Momma's Meat Ball Sub Sandwiches

Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah , Happy Kwanzaa Happy WHATEVER YOU celebrate! Wishing you love, peace and JOY!!

Been a while since I've written anything on the blog. Wish I was a doctor as much as myself and my son have been to doctor's offices...it would wonderful to be working instead of the patient side for a change! Alas...that is not to be. I'm very grateful for all our doctor's trying to help us. 

Now it's a crazy YEAR!! Crazy election and regardless of who you voted for....WE ARE ALL STILL IN THIS TOGETHER!!  We either rise or we fall....TOGETHER. 

I'm sick this week so I'm going slow.  But binge watching my favorite TV show. My daughter over the years, for Christmas, has bought me seasons of NCIS.  I LOVE NCIS. Basically because they make forays into Appalachia and mention where I was born and lived from time to time.  I was raised a military kid, a NAVY brat. So much of it is pretty glamorized but I still like it.

So while NCIS playing in the back ground, I'm going to share a family secret recipe.  Every Christmas Eve my family gets together. It began when all of us kids had kids and it became so unwieldy to get us all together on Christmas day.  The kids wanted to drag all their toys to grandma's and when we would not let them, they wanted to hurry up, eat dinner and beg to go home. Momma remedied that. She had us get together on Christmas eve and then we were free to get together with the other in-laws on Christmas day. She and dad would then be free to go visiting or do nothing all day. Just WORKS for us.  

On Christmas Eve, we make Mamma's meatball sub recipe. You get tired of the same old holiday fare and it's a break from the usual.  That recipe came from Norfolk VA. My dad was stationed there his last tours of the Navy before he retired. There was this sandwich shop in the 60's and 70s, that existed somewhere near 13th Bay St and Ocean View Ave. I can't even remember the name of it. 

Made the BEST sub sandwiches long before there was a subway. We would get that treat from time to time when he was stationed there. But it was after he retired that we visited on a yearly trip we looked forward to. We took that trip to visit my sister who stayed in the area and my dad made his way to the naval store to buy his yearly supply of shoes...he never liked civilian shoes, and his civvies, i.e. underwear. After being military for years he never could STAND civilian underwear, shoes or socks.  It's just what we did and our favorite sandwiches from that shop were their meatball subs.

Mom got to know the owners pretty well over the years. The last trip to the sandwich shop in the mid seventies, we learn the owners were closing shop and retiring. Moving to Florida. The realization that was going to be the last favorite meatball sub sandwich we would get from our favorite shop was a bit upsetting. As we sat there and waited for our to go sandwiches, mom was telling them how much we were going to miss them. When our sandwiches were ready the owner put the hand written recipe for her meatball subs in my mother's hands and gave her a hug. And that's how mamma's meatball sub recipe came about. 

There is no other recipe like it. I know because I lost it once and went looking on-line and in the library, never found one exactly like it. But I found it again, luckily stashed in a phone book before I threw the phone book out.  So I'm going to share a family secret recipe. Just like all recipes you just have to modify it to suit yourself. Depending on how many we have visit we double and sometimes triple it. 

I realize there are some unscrupulous people out there stealing recipes, not giving credit, adding them to collections for sale to make a buck. I don't roll that way.  I wanted to share this as a gift before it's lost to memory. Be forewarned it wasn't given to make a buck and therefore according to natural laws we go by you can't sell a gift that is not meant for gain and have it be successful. So just a reminder, Karma, of which I know exists.....is a B!TC#!

Mamma's Meat Ball Subs

In a large bowl- Mix well

3 lbs. lean ground beef

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1 medium green pepper, finely chopped

2 stalks of celery, finely chopped

1 large clove of garlic, minced fine

Bread crumbs, Old bread toasted in the oven about 3 cups at least. Crumbled

2 large eggs

1 tsp. Chili powder

1 tsp. Sage

1/2 tsp. black pepper

1/2 tsp. salt

Roll into meat balls on a tray. Mine average at least 2 inches in diameter. The larger they are the longer you cook them. 

Take a large skillet, heat hot oil. Brown meatballs in oil until they are well browned and hold together well. Place meatballs after frying in a large pot. The bits and pieces of veggies that end up floating in the oil. Take a slotted spoon and put those in the pot too. 

Cover meatballs in pot with cold water. Bring to a boil and boil for 20 minutes. Drain in a colander and place meat balls back in pot. This gets rid of a lot of fat. Watch clogging up your sink.

I make the sauce in a separate pot.  And you can use your favorite bottled sauce too if you are in a hurry. 

Sauce

1 small clove garlic minced

3 cups water

3 cans tomato paste 6 oz.

1 tsp parsley flakes 

1 tsp dried basil

1/2 tsp sugar..(owner said it cuts the bitter of the tomato paste)

1 tsp salt

1/4  tsp pepper

Stir until heated through. Pour over meatballs in the large pot, bring to a boil, cook on low 15 to 20 minutes. Stir occasionally. 

We serve them on sub rolls with mozzarella cheese, Parmesan cheese, green pepper, lettuce, tomato or just plain with the cheeses.  

Hope you enjoy them as much as we do.  Wishing everyone a wonderful New Year!!!

