Quick Bread and Mexitalian Meatball Stew!

Happy Sunday!!!




I'm a big supporter of local bookstores, so yesterday I went to our local shop with my friend! Among the pile of great books that I purchased was a new cookbook! It's 470 pages of soups, chilies, dumplings, and stews! Each is easy and practical. I looked at another soup cookbook that had a bunch of random recipes that I knew I'd never try. I wanted "every-day" type recipes with plenty of pictures... I'm super excited that I found exactly what I was looking for! The cold weather is hitting harder and is here to stay for a few more months. I can't wait to eat this new variety of hot comfort foods! ...And we're finally almost finished with my last batch of soups, so the freezer is ready to be filled with a new batch of meals!

Today is a football playoff game, and it's COLD outside, so my husband and I are having some guests over--the perfect opportunity to try a new recipe! I decided on a meatball stew and some bread. I woke up late and didn't have enough time to set up the bread maker before leaving for church, but my bread maker is awesome, so I set it to "express bake" when I got home. The express bake setting bakes the bread in less than an hour! Have I mentioned that my bread maker is awesome??? After church we bought our ingredients, headed home, and a few moments later everything was in the pot waiting to boil!

While the ingredients warmed to a boil, I heated some oil in a separate pan to brown the meatballs and give them a little crunch. After adding the meatballs to the stew, I spent a couple of minutes prepping the bread maker. Total prep time (soup and bread combined) was about 15 minutes. Total cook time was about an hour. I made sure to check on the stew and stir it every so often.

Steamy, hot stew!

The soup came out flavorful and filling! The bread was extremely fluffy! This was the perfect meal for watching the playoffs on a cold Sunday afternoon!

View Recipe

 

BREAD RECIPE:
For the bread I used my bread maker's "express bake" setting, which prepares the bread in 58 minutes! I used an "express bake" recipe for white bread that I found in the recipe book that came with the maker. I love making homemade bread because not only is it delicious, and not only does it make my house smell delightful, but I also like knowing exactly what's going into my bread. This recipe included six simple ingredients: hot water, olive oil, sugar (3 Tablespoons for a 2LB loaf), salt, bread flour, and fast-rising yeast. No additives or preservatives.
The bread was fluffy, warm, and tasted delicious with butter*! 

 

*I use the "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter" spread.

Up and Coming:

- Favorite afternoon snacks!

- Requests??? On the left side of my site you'll see a survey where you can vote for the types of recipes you'd like to see more of! I want to post what you want to read, so please take a moment to vote!