Pepperoni Pizza Meatballs

These Pepperoni Pizza Meatballs are seasoned with Italian herbs, onion, garlic, anchovies and sun-dried tomatoes then they are stuffed with pepperoni and mozzarella. Delicious!

Way back in June of this year, my fellow Sunday FunDay bloggers and I were sharing burger recipes and I was particularly intrigued by the pepperoni pizza burger my friend Wendy made. She stuffed the actual burger patty with pepperoni and mozzarella then added pizza sauce as a condiment. She topped it with cooked onions, green peppers and mushrooms. Doesn’t that sound delicious? You can find her original recipe here: Wendy’s Stuffed Pizza Burgers.

For my meatball version, I seasoned the ground beef with Italian seasonings and added anchovies and sun-dried tomatoes to the mix, then stuffed them with pepperoni and little fresh mozzarella balls called ciliegine. So good, guys! Perfect as an appetizer for your New Year’s Eve party.

Pepperoni Pizza Meatballs

My package of ground beef happened to weigh 1.66 lbs, which I know is a random weight. If yours is a little bigger or just a bit smaller, it won’t matter. Honestly. 

Ingredients

1.66 lbs or 753.96 80/20 ground beef

2 cloves garlic

1/4 medium onion

6 anchovies in oil, drained

1 egg

freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon Italian herb mix 

fine sea salt, if necessary

1 1/2 oz or 42g sun-dried tomatoes (not in oil)

Pepperoni

12-13 ciliegine mozzarella balls

Optional for garnish: small and/or sliced basil leaves

Method

Blend the garlic, onion, anchovies and egg until smooth. (I use a hand blender.) 

Put the beef in a large mixing bowl and give it a few generous grinds of the black pepper and sprinkle on the Italian herb mix.  

Use a wooden spoon or your clean hands to mix the blended ingredients thoroughly into the beef along with the seasonings.

Fry a heaped teaspoon of the meat mixture in a small pan and taste for salt. Add a little, if needed. We’ve been trying to watch our salt intake so if I’ve added something salty like anchovies, this is a good way to see if the meat really needs more salt. 

Finely chop the sun-dried tomatoes with a sharp knife or a small food processor and mix them in with beef. 

Use a 1/4-cup ice cream scoop to divide the meat into portions. Use your clean hands to divide the portions into two and make a well in each. 

Tuck a slice of pepperoni and one ciliegine mozzarella ball between the halves.

Roll them into a meatball. Place on a baking tray and continue the process until all the meatballs are formed. Chill until ready to bake. 

To bake the meatballs, preheat your oven to 400°F or 200°C. 

Bake the meatballs for 22-28 minutes or until they are well-browned and cooked through. 

Leave to rest for 5 minutes before serving. 

Garnish with basil, if desired. 

These can be served immediately as an appetizer or simmered in your favorite spaghetti sauce to serve with pasta. See mine here with my eggplant Parmigiana recipe. 

Enjoy! 

It’s Sunday FunDay and today we are sharing recipes for New Year’s Eve. People have different traditions so I was interested to see what my fellow bloggers came up with. In my family, we usually just do appetizers, no big meal. Check out all the lovely dishes below! Happy New Year, everyone! 

• ABC Dip (Artichokes, Brie and Crab) from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Crispy Pimento Cheese Cups from Palatable Pastime
• Ham and Brie Crostini with Jam from Making Miracles
• Neapolitan Cake from Amy’s Cooking Adventures
• Pepperoni Pizza Meatballs from Food Lust People Love
• Trollkrem - Norwegian Lingonberry Dessert from Pandemonium Noshery
• Wine Fruit Cake Sneha’s Recipe

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

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Creamy White Bean Mushroom Pasta

This Creamy White Bean Mushroom Pasta is full of flavor from brown butter, baby bella mushrooms and a healthy helping of salty feta. Comfort food for sure!

Let me just say right now that this is not the prettiest dish I’ve ever made. Those dark mushrooms are super flavorful, cooked in brown butter, but they aren’t very attractive. Would I prefer some golden chanterelles for this? Of course. But who can afford that many chanterelles? If only they weren’t so expensive.

