rolling pin all around.  Instead, turn the dough and keep rolling straight ahead of you. It sounds like such a little thing, but it works. 

When the dough has reached the right size and thickness it's time to line your pizza tray.  Flour the tray with a little flour before putting your pizza base down... but not too much, you don't want your pizza to taste floury! Take a fork and gently make holes evenly over the base.  I find this helps to stop it getting big air bubbles in the base when it bakes.  Then you've come to the creative part... adding your toppings! Yay!! 

The finished rolled out base. Time to get cooking!

Meat Lovers Pizza Toppings

Makes enough for 2 large pizzas

4 tbsp "pizza" tomato paste (we use Leggos "Pizza" sauce with garlic and herbs)

1 cup cheese (any shredded cheddar or tasty blended with mozzarella works well)

100g shaved leg ham

4 thin slices parma ham (also known as prosciutto)

50g thinly sliced chorizo

50g thinly sliced pepperoni

Assembly is pretty much as you would imagine...  Start by gently spreading the tomato paste over the base with a spatula or the back of a spoon. Sprinkle on most of your cheese.  Then arrange your meats.  We start by tearing up the ham first.  Then add the sliced chorizo.  Add the rest of the cheese.  Then we finish by tearing up the parma ham and adding the pepperoni.  

Topped with cheese, ham, chorizo, parma ham so far...

And now with some spicy pepperoni to give it a little kick!

Bake in a moderate oven, around 180 degrees Celcius, for about 15 minutes. We ended up with a crisp base and perfectly golden toppings.  Slice up and enjoy!  

The finished product!

Now doesn't that look delicious? All crispy and golden and full of meaty, cheesy goodness...Ready for nomming!

** Note** We're lucky enough to have a bread machine to do all the work for us in making the dough.  Even if you don't have a machine you can still make this.  You'll just have a little more work ahead you... Mix all the ingredients in a bowl until it comes together as a rough dough. It works best if you use your hands to mix.  Then tip it out onto a floured bench top and knead away until glossy smooth. This is done by pushing the dough away from you with the heel of your palm, then bringing it back to you, turning the dough as you go.  Then put into a bowl, cover with cling wrap and a put it somewhere warm to rise for an hour to an hour and a half. Near a sunny window, but not in direct sun, is good.  The dough should double in size.  Knock it down a bit, divide up and start rolling out your base.  Easy!  If you're still a bit confused how it works, check out YouTube, there'll be an awesome tutorial video of how to make dough by hand.

If you can't find bread flour at your local supermarket, don't stress.  You can use ordinary plain flour.  The only difference is bread flour is ground a bit finer.  But the results shouldn't be too much different.

If you're having a pizza party with friends or family making their own individual pizzas, then you could divide the dough up into eight to ten smaller bases. Same if you have children who want to help you cook their own pizzas.  

Also, you can freeze what you don't want to use immediately by putting it into individual snap-lock bags.  Just defrost in the refrigerator for a few hours before you want to use it.  We used half the dough now and froze the other half this time. If you're storing for a party or to use as smaller bases for one person, you could roll the dough out ahead of time and store in the fridge or freezer between layers of grease proof paper wrapped in cling wrap. It should keep happily in the fridge for a day or so, and in the freezer I find it's fine for about a month (mind you, it never stays in there longer than that at our house!!). 

If you're curious any specific products I used in this, just ask me. : )

Apricot Chicken in the Slow Cooker

This post was inspired by my old school friend Holly.  She contacted me recently for a recipe for Apricot Chicken to use in her new slow cooker.  This was an untested recipe I had on file.  While Holly tested it out at her house I decided to give it a go with my homemade French onion soup mix.  It turned out sweet and tasty, with a nice hint of spice.  Hubby went back for more, which is always a good sign he liked it.

