Easy Terayaki Chicken

After I just put all the ingredients in the crock pot

 My sister Sarah passed on this recipe to me from one of her friends and by the look of how easy it was to make, I knew there was no reason not to try it.  It turned out great but I think I had it in there closer to the 8 hour mark and it was a bit overcooked, so if we make this again and it is cooked on low, I would try to hit before 7 hours when I take it out.  It was still delicious though!

Finished product!

Easy Teriyaki Chicken
skinless chicken breasts
20 oz can of pineapple chunks
1 bottle of bbq sauce

directions: 
1.  Place uncooked chicken in slow cooker. 
2.  Pour bbq sauce and pineapple chunks on top.  -THATS IT!  :)
3.  Cover.  Cook on LOW 6-8 hrs or HIGH for 4-6 hrs.

My Green Onion Experiment

Did you know that if you trim off old green onions to their white root and put them in water, they grow new green onions?  Yeah, me neither.  If you did, then you just beat me in green onion trivia.  I just saw this recently and by golly, we had green onions in our fridge so I trimmed them down cause they were getting a bit old and threw them in a jar and thought I would give it a shot.  I gave it a nice window sill to look into for some sunlight and away we went. 

Where the white cuts off to the green is where I originally trimmed them.

I was a bit skeptical for the first couple of days, but look where we are at a week into it!  Green onions!  Sprouting like they never have before!  You essentially don't have to buy green onions ever again.  We rarely eat them, but hey, its just a fun experiment!  I'm just gonna keep letting them grow to see what happens.  I will draw the line if they start taking over the world.

After one week

Laminated Flash Cards

Being a SAHM, it is difficult sometimes (more like all the time) to come up with new and creative things to do with the little one around the house especially when they are at an age where they don't completely understand everything and can't fully converse with you.  I was talking with my mom the other day and was asking her, what the heck did you do with us all day?  Her answer was that we all played together a lot.  Well, what about when it was just Sarah for the first three years?  What did you do all day?  We would read all day.  You would read ALL DAY??  Yes, some days we would just read book after book.  We also did flash cards and other games.   I think the excessive reading might explain Sarah's ability to operate an ATM, memorize quite a bit of lines, and enunciate like a 10 year old for a bank commercial when she was just three years old.  "If a three year old can use an ATM, so can you!  See ya next time!  *Wink* *Wink*".  That was just the last line of it.  She was a child prodigy.  I'm not sure what happened after that.  KIDDING.

But flash cards, ehhh??  That's a thought.  So, I googled "free printable flashcards" and was opened up to a world of free printable flash cards.  The first site I clicked on was amazing.  They have anything from letters, to numbers, to shapes, to animals, and just about everything in between.  I picked the four categories I mentioned because it was already quite a bit anyway and got them printed.  I immediately knew that the minute little man touched them, he would tear them to shreds.  I needed to either back them all with card stock, which sounded like an enormously tedious task with it being over 100 of them or I could laminate them.  I just have to put it out there that it was a childhood dream of mine to have a laminator.  We would always play with the one at the bank (after hours of course) and laminate just about everything.  It was the greatest.  We also played this clue game that I will totally be playing with my kids once they are old enough to understand it.  Wait for that post in about 7 years or so.

Click here for the printable flash card site.

So, I looked on Walmart's website and sure enough they had a laminator that got pretty stellar reviews for way cheaper than I would have ever thought a laminator would cost.  All of those years I've been missing out... So, I rushed over to Walmart and got myself the Scotch Thermal Laminator along with a 50 pk of the laminating sheets.  A 25 pk of the self laminating sheets that do not require a laminator cost just as much as the laminator, so why not just buy a freaking laminator?  And then I have a laminator.  Laminator, laminator, laminator.

Set up was a breeze, it took about 5 min for the thing to warm up and I was a laminating machine.  Not to be confused with the actual laminating machine.  I did about 20 sheets right after one another and it was sooo smooth.  It was also the quietest thing in the entire world.  That was even more of a plus.  So, I cut out the flashcards, laminated them, and then cut them out again.  I immediately thought of Happy Gilmore with the old lady saying "My fingers hurt."  Cause they did.  But it was worth it and they looked great!

I let Nolan play with them when he woke up from his nap and not one got ruined and he loved the pictures on them!  So, I think the whole thing was a good investment and now I have the ability to laminate things all willy nilly...or just when I need to I suppose.

FLASH CARDS!

New Patio Blinds

Oh these don't look so bad...

