Meatball Madness

I've made this Italian wedding soup twice in the last week and I am totally hooked. My affection for meatballs in soup or just about any other vehicle extends back decades, but I forgot how much I like them until I made this delicious, soul-warming soup. I am now newly obsessed with meatballs. I love them. Rolling meatballs between my fingers, eating them, reading meatball recipes- I've barely hide time to tend to my child since I rediscovered my passion for them.

That being said, I do think the soup would translate well to a vegetarian recipe. Just use veg stock and veggie sausage instead of meatballs. The fennel seed in the meatballs is what makes them brilliant, so if that could be incorporated into a veggie meatball it would be perfect.

I also made a few modifications to make the soup more to my liking. I omitted the celery and used lots of parsnip, left out the pasta, and used ground lamb instead of beef. Oh my God, lamb meatballs. I'll never be the same.

Curry Spiced Tomato Gratin

I've been meaning to try this recipe since I spotted it on 101 cookbooks, but I was put off by the repeated warnings that it was a long, tedious one that would suck up most of your afternoon or evening.
Turns out this recipe wasn't so tedious after all. It does bake for quite some time, but if you have a mandolin the prep and assembling are a snap. I imagine cutting all the veggies by hand would take forever.

This didn't turn out as pretty as I imagined (they never do) but it was absolutely delicious. I also love that it's a good way to use up the bruised or ugly tomatoes from the garden. Ugly tomatoes need love too. 

We scarfed down the whole thing. Next time I'll make two so we can have leftovers for lunch. 

In other news, I'm dog sitting for the lovely Vivian again. She lays in her bed and stares at me nonstop just like this-

See how she scowls at me?

I'm developing dog owner guilt. If we're not on a walk or playing with the ball every minute I worry that she's miserable. Is this what parenting is like? Scary. At least baby X won't be able to chase the cat for at least a year or so. Every time I turn around Vivian is either drooling over the kitty or trying to get her nose into kitty's butt. The cat seems pretty put out.

What's for dinner

Lentil "bolognese" lasagne
I finally got around to making this lasagne and it was delish. I make lasagne regularly but I've always boiled the noodles first. This is a "no boil" recipe and despite my fears the noodles were fully cooked into the sauce with only a few little crunchy bits at the top corners. Nothing major.
This is a nice healthy recipe that is surprisingly light despite the layers of lentil "meat" sauce. The white sauce on the top and few parmesan shavings add some fat to the dish, but it's still a good protein/ fiber punch for me and baby X.
Thanks to my kiwi friend for putting this dish onto my radar- she didn't fool me with her tricky metric measurements either! Ha.
To make your own click here.