Not Yo Mama's Meatballs

A few weeks ago, I had my parents and grandparents over to my apartment for dinner.  My grandparents had never seen my place before and this was my first time being a hostess to them, so I had to pull out all the stops.  I made the Pioneer Woman's BBQ meatballs, egg noodles (regular and whole wheat), broccolini (using this Martha Stewart recipe for broccoli rabe), a quick bread, and a chopped salad, plus a very delicious and healthified chocolate chip cookie deep dish pie for dessert.  Everything went over really well, and I sent all of the leftovers home with my family - except for the broccolini; there was just a little bit left and it was so good that I couldn't give it up!

I've gone through phases of eating meat - I was a vegetarian for a year at the end of high school and beginning of undergrad, and then was a vegetarian again a couple years later for a few months.  Recently I've almost cut meat out of my diet; I only eat it when I'm with my family and that's what was prepared for dinner.  The meatballs I made for my family were very delicious but I didn't feel like eating more meat, so I sent the leftovers home with my family and decided to make a vegetarian version for myself.

Yeah, this plate looks a little lackluster, I know.  The picture at the end looks more appetizing, I promise!

I followed this recipe for Roasted Butternut and Black Bean "Meatballs," using Parmesan cheese instead of sharp cheddar (and I didn't make the accompanying sauce). 

I used some muscle to cut the butternut squash in half, then put the garlic cloves in the scooped-out hollows before flipping over, cut-side down, onto a baking sheet.

I've always added water to a Pyrex baking dish when I've roasted butternut squash, but this recipe said to just place them on a baking sheet without adding water.  I was curious to see how it would turn out, and a little nervous (especially when I heard some banging noises in my oven while they were roasting - I think the pans were bending or something?), and there was some burnt butternut spillage on the pan, but they actually roasted beautifully.  Since my baking sheets are nonstick, it was really easy to get that burnt bit off, thank goodness!

All of the ingredients mixed together and ready to be made into "meatballs."

Pre-baking.  I think they kind of look like cookie dough balls!  But I didn't eat any raw "dough" like I would if I had been making chocolate chip cookies :)

I only flipped them once, halfway through baking (10 minutes in), instead of every 5 minutes like the recipe suggests.  I think they were too fragile after being in for just 5 minutes and I didn't want them to fall apart while I tried to flip them.

I think this picture looks a little more appealing than the first one, right?  I ate them with broccoli steamed in the microwave and whole wheat egg noodles, which I topped with some pesto sauce I had left over from my homemade pizza. I generally don't like many sauces, which is why I didn't make the sauce that was supposed to go with the "meatballs," but after eating them plain the first time I decided they could use a little something else.  I thought the pesto was a nice addition and rounded out the meal.

Awkward/ gross gym moment of the day:  Today I went to the gym and did the week 2 workout of Gina's (The Fitnessista) winter shape-up plan (I'm doing a second round of the 4-week program).  Last week I noticed a sign that said the towels on the exercise machines are for cleaning the equipment, and not for "personal use" - I thought that was a little unnecessary because who would think to use those public towels to wipe off their sweat??  Well, apparently the signs are necessary, because sure enough, a guy who was working out near me today grabbed one of these towels (which had clearly been sprayed with cleaning spray) and used it to mop himself off.  Gross!!!

Does anyone else notice strange behavior at the gym like this inappropriate towel user, or the guy who runs the track barefoot?

I'm off to work on a school assignment - have a good night!

Song of the day:

"Who Have You Been Loving" by Bobby Long.  I got to see him perform at a music festival in New Jersey a couple of years ago (and he's friends with Robert Pattinson - nice).