Well 2020 has certainly made an impression so far. I’m ready for it to be over and it’s only May. We’ve been hunkered down in our apartment, leaving only for necessary errands and are trying to be creative with our cooking. Finding different uses for leftovers means less trips to the store during these crazy pandemic times and more kitty snuggles at home.

The other night Andrew made some really yummy meatballs for dinner, we had them over some sautéed veggies and sauce. The kale in our garden is going nuts! We planted it last year and it’s still growing strong. It was a delicious, simple meal and this morning we shared the random one meatball that was left for breakfast.

I love that you can put an egg on anything and call it brunch. Leftover chili? Put an egg on it! Brussels Sprouts? Put and egg on it! Pizza? Put and egg on it! If this hasn’t been a Portlandia episode it should be. We used the recipe below for the meatballs (although not making them SO big and bold) and then just whipped up a couple of eggs to have on top of our leftovers. Add some coffee and a salty dog or mimosa and you’ve got a perfect Sunday brunch! Or Wednesday brunch, I’m not here to judge. 

 Big and Bold Meatball adapted from Proud Italian Cook 

Ingredients:

• 1 lb, quality ground beef,85% lean 15% fat, (Grind your own if you can! We did and it’s worth the extra effort)
• 2 eggs
• 1 medium onion diced
• 5 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1-  3 inch hunk of day old Italian bread, ripped into small pieces and moistened with water or milk and squeezed out
• ⅓ cup  of dry plain breadcrumbs
• 1 bunch of fresh parsley, chopped
• ¾ cup of grated Parmesan
• salt and pepper
• Your favorite marinara sauce
• Fresh mozzarella
• fresh basil for garnish

Directions:

1. In a small pan add olive oil and sauté onions and garlic until soft, let it cool
2. Place all the ingredients into a bowl ,omit sauce that comes later!
3. Mix well and form your meatballs.
4. Cook them until set at 375* for around 20 minutes or so.
5. Remove and top with Parmesan or mozzarella and finish baking in the oven at 375*F until internal temp reaches 160, about 20 more minutes
6. Top with fresh basil and serve

 We served ours over a bed of steamed kale with garlic bread. Yum!

When reheating for breakfast we preheated the over to 325F, placed the meatball in a baking dish with leftover kale and sauce and baked for 20 minutes, topped with cheese and baked an additional 10. You just want to heat the meatball through, remember it’s already cooked 🙂

 What do you like to put an egg on? 😉