This is a regular conversation for us. Is it for you, too?
"What do you want for dinner tonight?" I say to Don.
Silence.
"What are you in the mood for?" I ask.
Silence.
"I haven't planned anything." I add.
Don is relaxing in the car on our way home from Napa. The seat is in the recline position. His eyes are closed. He's trying to catch a quick nap. And I'm bugging him about dinner.
Hey, it's my job to think about what we're going to eat. Because I need to start making dinner the minute we get home. Elli is always starving. And I usually am too.
"I bought chicken teriyaki meatballs at Costco on Saturday." he says.
"Perfect. I'll make rice. We'll have meatballs and rice." I respond.
Phew. I thought for a minute I might be making pancakes for dinner. An okay choice in Elli's opinion but considered a dinner cop-out to Don. Breakfast for dinner has been sounding better and better to me. I even made eggs benedict recently with home-made hollandaise sauce. (And I wonder why I'm getting a little chubby.)
When we got home I looked at the bag of meatballs. Hmmm. They are going to need a sauce or something. No sauce packet in the box and no recipe either. Ehhhh. I decide to check their website.
Why can't I be one of the cooks on Top Chef who just opens the pantry, grabs some ingredients, and whips up a delicious sauce like in the quick-fire challenges?
Oh yeah, I'm not a chef. I'm just obsessed with watching them on TV. I'm watching Iron Chef as I type this. Maybe I'll be a chef in my next life. That would be cool.
Back to the meatballs. I found a super simple stir fry sauce on the Aidell's site. Of course I have no vegetables other than a few baby carrots and some celery to stir fry with the meatballs. Who cares. It will be yummy anyway. And it was. Oh, and did I mention quick? The meatballs are done in less than 10 minutes. Now we're talking.
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Chicken Teriyaki Meatballs
(adapted from Aidell's)
1 bag of Aidell's Chicken Teriyaki Meatballs
1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
2 T sugar
1/2 t. fresh ginger finely diced
1 T vegetable oil
1/2 onion sliced
2 cloves garlic finely diced
1 lb vegetables sliced (carrots, celery, broccoli, green beans, snow peas, red or green peppers)
1 t. cornstarch mixed with 2 t. water
1. In a small bowl whisk together soy sauce, vinegar, sugar and ginger.
2. Place the oil in a wok or large skillet over high heat. Add meatballs. Sauté for 3 minutes.
3. Stir in the onion and garlic and sauté 2 minutes.
4. Add the vegetables, pour in the soy sauce mixture and bring to a boil.
5. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer 3-5 minutes until vegetables are tender.
6. Stir in the cornstarch mixture and bring the sauce back to a boil for 1-2 minutes to thicken the sauce.
7. Serve over rice or noodles.
Enjoy!
Thank you! This was great and just what I needed! I had the exact same ingredients in my fridge and needed a quick meal. My two year old even liked it. Will be saving this one for sure.
ReplyDeleteI buy these all the time. Add to pasta sauce, yum. Chop up some add to beef or chicken gravy serve on rice or egg noodles, yum. Once you try them in pasta sauce you won't use any other meat.
ReplyDeleteMy kids love these meatballs. What we usually do is have them with rice or sometimes make sliders with them and the hawaiian rolls
ReplyDeleteI used frozen turkey meatballs from Target. Put them in the crockpot with Trader Joe's Island Soyaki, added some honey, frozen pineapple, edamame and sliced fresh carrots. Put on low for 6-8 hours served with rice
ReplyDelete