 Have you ever thought to yourself, "These blinds look great, but you know what would make them better?  A little vomit on them."  Yeah, me neither.  Our blinds on our patio door came with the house.  We are not responsible for them.  They kept out light, they let us see outside if we wanted to, they are ok looking, but otherwise, they are garbage.  I never noticed how repulsive they were until Nolan started playing with them. 

Why don't you get a little close.  See the spots?  Not really?

 As I got closer to them, I can only describe my face as a look of horror.  Stains and nasty-ass grossness everywhere.  These needed to get out of our house now.  And when I say now, I mean we would keep talking about it for months, how gross they were, and then finally we tore the bandaid off.

What about now?!  That's what I thought.  And that is only a taste of the horribleness.

I found some bamboo blinds (brand- Radiance Panel Track Bamboo Blinds) on The Foundary a month or so ago and we got them and had the whole thing up only to see that one of the slats was longer than the others.  It wasn't anything that was fixable either.  It looked...not great. Also, they were a bit too see through for my liking.  They didn't look like they would be on the picture, but sure enough, they were.  I was a bit uneasy about them from the first slat but was nervous to tell Scott since it took awhile to get these on here.  And the pain of having to take such a thing down and shipped back.  So, I guess we sorta lucked out that one was longer than the others.  And when you moved them they were horribly squeaky.  Like so annoying.  We decided we just needed to take them back.  Our OCD helped us in that we knew exactly how all the pieces went exactly back in the box and I headed to UPS.  I didn't get a picture of those.

I would highly recommend The Foundary by the way.  Their mother is Hayneedle whose headquarters is out of Omaha and the shipping and returning process was so easy.  We had our money back on our credit card very quickly.  They have a lot of neat things on sale every day and we have gotten one other thing from there.  I have no complaints.

Anywho. Back to square one.  And ta-da our new blinds!  Totally kidding.  We got the bamboo ones taken down and had already put our old blinds out in the garbage so there was no way I was bringing them back in the house.  So, we settled for an awesome option of taping up these old curtains that used to be in the dining room. (Helps to be a hoarder save things in situations like this!) Yes, one was severely ripped, but they covered the windows good enough for the time being.  They ended up being up for about a month.  And some people saw them.  Oh well.  We searched and searched and searched for new blinds and I kept coming back to the Chicology brand on Amazon.  We decided to pull the trigger and get them.  They have many different colors and we found the one we thought would be the best for our space.  We didn't want them too dark so that they would overpower the space we try to keep light and airy, and we didn't want them to be too light so that they would look weird and blend in with the walls.

The blinds came and we got them hung up and they looked perfect.  It made us a little nervous, but we knew ahead of time that we would have to cut them.  After the first one, the rest were easy cause if you just carefully follow the grain of the fabric, it will be a perfect edge every time.  They come extra long so that they can fit basically any window and then you just cut them to what fits your window.  They can also be used as a room separater.  They were the exact look we were going for.  We didn't want more curtains cause it is difficult to have those on a patio door and we didn't want them competing with the curtains about two feet away on our big window above our couch.  We also didn't want the same small blinds cause we wanted to go with something a bit more modern and an actual improvement from what we had before.  I guess anything not disgusting would have been an improvement. 

This is what I was hoping those bamboo ones would look like, but these actually keep out all the light.  We aren't sitting at the table and finding that we have the sun in our eyes like we did with the original small blinds.  These keep out everything but without completely blacking out the room.  And you know you have complete privacy.  They match perfectly with the tones in the backsplash above our counters and they are a nice natural texture that adds just a little more depth to the decor of the house.  Can you tell we are in love with them?  The tops of them might need something to cover the rail, but it looks fine for now.

The blinds are also very versatile.  You can easily slide them (noise free) from side to side, split down the middle, have them all stacked on one side, etc.  They don't move so easily that Nolan slides them all over the place, but easy enough for us to comfortably move them. They also don't have a string on the side where you pull them.  Another huge plus and safety measure for the little one who constantly played with the long pulley string with the original ones.  You just move the actual blind where you want it to go.

I would say the below pictures are the closest to what they actually look like color-wise.  The other pics had the sun beating through them, so it distorted it a bit. 

Here are the blinds modeling their versatility:

 

I kept the scraps of what was cut off of the blinds as it was quite a bit of material to just toss.  They might make nice placemats or something, but I will need to figure that out.

If you are in the mood for some sprucing up your patio door, I would definitely recommend these!  You live and you learn!

