JD's Meatball Sliders

Getting a toddler to sit down, stay still and actually eat dinner can be challenging, even if you have a toddler that loves to eat like we do! In recent months we’ve been trying a few new ways of getting JD excited about dinner. We include him in preparing dinner, setting the table and recently we started making our dinners more toddler friendly and bite size! Last night we had meatball sandwiches for dinner and I purchased mini buns to make meatball sliders for JD. It was so amazing to see how proud he was of his meatballs and he really enjoyed his sliders!

JD's Meatball Sliders

Ingredients

• 1 pound ground beef (or 1/2 ground beef 1/2 mild Italian sausage) 
• 3/4 cup bread crumbs 
• 2 teaspoons dried Italian seasoning 
• 2 cloves garlic, minced 
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley 
• 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese 
• 1 egg, beaten 
• 10-20 mini buns (Trader Joe's)
• 2 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil 
• 1 pinch salt and pepper, or to taste 
• 1 (14 ounce) jar spaghetti sauce 
• 1/2-1 cup shredded Italian blend cheese

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In a medium bowl, gently mix by hand the ground beef (or ground beef and sausage), bread crumbs, Italian seasoning, garlic, parsley, Parmesan cheese, and egg. Shape into 10 meatballs, place in a baking dish and drizzle meatballs with olive oil. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until cooked through. Meanwhile, toast the mini buns in the oven during the last 5 minutes of the meatball's time, or until lightly toasted. While the bread toasts, warm the spaghetti sauce in a saucepan over medium heat. When the meatballs are done, cut them in half and transfer them to the sauce. Remove the meatballs, place 1 meatball half on a mini bun and and top with shredded cheese (you can hold the slider together with a toothpick). Return to the oven for 2 to 3 minutes to melt the cheese. Cool and enjoy!

Sur La Table Cooking Class: Gourmet Pizzas of LA 2010

As you all may know by now, I love food and when I married the hubby I was happy to learn that I married into a wonderful family who also has the same adoration for food that I have! About a month ago JD, the Garcia foodies and I took a stroll to The Grove and we stopped by my absolute favorite cooking supply store, Sur La Table. This particular store also happens to hold cooking classes and it didn’t take very long before the three of us were standing at the kitchen entrance (awestruck) browsing at the Sur La Table Cooking Class schedule. That night we chose a class, signed upped for it and waited eagerly for March 30th to arrive.

Chef Martin Gilligan

explaining the 6 steps to make yeast grow.

 Regular and gluten free pizza dough.

Chef Gilligan saucing a pizza with Aunt

Mary’s Tomato Chutney.

Mari grating parmesan cheese for our Pizza Bianca.

Me getting our dough ready.

Gabi stretching wheat dough, for our thin crust pizza.

The Garcia Thin Crust

(wheat dough, Aunt Mary’s tomato chutney, mozzarella, pepperoni, ham, roasted red bell peppers, green olives, fresh basil and parmesan)

Rosemary Focaccia Pizza

This experience was so incredible. Chef Martin Gilligan and his sous chefs were wonderful and went out of their way to make us feel completely comfortable in the kitchen. We learned so many great cooking techniques, made some new friends, drank wine, ate a whole lot of mouthwatering gourmet pizza and above all had an unforgettable girl’s night out! I can’t wait to sign up for the next class.