No worries though because I can assure you that when you taste this pasta, its looks won’t matter! 

I’m often on the lookout for meat-free meals that are made with plant proteins like beans and legumes and are, of course, super tasty. That way no one misses the meat. This dish feels indulgently creamy because of the blended beans but when divided between six people, the calorie count per portion is quite reasonable. If you've been eating too many holiday treats, this dish will help balance that out.

Creamy White Bean Mushroom Pasta

This recipe is adapted from a vegan one on BiancaZapatka.com. I had good intentions on keeping it vegan but I didn’t have any non-dairy cream. And if I was going to use cow cream anyway, I might as well brown some butter, right? In for a penny, in for a pound, the feta at the end boosted the creaminess, salt and flavor. Its addition was also a good decision.

Ingredients to serve six

1 lb or 450g pasta of your choice (I like linguine.)

For the sauce:

1/4 cup or 60g butter

2 lbs or 900g baby bella mushrooms 

1/2 large onion (about 5.1 oz or 145g)

4 cloves garlic

1 can (15oz or 425g) white beans, drained and rinsed (I used navy beans.)

2 tablespoons nutritional yeast

2/3 cup or 155ml cream

1/2 cup or 120ml vegetable broth

7 oz or 200g feta cheese, crumbled

Freshly ground black pepper

For garnish:

fresh parsley, optional

To serve:

Freshly grated Parmesan or Pecorino Romano cheese, optional

Method

Clean the mushrooms and cut off any hard stem ends. Slice a third of them, cut the second third in bite-sized pieces and chop the last third. (Or cut them all one way. I just like the mix of textures when they are cooked.)

Peel and dice the onion finely. Peel and roughly chop the garlic cloves.

Rinse and drain the white beans and blend them with the cream, nutritional yeast and chopped garlic cloves in a food processor or with a hand blender until smooth. If the mixture is too thick to blend smooth, you can thin it with some of the vegetable stock. It’s all going into the pan together eventually.

Heat the butter in a pan and cook until the milk solids separate and the butter browns. 

If you need better instructions on browning butter, check out this link: https://www.cookingactress.com/2013/04/browned-butter-how-to.html My friend, Kayle, will show you how to do it. 

Add the mushrooms to the brown butter and pop the lid on your pan. 

Cook covered until the mushrooms release their liquid, stirring occasionally. This takes just a few minutes over a high heat.

Take the lid off the pan and keep cooking them until the liquid evaporates and the mushrooms are relatively dry and golden.

Add in the diced onions and sauté for about 2-3 minutes or until they are softened and translucent.

In the meantime, cook the pasta in salted water according to the package instructions.

Once the onions have softened, add the vegetable broth and the bean puree to the pan. 

Stir well. Bring the sauce to a boil then turn it down to simmer for a few minutes.

Add in the crumbled feta and a few grinds of black pepper. 

Stir to combine and warm the feta through.

Once the pasta is al dente, drain off the cooking water. Toss the pasta with the sauce to serve.

Garnish with chopped parsley if desired and put freshly grated Parmesan on the table so folks can help themselves.

Enjoy! 

It’s Sunday FunDay and today we are all sharing pasta for the holidays. Check out all the links below. Many thanks to our host, Sue of Palatable Pastime. 

• Christmas Penne Pasta from Making Miracles
• Creamy Basil Sauce Served With Spaghetti Pasta -Vegetarian from Sneha’s Recipe
• Creamy White Bean Mushroom Pasta from Food Lust People Love
• Shrimp and Crab Stuffed Shells from Palatable Pastime
• Spinach Ravioli with Pan Fried Scallops from Our Good Life
• Tenderloin Tips over Lemony Pappardelle from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Tortellini Soup with Sausage & Kale from Amy’s Cooking Adventures
• Pasta with Roasted Tomato Sauce from Mayuri’s Jikoni

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

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Chocolate Peppermint Bundt #BundtBakers

This Chocolate Peppermint Bundt starts with a mint chocolate batter, baked up tender, finished with peppermint glaze and crushed peppermint candy canes, perfect flavors for the holiday season!