Smothered Burritos

Scott's before he put his jalapenos on them

And mine. :)

When I was younger, Taco John's was one of my favorite fast food places to eat.  Who am I kidding, it still is.  One of the things besides soft shell tacos, no lettuce, extra cheese that I would get would be the smothered bean burrito.  An enormous burrito slathered in sauce, cheese, sour cream, olives.  Like, the most amazing thing you have seen in your life.  And I ate every bit of it every single time.   It was too good not to.  They no longer have these which makes life a bit sadder.

They popped in my head recently and after I mourned their extinction again, I thought, maybe I can find a recipe.  And I certainly did.  This recipe calls for tomato soup in the sauce which Scott was a little wary about, but made me think, you know what?  That is sorta is what Taco John's tasted like so I knew we would at least be close.

This burrito couldn't have been closer to TJ's.  These did have meat in them cause Scott did not want just a bean burrito, but otherwise it was just about spot on and really satisfied my hankering for them.  Scott made these but I think they were pretty simple to make and don't take too much longer than what a taco might take to make.  If you are in the mood for just a pile of goodness, please eat these.  And you can top them with whatever tickles your fancy. You will not be disappointed.  I promise.

I was also glad we got to use tomato soup for another reason, but that reason will be revealed later!

Suspenseful, I know.

Recipe can be found here at Sing for your Supper.

Mixing Style with Function: A Toy Story

Now that little man is getting into everything, that means nothing is off limits.  Well, things are off limits, and he know they are, but he does it anyway, looks back at me, and smiles.  We are going to have some interesting teen years ahead of us.  One of the things I got rid of were the frames that I had sitting on a couple of shelves at the bottom of our entertaiment center.  I didn't want him knocking them over and having glass break or something.  Then, I got rid of the baskets full of toys on the bottom two shelves because they were scratchy and any time he pulled them out he would either scratch himself or the entertainment center.  Not a good situation overall, so the shelves have sat empty for a few months.  Does it look great?  Not really.  Does it bug me that there is all this open space with nothing but strewn about cars and such? Yes.  And these before pictures are no joke of what our living room looked like on a normal basis.  Anyone who has seen our house before I have the chance to shovel everything off to the side can vouch for it.  I'm not ashamed cause I have a child and anyone who has had one knows that as soon as you put something away, it will get dumped back out again.

Time to take action.  I was thinking what in the hurrl could I put there that would look nice but also provide some sort of function for all the toy chaos we have going on in this house.  It took me awhile, but one day last week, it hit me.  What about those soft baskets that he has in his room that we used for his toy storage in there?  I grabbed a couple to test them out and they couldn't have looked more perfect.  I sent a text to Scott with the picture because I was so excited.  So, we went to Target this past weekend to buy them, and on Sunday night, I got to organizing!

I went with two different colors to make it not seem so blah and to give that area a little interest.  It adds some style as well as function for the craziness that has overtaken what used to be our living room.  Of course, I organized each of the storage bins by type of toy.  Cars in one, stuffed animals in another, small bulky ones in another one.  I also made a point to put the heavier bins at the bottom so he wouldn't reach out and have one fall on him.  I also split his "play books" into two bins due to the fact that they are heavy in themselves. You can't even tell there are toys in any of those!  They could be filled with diamonds or small kittens. And there might be an empty one or two for growth, you would never know!

To me, it looks awesome.  At the end of the day, I can just throw all of the smaller toys in the bins.  Organized of course. Now I have some sort of inner peace when I look at the living room.  And, it also keeps him from having ALL of the toys out at once just staring at him all the time.  It gives him more variety throughout the day where he may not see a certain toy for a few days and it makes it interesting to him again.  Giving the toys some flavor.  We still have our bigger storage ottoman in the corner to keep him from the cords back there (Well, for the most part. He has managed to get back there a couple of times) and for some of the bigger toys that won't fit. Some toys that are larger do still have to sit out, but it is a major improvement.

Check out the rug we had gotten him from Ikea when we went there in July.  He loves playing on it with his cars and I think it will get more and more use as he gets older.  My mom has a similar one at her house that my nephew Sam plays with for hours, so I knew it would be a great investment when I got it! It looks great in our living room, too! ;)  It's smaller, so I can easily store it away when we have our fancy parties with the fancy people that we know.

Fun little project and not sure why I didn't think of this sooner, but I am glad I did.  So...so...happy!

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo Series

I know, another series, I am yet behind again on.  I read the first The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo book about 2 years ago and I read The Girl who Played with Fire and The Girl who Kicked the Hornets Nest within the last month.  My dad let me borrow the last two books, so there was no excuse not to finish, and of course since I started the series, I had to eventually finish it.

