Hello again and Meatballs

So, I must be completely honest with you... I'm not great at keeping up with blogs.  You can see evidence with my (very small) previous blog where there is a year gap between posts.  Though, this time I feel like I have a slightly better excuse than laziness... I just got married!  So between finalizing wedding details, the wedding, and the honeymoon, I haven't even been in Fort Worth to explore and discover in my new home.  But not to worry, I am back now and am planning on writing more often. 

When we got back from the honeymoon, reality hit me.  Our apartment is a complete mess.  There are still plenty of moving boxes with unknown contents, and on top of that there are wedding gifts.  It's exciting but a bit overwhelming.  My husband and I are currently sharing one car until I find a job, so yesterday I was stuck in the middle of all the craziness without a way to escape.  I am making small progress, but only so much can be done without purchasing shelves or getting a breath of fresh air.

In hopes of being a good little housewife, I planned delicious meals for everyday this week.  Yesterday was homemade meatballs with pasta and tomato sauce since we received a meatballer as a wedding. 

 This is the meatballer in action.

I usually make a huge batch of meatballs and freeze the ones I don't use for later.  They are really easy to defrost and make a delicious quick meal.  I got my meatball recipe from a book I read a while ago called I Loved, I Lost, I Made Spaghetti by Giulia Melucci, though I make a couple mini tweaks.  Instead of frying the meatballs, I put them in a 400 degree oven for about 15 minutes.  I find it easier than getting grease splatters and continuously rolling the meatballs.  While the first batch is baking, I can spend time balling up the next batch.  My other mini tweak is adding spicy garlic powder since my husband likes his food with a bit of a kick. 

The meatballer did a great job... so much less mess. 

The only trick with meatballs and with baking sometimes as well is that I never know how they are going to taste until they are done. The first time I made the recipe I was so afraid that they would be bland or over flavored or a weird texture or something, but the recipe is super delicious.  I have used it several times now, and it has never failed me.

Cooking in the oven.  In NYC, I didn't have a window in my oven, so this is pretty exciting to me.

The delicious, finished product

Yum!

So my first night as a housewife was a success (whew!).  Today, I am venturing out into Fort Worth to run errands and hopefully make some progress on the apartment. Tonight's menu is herb-roasted pork tenderloin with potatoes and lemony asparagus from Real Simple.