cake fail. and meatballs!!

Look at this cake.


I want you to think about it for a minute. It's terrible. I'll talk about it shortly, but I want you to just look at it first.

I had four hours of PTO to use up otherwise it would disappear forever. Actually I had 12, so I took this last Friday off and then today I left early and used the 4 hours. I always have high hopes for activities I will do while on my day off. You know, really make the most of it. Today the plan was to come home and start a great dinner of giant meatballs - you know, the homemade kind where you sear them in a pan and then put them in a slowcooker for like 6 hours so they are super perfect and good by the time dinner rolls around.

It didn't happen. I came home, put on my penguin flannel pajama pants, ate a Nutella sandwich, and went to bed. I slept all afternoon. I woke up a few hours later after Husband came home around 3:30. I was still too exhausted to do anything that involved anymore than pressing buttons on a microwave. Husband cleaned the kitchen. Then we shared a romantic bowl of Ramen before he left for his night class. I also ate some leftover Texas Caviar with some Fritos. I'm a great wife. I'm paying for it now though because I really feel like I'm going to vomit. I don't know if it is from what I ate or the fact that I did go ahead and prepare those meatballs so he could at least have them later. All of a sudden, the smell from the meat is making me sick. And I still have to go back in the kitchen and throw them in the oven. Seriously, I might actually throw up. This first trimester has been the bane of my existence but I still haven't come right out and puked yet. Tonight may be the night. If so, that's sick. I don't want to puke up Ramen noodles and beans and bellpeppers. Sick.

But, you should still consider making these meatballs. I promise they are good. I know it's not enticing when I talk about puking and then telling you to make this food, but I promise it will be good.

I didn't take a picture. But I will. Later. When they are done.

It's A Meat-a-Ball!

1 lb ground meat (I used venison but you can use beef or whatever)
1 egg
Breadcrumbs (I used Panko and I think I used about a cup & a half)
Spices (I just used Oregano)
Vegetable oil
1 jar of yummy tomato sauce

Okay - I normally don't use sauce from a jar. But this stuff is organic and it's got basil and oregano and stuff, hence why I didn't add more to the meatballs. If you must use sauce from a jar, please use good quality stuff. Not nasty Ragu that they serve with school lunches. Unless you want your dinner to taste like dog food.

Combine the ground meat, egg, breadcrumbs, and spices. Use your hands. They are your best kitchen tools. :) Form into nice sized balls (haha, balls) and place them on a plate. My one pound of meat made 9 balls. Maybe that will give you a visual since I'm a jerk and didn't take pictures for you.

In a fry pan, heat oil on medium-low. Place meatballs in there and sear the outsides. Pre-heat your oven to 350. Put the seared meatballs in a casserole dish (they won't be cooked through - just seared at this point). Pour your jar of sauce over them and put the cover on. Unless it's plastic, then don't. I have a glass cover. Use foil otherwise. Don't be dumb.

Bake in the oven for 30 minutes. Or, alternatively, you can lower the heat to like 315 and leave it in there for a longer time...like an hour and a half. Or, you can put them in a slow cooker and leave it in there for a few hours. That would probably be way better. You can eat them with pasta. Everyone loves pasta. Especially me. Unless you're some freak who hates pasta. Probably the same person who hates coconut.

So now, husband will come home later and if he's hungry he can have a semi-home cooked meal. Notice I didn't say semi-homemade. I don't want to be associated with Sandra Lee from the Food Network. Have you ever watched her stupid show? It's ridiculous and all of her food is a total joke. If she can have a cooking show, there is no way I couldn't have one. But I don't want one. Nobody wants to watch a pregnant woman cooking in her pajamas. But apparently people do want to watch some lady put canned frosting on a store bought angel food cake and shove a bunch of taper candles in it and sprinkle it with corn nuts. I'm not kidding. I couldn't make this up if I wanted to.



Worst. Cake. Ever.

While we're at it, let's see how to make a Hannukah cake for all of our Jewish friends. I can't think of one Jewish person who would eat this.