Banana Nut Bread - Nuts optional!

It's getting hot with summer almost here. I live in a house without air conditioning. I could not stand a house with it because cold air makes my joints hurt. That being said, when I buy bananas they don't last long in this house when it is warm. We end up making banana bread.

Now this recipe...God only knows where I got it.  In the late 70's, early 80's, as I have mentioned before, I took all these notes of recipes from my mother, my grandmothers, my aunts, my in-laws, my outlaws and transferred them to 3 X 5 cards. This one card has been used A BUNCH!!  I need to make a new one.

As a matter of fact, I have recipes on cards that I call the, "I don't know what they are" dishes.  Just ingredients and how to cook them or put them together. Maybe I ought to try a mystery recipe column and put these together.  One is a salad (or maybe a dessert?) that uses mandarin oranges and looks promising. One that might be a sauce? Another that might be cookies? I might Google the ingredients and see if any recipe looks similar or the same.

This Banana bread recipe is pretty good. My family likes it and you can make it without nuts. For new bakers...whenever you see dry ingredients such as baking powder, salt and flour I always sift those ingredients together.

I love my old sifter. It's really not that old...well.... maybe 30 years old, and I bought it from the Floyd Virginia Country Store. I saw an article today that they are still in business and expanding!  I hate those hand squeezer sifters!! First of all, they are not large enough and my hands won't work like that anymore.

Ah....Floyd County, Virginia....where all the old hippies went in the 1980s!  If anyone is ever in that area I recommend the old Floyd Country store and FloydFest.

Back to the recipe. Whenever I see butter and sugar, I melt the butter, beat in the sugar, then the eggs, the milk or juice, then the bananas before adding the dry sifted ingredients and the rest.

The recipes calls for one pan and baking an hour. Whoever had this recipe must have had a really large bread pan. The most I fill a bread pan is 3/4's the way full with this batter. The recipe is way too much for my largest bread pan.

So it depends on the size of the bread pans as to how long I bake them, or how much I fill them and how far I need to spread this around. With this bread recipe I can get by with filling the bread pans only half full and it tastes just fine. Kind of like the five fish and two loaves Jesus story.

My mother and my great grandmother when they were surprised with extra company at dinner time and not sure it would be enough, they would always say a prayer over the food on the stove. "Jesus, I read where you fed 5,000 with five fish and two loaves....you know the need." There would always be plenty.

The day I baked these, I needed one loaf for my beloved son-in-law, (who is a banana bread fanatic), one loaf for after dinner and one for my morning coffee. So I filled the pans half full and I made 3 different sizes. Baked at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes. I know when they begin to split and a toothpick comes out clean they are done.  Yes, I watch the stove.

Banana Bread
1 stick of butter
3 large ripe bananas or 4 small peeled and mashed
1 cup sugar
3 eggs beaten until fluffy
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup milk or orange juice
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup chopped nuts Optional (I use walnuts, pecans make it richer)

It says mix together and bake in greased loaf pan. 350 degrees for 1 hour. Read above for my method.

Questions or comments please feel free to contact me.

Mrs. Imhoff's Apple Dapple Cake Recipe

Well, if all I want to accomplish gets finished, I think I will live a long time. CFS beating me up again. Wish I knew a cure, because it sure does hamper me in doing what I want to do.

This will be a post for an apple cake I make several times a year. I've shared it hundreds of times. It was handed down to me...oh....30 years ago. It's been brought to my attention that maybe I need to put all these handed down recipes in a book. I have a lot of collected recipes. As the family historian along with the pictures, etc. came cook books and scraps of recipes written on pieces of paper.  In the early 80's I took all those scraps of recipes and typed them on 3X5 cards. Filled 2 3X5 boxes.  I don't know if I have it in me to get a whole book together but it would be an interesting concept.  There are black walnut recipes, wild game recipes and fruit cake. Now I'm not talking about the hard as a rock fruit cake that you buy in the store. I'm talking about one you make starting 6 weeks before Christmas and soak in bourbon whiskey.

While I am pondering on this and what all that would entail... I promised my favorite apple cake recipe. I have about 5 apple cake recipes, one you make in canning jars to store. But this one is my favorite.



Mrs. Imhoff's Apple Dapple Cake

Ingredients:
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups cooking oil
Mix Well
Add sifted dry ingredients: 3 cups flour, 1/2 tsp. salt, 1 tsp. of baking soda, 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, 1/2 tsp. nutmeg. Add 2 tsp. Vanilla extract.

Mix well and add: 3 cups chopped apples, 1 cup chopped walnuts, (Optional you can add 1/2 to a 1 cup raisins. My dad liked raisins in his apple cake.) The cake batter will be thick to allow for the cooking of the apples. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour 15 minutes in greased and floured straight side tube pan.  Cool completely. Glaze over.

Glaze: In a small pan add,
            1 stick butter or margarine
            1 cup brown sugar (I used dark brown sugar for the cake in the picture but it doesn't matter!)
            1/4 cup cream (I use evaporated milk)
Mix well. Bring to a boil and cook for 3 minutes. Pour over cake taking a spoon to cover the entire outside of the cake. The glaze will slightly harden as it cools.

That's it!