Meatballs! (A Pin a Day #5)

My family loves meat. We are 100% total meat eaters and you would be hard pressed to find another family who loves meat as much as we do. Half of us also love fruits and veggies, so I think it evens it out. In fact! Charlie can not even fathom a meal without meat, he even puts bacon on his grilled cheese (which is really good BTW). I am always on the look out for different ways to prepare the same old chub'o'burger that I buy at the store and always have on hand in the freezer at a moments notice (that reminds me, add chub'o'burger to my shopping list...)

I came across this meal while trying to figure out what I would make for dinner for the #5 blog post. These meatballs looked too delicious to pass up, and trust me, I looked through A LOT of meatball pins...

French Dip Sandwiches (with homemade bread!)

Pinterest is my life. I use it whenever I have a free moment to meal plan for the week, and look for new and interesting recipes that my very picky family will eat. It's very hard to eat healthy when the people you cook for favorite food groups are bacon, butter, cheese, and meat. No veggies, no fruits, no whole grains, so I gotta sneak them in when I can. Luckily the baby will eat anything without much objection. Usually after a meal or two of me making them eat more healthy, I reward them with something extra delicious. I saw this pin a few months ago and added it to my board, Recipes to Try.

Homemade Cheez-its!

My family is OBSESSED with cheese crackers. Nary a box makes it out of our house alive or survives for more than a day or two. My step daughter Audrey always asks if she can "have a snack", and her choice du jour is always a cheese cracker. Not only are store bought cheese crackers expensive, but they are LOADED with extra salt and preservatives. I don't know about you, but I've been trying to eliminate those from our lives for a long time. I found a recipe that not only is easy to make, but so closely resembles the look and taste of the ubiquitous cheese cracker that even Charlie was convinced. Special thanks to The Frugal Girls for this tasty recipe!

Homemade, customizable cheese crackers!

Pizza Gourmet Express

Gary lives just a block or so East of the adorable heart of University Heights in San Diego, which leads to us trying lots of pedestrian friendly restaurants and bars in the vicinity. One such place is our new favorite "neighborhood pizza joint", Pizza Gourmet Express which hails itself as just that.

I walked over to get a pizza last night, and as I snapped a few pictures I heard, "Oh! Another Yelper!" to which I explained that I wasn't a Yelper, and I had my own food blog, not that being a Yelper is a bad thing, I just already have too much on my plate, ya know?

Pizza Gourmet Express

4615 Park Boulevard
San Diego California 92116
(61...

PEG is kinda like the "Subway" of pizza restaurants, an assembly line of fresh ingredients made fresh to order right in front of your eyes and either taken home to cook yourself, or flash baked in their high speed pizza ovens. Gary and I met the owner, James, who is super nice, awesome and informative. He said he'd stop by and see what I had to say, so... HI JAMES!


We got our old standard, the Vegetarian Pizza, which comes with 4 veggie toppings of your choice. We opted for tomatoes, garlic, artichoke hearts and fresh asparagus, on their thin whole wheat crust, then topped with fresh basil and spices. A lot of times I'll forgo the "whole wheat" options, cuz I don't like eating cardboard, but PGE's 51% whole wheat crust is thin, nutty and still soft which makes it a great camouflaged "healthy" option for those of you trying to watch what you eat without giving up taste. Plus their dough is made and delivered fresh! DELISH!

I also love that they have glass bottled sodas, wines and beers, and even Virgil's Root Beer ON TAP!


Pizza Gourmet Express is also doing their part in the Green Movement and deliver their neighborhood pizzas on a cute red bike! I got mine delivered by a cute bearded man.


We got the pizza home and I immediately began snapping pictures of the deliciousness that was our dinner. A large vegetarian pizza has 8 slices and feeds 2 hungry people with enough left over, for well, left overs and runs you just under $16.



Gary got to eat the rest for dinner the next night.


The month of September has affectionately been dubbed, "Nostalgia Movie Month" so we accompanied our pizza with The Dark Crystal on DVD. GELFLING!?!?

