Meatball Monkey Bread

Sorry for the hiccup – My laptop took a dive and had to spend some time at the PC Doctors – but we are back up and running now and as promised – here is part 2 of the Meatball story - So after I made the meatball sliders for dinner the other night – I had to hide a bowl of meatballs from my family so I could make this dish.

Note: On the Meatballs recipe. When making them to freeze, I prefer, not to add the glaze (the ketchup, brown sugar and cider vinegar) – so just in their naked state.  I only use the glaze when I make it into the Meatloaf.

So onto the Meatball Monkey bread – As stated I had seen it somewhere and it intrigued me, I have a friend who wrote a blog about cooking for 365 in a Dutch Oven and she posted this one when her oven recently went out and she pulled out her Dutch Oven to fix a meal for her family. Dutch Oven Madness - she is quite the inspiration! Up on seeing her post I thought – I want to put a spin on mine, to see what I could come up with.

This was a weeknight – one that was snowy, and after working all day plus a treacherous commute home, I was in a hurry to get dinner on the table so I could sit and unwind. So I did not make my roll dough from scratch – I just used Rhodes Rolls – I called home about 3:30 and had my daughter pull them out of the freezer and let them start to thaw.  – But if you have the time and want to try your hand at making rolls from scratch – try this recipe Rolls

I went to my fridge to see what I had to put in with my meatballs – I had some left over shredded cheese (pizza blend) from my Sourdough Pizza the other night , My friend used pepperoni, I didn’t have any left – But I had some mushrooms, I sautéed them up with some garlic and onions, then I started to assemble. I did not get too creative just because I was too tired. - but as you read on I'll give you a few creative spins on this, with the hope you will come up with some of your own too.

Meatball Monkey Bread

20 Rhodes Dinner Rolls (9" X 13" X 2" pan = 12 - 16 Texas Rolls or 16-20 Dinner Rolls.)
20 Meatballs – either homemade or frozen
2-3 tablespoons of melted butter
Mrs. Dash – Garlic and Herb
Parmesan Cheese

Filling – whatever sounds good…Here are a few wild thoughts I had – if you made your own meatballs and used ground chicken you could add some parmesan cheese and some garlic and dip in Alfredo sauce. You could sauté some peppers, onions and mushrooms, with regular meatballs and dip in au jus for a French dip variety. A Mexican variety, sprinkle a little taco seasoning or salsa in with your meatball and use a pepper jack cheese and dip in sour cream or guacamole. Ok – one more – Plain ol’ meatballs and dip in BBQ sauce.  – Let your imagination run wild – there are many combinations that you can make.

My filling was just the Meatball and the cheese – and because not every member of my family likes mushrooms I just put them on the top of mine after they were baked. But if you are fans you could put them right in with your meatball and cheese.

To assemble – Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface, into a circle. Place a small (‘bout a teaspoon) amount of cheese on the dough; place the meatball in the center, bring the dough up and around the meatball and cheese and seal in all the goodness. Place all inside a greased pan and brush with melted butter and sprinkle with Mrs. Dash and Parmesan cheese.

Bake @ 375° for 20-25 minutes until the y are golden brown and a slight tap produces a hollow sound.

We dipped ours in leftover Pizza sauce but you can dip them in what ever you like - I think my son was using Ranch dressing....

Now those of you that have read my blog know that I always state, that if you can cook it in a 9x13x2, pan you can cook it in a 12” Dutch Oven- So I am giving you directions to make this in a 9x13x2 pan – but I did mine in my 12” flat bottom Dutch Oven – in my oven @ home – but can easily be done over briquettes. - for a 9x13x2 just place in rows instead of a ring.

If you want to make this in your Dutch Oven with Briquettes - 9 briquettes on the bottom and 18 on top.

Have Fun Cookin’
Cyndi

Pumpkin Muffins

The other day I was craving Pumpkin bread , I searched the web and came up with this recipe Cream Cheese Pumpkin Bread which turned out fabulous, being one of the few in my house that will eat Pumpkin bread, I took some to work with me and shared with my Co-workers. One of them mentioned they still had 2 pumpkins from Halloween that they had not carved and asked me if I wanted them. Of course I couldn't turn them down. 

Saturday I cut them up and baked them (350°) with some water in the bottom of a pan and covered them with foil til they were fork tender (like a potato)(about 30-45 minutes), let them cool. I then scooped the meat out and pureed it in my blender by the time I was done with both pumpkins I had 8 bags with 2 cups each (pretty standard for pumpkin recipes). I also saved the pumpkin seeds from both pumpkins, Another one of my favorites is Roasted Pumpkin Seeds. wash the seeds and put them in a pan with some salted water and let boil for 5 minutes drain and place on a baking sheet and bake @ 350° for 2-3 hours til golden brown (roasted in color). As I finished up with the pumpkin, I saved the last bit and made these little bites of yumminess. 

Pumpkin Muffins

1 cup pumpkin
1/2  cup granulated sugar

1/2  cup brown sugar
1/3 cup vegetable oil 
2 large eggs
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
½ tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
About 1 tbsp raw sugar for sprinkling on top

Preheat oven to 350° and grease the cups of a mini muffin tin very well.  

In a large bowl, whisk together the pumpkin, sugar, vegetable oil, eggs, all spices, baking soda and salt.  Then whisk in the flour until the batter is just smooth.  

Divide the batter among the greased muffin cups, filling each one just a bit more than 3/4 full. (I put mine in a gallon Ziploc bag and snip a corner off and pipe the batter into the cups.)  Sprinkle the top of each mini muffin with a bit of Raw sugar and bake in a preheated oven for about 10-14 minutes, or until they are golden brown, and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.


If you want you could add mini chocolate chips to this.  

Cool the on a rack until cool enough to handle, remove them to cool fully.

Yes you can use "real" pumpkin to make the same recipes you can with a "can" of pumpkin. This time of the year pumpkin recipes are my favorite. As I stated earlier I am in the minority in my home when I make them, so my neighbors and co-workers benefit when I bake. I hope that you will give these a try and will enjoy them as much as I do. 

Have fun Cookin'

Cyndi