Meatballs

Meatballs
1 lbs Meat (use 80% lean)
1 tsp salt
1 slices bread (diced) (or 1/2 cup breadcrumbs)
1 eggs
"Healthy Dollop" of ricotta cheese
1 slices of pepper jack cheese (chopped to half inch squares)
Italian seasoning
(Makes 12 big meatballs)

Mix everything with hand vigorously and quickly until protein starts to stick together but fats don't melt
Make ice cream scoop size meatballs, roll to make round balls
Roast in oven at 425F for 17min

Sauce
1 medium onion
4 large roma tomatoes (instead of tomato paste)
3 cloves garlic
half bag of Trader Joe's Southern greens blend 

Caramalize onion in oil at medium heat.
Add in garlic
Add in diced tomatoes
Add in greens
Simmer till tomatoes break down
Add in salt to season
Served over linguini.

Meatballs were nice and moist, and the pepper jack gives nice pockets of cheese in meatballs. Meatballs were tasty but a little too rich for me, next time I'll add a smaller dollop of ricotta and make smaller balls. Sauce was great.

Butter poached lobster

2 lobster tails
1 tablespoon water
1 stick salted butter, cut into 1 tablespoon chunks
Half a garlic, chopped into fine pieces
2 tomatoes, cut into large chunks
Herbs for seasoning (I used Italian seasoning, can use basil, rosemary, oregano etc)

Bring pot of water + salt to boil. (Gordon Ramsey says to add enough salt to make it like sea water, so the temperature is high enough)
Turn off heat and add lobster. Cover with lid and cook for 4 min, enough to get lobster off the shell.
Cut through the cartilage part of the tail and try to get the meat out in one piece. I still can't figure out the technique for this.

In a sauce pan, bring 1 tablespoon of water to simmer over medium-low heat.
Add in butter, 1 piece at a time, add a new piece when the previous piece has melted. Keep stirring.
Make sure the mixture does not boil, or the sauce will break.
Keeping the heat on medium-low, add the lobster pieces and cook for 5min, turning the lobster every minute. Remove lobster and place in a serving bowl

Turn up the heat a little on the remaining butter, add garlic. When fragrant, add tomatoes and cook for a couple of minutes until the tomatoes have released some of the juices. Add in herbs.
Pour tomatoes and butter sauce over lobster.

Roasted vegetables

Any kind of roastable vegetable. I used okra, portobello mushrooms and a tomato. Other options include asparagus, onions, zucchinis

Preheat oven to 425F.
Cut up veggies (I roasted portobellos whole).
Drizzle/ brush with oil, salt and pepper. (I added garlic to okra, basil to the tomato and vinegar to the mushroom)
Place onto baking tray in a single layer. Pour excess oil mixture over.
Bake for 15-30min depending on vegetable and amount of crispness desired.
(Veggies should be tender, tomato skin should be falling off, mushroom crisp but still juicy)
Squeeze lemon juice over before serving.

Raspberry marshmallow frosting

7 giant marshmallows
1 tablespoon powdered sugar
2 tablespoons water
1/3 cup frozen raspberries

Melt marshmallows medium heat in microwave. Stir while heated.
Add sugar, water, raspberries and stir
Beat with an electric mixer till smooth
Cool a little and use when still liquid
Wait for it to cool and solidify
Makes enough for 12-18 cupcakes

Pineapple Muffins

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup crushed pineapple
1 egg, beaten
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
juice and zest of 1/2 lemon

1/4 cup butter, melted
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease and flour muffin pans, or line with paper liners.
In a large bowl, stir together 2 cups flour, white sugar, baking powder and salt. Drain pineapple, reserving 1/4 cup juice. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients, and pour in the reserved juice, egg, milk, vanilla, 3/4 cup pineapple and 1/4 cup melted butter. Mix just until blended.
In a separate bowl, stir together the cinnamon, brown sugar, 1/2 cup flour, and 1/4 cup melted butter to make the topping.
Spoon batter into muffin cups to 3/4 full, then spoon the rest of the crushed pineapple over the batter and sprinkle generously with the cinnamon topping.
Bake for 30 minutes in the preheated oven, until a toothpick inserted in the crown of the muffin comes out clean.

Peach pie

Crust
1 cup butter
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup cold water
1 beaten egg

Filling
7 peaches/ nectarines, peeled and sliced
juice from 1/2 lemon
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter

Crust
Mix flour and salt
Cut in cold butter
Mix with fork until crumbly
Add cold water 1 tablespoon at a time to flour mixture. Mix lightly with a fork until dough holds together. Do not overwork the dough or add too much water.
Divide into 2 balls, flatten and refrigerate in plastic wrap at least 30min.
Roll 1 ball of dough to an inch larger than the 9 inch pie plate, transfer to pan and press into pan.
Trim off excess pastry
Roll the other ball of dough to a 9 inch circle, wrap and refrigerate both the top and bottom crusts while preparing filling.

Filling
Preheat oven to 450F
Place sliced peaches in a large bowl. Sprinkle with lemon juice.
In a separate bowl, mix flour, cinnamon, sugar, salt.
Pour over peaches, mix gently.

Brush bottom crust with egg
Pour peach mixture into pie
Dot pie with butter
Cut the top crust into strips and place over pie in a lattice
Brush top with egg

Bake at 450F for 10min
Lower temperature to 350F and bake for another 35-45min
Sit in oven until cool

Lemon cupcake with raspberry frosting

1 cup white sugar

1/2 cup butter

2 eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 cup low-fat milk

2 lemons, juice and zest

1 stick softened butter (1/2 cup.)

1-2  tablespoons raspberry pureé (I chose not to strain the seeds out, but if they bother you feel free to.)

2 cups confectioners' sugar