(source.)

Feel free to join us by watching movies from at least 15 years ago that make you say things like, "OH yeahhh!! I forgot that part!"

Up next in our queue is; "The Never Ending Story"

Carey Burgers

This is Charlie. He belongs to my brother Carey and his wife Dana. He's super cute and amazing and I love his little face. He was watching us as I took pictures and I made Carey make me his famous stuffed bunless burgers, and I know he doesn't read this so I can say whatever I want! HA!

Carey was ever so kind as to show me how to make these puppies (omg puppies).

You just start with some basics;

Hamburger
Salsa
Mexican Cheese
Salt & Pepper to taste

Start by really working the meat into some nice patties. Carey made 2 huge patties for us cuz his wife was at work. Make a medium sized "hole" in the center to create a lil meat bowl.

Next put a few spoonfuls of salsa into it, and add cheese.

The next part is the "tricky part" as he calls it. Basically now you mold the meat around the cheese and salsa so its inside the patty. He warns to be careful to make no holes because everything will ooze out when you cook it if you do.

Cook them in a pan until nice and brown. We had homefries and corn as a side.

Top with more cheese and salsa and dig in.

Sammy's Woodfired Pizza

So last week I met up with an old friend for lunch and catching up, and after hemming and hawing over where to go, one mention of Sammy's Woodfired Pizza and it was decided.

Becca and I enjoying our friendship.

Sammy's started in San Diego in 1989, but I wasn't privy to their delicious food until 2001 when I went to the downtown location with my friend Josh for dinner. I had forgotten about Sammy's until recently when my mom and I went to meet some old family friends there for lunch where I serendipitously found myself staring at their new revamped menu which included gourmet salads and an extensive tapas list.

Sammy's Woodfired Pizza
Various Locations in
Southern California and Las Vegas

Rebecca and I started off with some of those awesome tapas. We ordered the Lebni Mediterranean Cheese with grilled herbed flat bread, and an order of their Hummus, which came with the same bread.

Lebni Mediterranean Cheese with grilled herbed flat bread.

The cheese is sometimes a bit too much if you've never had it. It's almost like a cross between sour cream and cream cheese, as it's soft and a bit tangy. They have really good hummus, pretty smooth and not too garlicy.

Nomming on tasty cheese.

The best part of these, is that they are so big you will have more than enough for leftovers to take home for later. I had my left overs with my salad later that night with dinner. I just threw the flat bread into the toaster oven to warm and crisp up those edges again and it was perfect.

Hummus with grilled herbed flat bread.

I got a half order of their Chinese Chicken Salad. It's made with cabbage and bok choy and it's got lots of veggies and mandarin orange slices. Their dressing is light and flavorful and they order half and full sizes for sharing. The half salad is large enough for lunch or dinner, and I even had extra left over.

Chinese Chicken Salad.

Bec went with the Thai Chicken Pizza. It comes topped with Thai Chicken, Julienne veggies, peanuts, lime juice and a spicy Thai peanut sauce. I'm pretty much a purist with pizza, and I am not too keen on these fancy "gourmet pizzas", but I tried a slice of this and it wasn't too bad.

Thai Chicken Pizza.

Becca's friend is a waitress here and she gave us a free Messy Sundae since Becca told her I was going to blog and review the restaurant. It's not just a clever name.

Messy Sundae.

This big ol' Messy Sundae was pretty much the end all to be all of the meal and frankly we didn't think we could get through it until we dug in.

I can haz a messy sundae?

The monster is topped to the hilt with fudge, caramel , whipped cream and walnuts.

Bec and I dig in and indulge.

We ate a lot of whipped cream and toppings before we hit ice cream, but Bec is expecting and is due in May and the baby really enjoyed the sundae. You can create you own Origami Messy Sundae here.

Most Sammy's locations are in San Diego, with a few in the Los Angeles Area and a bunch in Las Vegas.