This month’s Bundt Bakers event is special! Rather than choosing an ingredient or theme, our host Patricia of PatyCo Candybar asked us to choose a cake made by one of our fellow bakers to recreate. Gosh, was it hard to choose just one! 

Some of us have been baking Bundts together each month for almost 10 years so that’s a lot of lovely cakes to choose from. I scrolled down the list on our Bundt Bakers’ page and, honestly, it was a struggle. I love so many of them! I finally decided on the chocolate peppermint Bundt from Rebekah of Making Miracles because the flavors sounded perfect for the holiday season. 

If you haven’t been over to Rebekah’s blog yet, you might not know that her blog name, Making Miracles, is a reference to the beautiful babies she gave birth to as a surrogate. Several families are more complete because she was willing to help them fulfill their dream of having children. She is an amazing mom herself and a special, generous, caring person! 

Chocolate Peppermint Bundt

The original instructions say to use a 12-cup Bundt pan so, of course, I did, but I think this batter would fit quite comfortably in a 10-cup pan as well. 

Ingredients

For the cake:

1 cup or 240ml boiling water

6 tablespoons or 30g unsweetened cocoa powder, plus extra for the pan

2 1/2 cups or 312g flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup or 57g butter, at room temperature, plus extra for the pan

3/4 cup or 150g sugar

1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract

3 large eggs, at room temperature

2/3 cup or 162g full fat plain yogurt

1/4 cup or 45g semisweet chocolate chips

For the glaze:

3/4 cup or 94g powdered sugar, sifted

1 to 2 tablespoons milk

1 tablespoon butter, melted and cooled

1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract

1 peppermint candy cane (.44 oz or 12.5g), crushed

To decorate:

1 peppermint candy cane (.44 oz or 12.5g), crushed

Method

Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare a 12-cup Bundt pan by generously buttering and lightly coating it with sifted cocoa powder. 

Pour the boiling water into a heatproof measuring vessel then add the cocoa and whisk till it has completely dissolved. Set the mixture aside to cool. 

In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

Use electric beaters or your stand mixer on medium speed to cream together the butter, sugar and peppermint extract.  Add the first egg and beat again.

Add the following two eggs one at a time and beat well after each addition. 

Blend the yogurt into the mixture, followed by the cooled cocoa mixture. 

Fold in the flour mixture in batches until just until combined (do not over mix).  

Fold in the chocolate chips.

Spoon the batter into the prepared Bundt pan and smooth; tap pan once or twice sharply to remove any air bubbles. 

Bake 40-45 minutes, until cake begins to pull away from edges of pan and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes.

Carefully invert the cake onto the rack and allow to cool completely (or invert directly onto a cake plate if preferred).

For the glaze, combine the powdered sugar, milk, butter, and peppermint extract in a small bowl, starting with just 1 tablespoon of the milk. Add more milk a little at a time until you reach pouring consistency. You may not need it all. 

Crush the candy canes in a plastic baggie using a rolling pin or a the flat side of a meat tenderizer. Stir half of the crushed candy canes into the glaze. 

Drizzle or pour the glaze over the cake then sprinkle the top with the remaining crushed candy cane. 

Allow the glaze to set before slicing to serve. 

Enjoy! 

As I mentioned above, it’s time for December’s edition of Bundt Bakers! Check out all the tributes to our Bundt Baker friends below. Many thanks to Patricia of Patyco Candybar for hosting! 

• Apple Almond Coffee Cake with Honey Glaze (from A Day in the Life on the Farm) by Making Miracles
• Chocolate Peppermint Bundt (from Making Miracles) by Food Lust People Love
• Cookies and Cream Mini Bundts (from Food Lust People Love) by Sneha’s Recipe
• Dutch Speculaas Bundt Cake (from Tartacadabra) by All That's Left Are The Crumbs
• Magical Ingredients Honey Cake by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Weicher Lebkuchen – Soft German Gingerbread Bundt Cake (from Food Lust People Love) by Patyco Candybar
  

#BundtBakers is a group of Bundt loving bakers who get together once a month to bake Bundts with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all of our lovely Bundts by following our Pinterest board. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about BundtBakers, can be found on our home page.

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