Apricot Chicken and Brown Rice

Apricot Chicken Recipe 

500g chicken (breasts or thighs)

400ml apricot nectar

1 packet of French onion soup (or my homemade mix if you're MSG free)

1 tablespoon curry powder

1 400g can apricots, drained

Slice the chicken into bite sized pieces.  Put the chicken into the slow cooker, followed by the other ingredients and stir until well mixed.  Cover with the lid and cook on low for 6 - 8 hours. 

Serve with brown rice and vegetables - anything you like! 

Now doesn't that look good? Just like a golden sunset in a bowl!

Hmm, sweet, spicy apricot sauce... *Homer drools*

 

*Note* If the sauce is a little thin, mix 1 tablespoon of cornflour with about a 1/4 cup of water until smooth, then add to the dish.  Mix through and allow to cook out for a few minutes.  When you go to serve the sauce should cling to your chicken a little better.   

I didn't add extra vegies this time, testing it out on a picky hubby. Next time I think some peas or green beans, or some strips of red capsicum would be nice, added in 30 minutes or so before serving so they don't break down too much.  You could also add a handful of chopped dried apricots to add a more intense apricot flavour and chunkier texture. My canned apricots broke down to almost a jam-like consistency. 

Homemade French Onion Soup Mix

As anyone with MSG sensitivity knows, when you can't eat that stuff anymore you have to get creative to make full flavoured foods.  This can seem hard when you've been so used to using pack mixes to speed things up in the kitchen.  But once you know how to read labels, you know what the nasties are to look out for and also find the delicious things that give you back the flavour you've been missing.  Get back to basics and head to the spice aisle!

One of the things I really missed when my MSG sensitivity first began was potato bake.  Our friend Tracy makes to most delicious, mouth-watering potato bake for family barbeques.  It's creamy, it's cheesy, the potatoes are tender and melting... I'm salivating just thinking about it.  But sadly, the recipe she uses calls for French onion soup mix.  That's right!  That little sachet of powdered soup from the supermarket.  All of these innocent looking packets contain Flavour Enhancer 621, code name for MSG.  This may sometimes be switched around with Flavour Enhancer numbers 627, 631 or 635.  The other three are artificial versions of MSG, called Ribonucleatides, which can be even more menacing (Google the E635 and pick the Fed Up With Food Additives website for more info).  Anyway, I was missing things like this, so I went hunting for an alternative that was safe for me to eat.  This is a recipe I have found and used successfully in place of the commercially made French onion soup mix. I hope you find it useful too.

Homemade French Onion Soup Mix

Ingredients:

3/4 cup dried minced onion

2 Massel brand beef stock cubes (see notes)
4 teaspoons onion powder
1/4 teaspoon celery salt

1/4 teaspoon sugar
1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon curry powder (or to taste)
1/8 teaspoon pepper


Method:

Put all ingredients into a resealable sandwich bag, adding the stock cubes last. Press out most of the air as you seal the bag, and then rub the ingredients together, being careful not to tear the bag in the process.  Do this until the stock cubes are broken down and evenly mixed into the dry ingredients.

Makes the equivalent of one packet of French onion soup mix. Store in an air tight container until needed.  Flavours will infuse and the mix will taste better after being stored for a couple of days.  

To make up as a soup, add to a 1L of water. Bring to the boil.  Serve with toast, with or without butter or melted cheese.  Enjoy!

French onion soup mix, with roasted onions from IKEA.

*Note* I use Massel brand stock cubes because they are the only ones I have found that don't list the above E numbers, MSG, anything hydrolysed or "natural flavours".  They do contain yeast extract though, which can form free MSG when combined with salt at high temperatures, so if you're super sensitive you may want to avoid these too.  For some reason I seem to be OK with them.  I'm yet to have a reaction.  Hopefully it stays this way... I'm can't imagine not having a stock of some sort in my pantry!

An alternative I found to using the dried onion flakes from the spice aisle is roasted onions from IKEA, RONSTAD LOK. They have a pungent onion aroma as well.  I used a mix of both onion flakes and the roasted onions in the mix pictured above.