Weeknight Meatballs & Homemade Focaccia

lots of it can be prepped ahead, making dinner come together fast.

Any toddler parent, past or present, will tell you, when it comes to food they are a finicky bunch. I mean if you don’t peel their banana the right way, or god forbid you cut it and they didn’t want you to, you’re definitely eating that banana yourself. And no matter how much you want to believe pre-kids that your kid will never be like that (moi), you can’t avoid it. They will give you hell over something on the dinner plate. Mine will not eat meat in it’s original form. A chunk of chicken or steak? “Nooooo wayyyyy mama!”. But meatballs of all varieties are big right now in our house. For me, as the cook and official grocery shopper of this house, they have some benefits too. Ground meat is often less expensive and I can more easily find grass fed or pasture raised versus whole cuts. They freeze well and the cooking time is often less.

Weeknight Meatballs & Homemade Focaccia

This is a great back pocket recipe- Meatballs in sauce that don’t take all day, not even close. It’s in the monthly rotation in this house because it’s so EASY. There’s no frying of the meatballs which not only is time consuming but makes a mess of the stove, which in turn is more work for me. You can make the meatball mixture and even form the meatballs the day before if that’s interesting to you. It is EXTREMELY delicious when sopped up with homemade focaccia. Obviously you could serve this with store bought bread or even pasta. But I promise you this focaccia recipe is NOT HARD. I shared the recipe a few days ago, and it’s here again- because I’m THAT obsessed. The most hands on part of it is done 1-3 days before. Try it out! You’ll be really amazed at how YOU can make a homemade focaccia that will absolutely blow your family away. PLUS it’s soft, so it’s great for kids ages 1-99. Give it a go! Email, DM, Comment at me with any and all questions, I’ll talk you through it. This will be on your repeat list, I promise. The recipe for the meatballs and the focaccia are at the bottom of this email and visible to paid subscribers.

Post Partum Food

My best friend is days away from having a baby as I type this. By the time you’re reading this, we might have the newest member of our band. My plan next week is to make her a bunch of food to bring over. I’m planning a mix of homemade snacks, frozen dinners, frozen elements of a dinner, and frozen cookie dough balls. I’ve got some solid ideas up my sleeve like frozen mini burritos that I made myself before I had Luca a year ago (I know, he’s already 1 years old!!). But I’d love to hear from you all. Have you made things for yourself or friends that froze super well? What were you craving after you had the baby? Maybe some new thing you’ve recently made that would be perfect for this? I love crowd sourcing inspiration. Only paid subscribers can comment here- I don’t love that feature. But DM me on instagram if you’re not paid or email me! I’d really love to hear. You all are always full of great ideas.

What I’m Loving This Week:

1. Hyacinth: Trader Joes right now, is stocked with potted spring flowers and it’s lifting my mood. I bought a few potted hyacinth- which is one of my ALL TIME FAVORITE scents. One sniff and it’s like it’s spring and there’s once again hope that I will survive another day of grey, rainy, freezing weather. I have one next to my bed and it’s giving me life.

2. Broccoli Rabe: I’ve been on a huge broccoli rabe kick recently. I think it’s maybe THE most underutilized vegetable on the American dinner table. I bet some of you don’t even know what it is! Growing up with a southern Italian father, we ate it all the time. It’s like broccoli and some bitter leafy green had a baby. It’s super easy to cook and extremely good for you. If you’d like to cook it the way I do, here’s how: Chop the bunch of broccoli rabe in three crosswise, leaving you with big chunks. Heat a good amount of olive oil in a pan. Add a lot of chopped garlic and a pinch of crushed red pepper. Quickly, add all the broccoli rabe and stir to coat in the oil. Season with salt. It will wilt down. Add maybe 1/2 cup of water, lower heat to medium and cover. Stir a few times and cook for maybe 5-8 minutes until it’s wilted, tender and smelling really good. Take the lid off during the last 2 minutes or so of cooking to let some of that water evaporate if it hasn’t. A little sprinkle of parm and you’ve got a very easy side dish. It would be very nice served alongside these meatballs!

The Plan:

• 1-3 days ahead: make the focaccia dough, cover and pop it in the fridge

• 4 hours before dinner: scrape the focaccia dough into the pan and let sit on the kitchen counter

• 1 day ahead, maybe: make the meatball mixture and form the meatballs