The whole series is set in Sweden, and they are actually Swedish books translated into English for those of us who aren't familiar with our ancestral language.  Each one of the books has its own different plot line with major twists and turns, but all three books coincide with one another with everything being resolved in the final one.  Between the first and second books, I think it was alright to have a gap there because the next book didn't pick up until about 6 months later in their lives.  But between the second and third books, they pick up the next minute of one another so its good I read those fluidly or I maybe would have forgotten a lot of it. 

The first book really sets the stage for the other two books.  You find out who the main characters are, their personalities, and some key points that will be important for future books.  The characters come together in this book to solve a mystery of a missing girl. You don't want to put it down as you just want to keep reading and reading. The second book takes off after the aftermath of the first book and additional characters and drama are added.  You find out more about Salander's family and get more answers as to why she is who she is.  The third book as I said, wraps everything up.  I found this the hardest one to get through because over the first half of it is them introducing even more characters and establishing even more background and history, so I felt there was just a lot of information to process.  With names like Svensson, Jonasson, Martensson, etc. I was having a bit of trouble keeping track of who the good and bad guys were.  Especially when I fall asleep about 10 pgs in to any book if it isn't the most exciting thing ever.  Eventually, when I got to pg 372, I felt that things were starting to happen and come together.  I know that is a lot of reading to get to that point, but there were still 200 pages to go and the whole series concludes everything very nicely.  You needed all of the beginning information to understand how it all ends.  All questions are answered and all justice is served.  I don't think that I would have wanted it to end any other way.

Fun and awesome series to read if you have a bit more time.  Like I said, it took about a month to read the last two books as they are all well over 500 pages each and like most people, I don't have time to read 24 hours a day.  The series does a great job of keeping you on your toes and making you want to turn the next page (with the exception of the first part of the third book, but it was necessary).  As soon as you think you have something figured out, something else happens to change that whole mindset.  Just really good and it hits upon some serious issues in the world such as violence towards women.  They are violent books, but they are suspenseful and interesting, and I would recommend reading them!

We watched the Swedish version of "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" about a year ago so we need to now watch the Swedish versions of the last two books as well as America's version of "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo".  It will be interesting to compare how the different countries do their versions of the movie as well as their adaptations from the book.  The other two movies for the second and third book are not yet made in America, so those will have to wait.

Image courtesy of freckledfeelings.blogspot.com

A Tale of Two Tables (and Lamps)

Scott and I are known to buy cheap things to "get us by" then to later replace them with what we actually want.  Hence, the curtains we bought when we first moved here to just cover the windows (the one that has since ripped and been replaced) and now our $11 nightstands.  For some dumb reason, when we got our bedroom set, we decided not to get the nightstands to match cause it was going to be too much money, so we bought some cheap $11, not actual nightstands, but something that could hold our alarm clocks and our phones.  Maybe the occasional water or book.  Who am I kidding.  There was no room for books.  That is what the two cubby holes were for.  :) I always gave subtle hints that I would love to read before I go to sleep but I can't see with the lights off and he can't sleep with the lights on.  What. A dilemma.  I have been saying for awhile that we need real nightstands.

Before: Dinky little "nightstand"

So, we decided to head to the good ol' NFM to see if they by some chance still had that same bedroom set.  Of course they didn't but we found some that were about half the price of those original nightstands and we thought they would match pretty perfectly.  We then found a set of lamps to go with and we were set to go!!

The nightstands look darker than the headboard in these pics for some reason, but they match perfectly in real life.

This change literally transformed our room.  It is kind of awkwardly shaped, like it is too wide, so we always felt that there was too much space on the sides.  The new end tables really even it out.  Not to mention the height of the lamps are perfect and fill up the space along the walls as well so it doesn't seem so empty. 

We sleep without pillows or covers, just like the people in the mattress commercials.  Cause that is realistic.

Lights on! And now, I get to read before I go to sleep!  Everyone wins!

The Evolution of an Entry Way

Here's a story, of a lovely lady who was.....STOP.  Wrong story.  This is a story about a lonely entry way.  Every day he would see the people of the house walk by not paying any attention to him.  He felt ugly and empty and just plain sad.  It was because he was.



And scene:
I saw this desperate plea for some sprucing up the entry way, so I went in the basement to get an old TV stand to put in the area.  But it was too small and just made it look dinky and worse.  I kept it there forever and it was annoying.  I decided I needed to do something about it and went to look for a tall table to put there since the wall was so high.  The entry way needed something that would fill a higher wall, so the taller (not creepy taller), the better.  Scott and I went looking at antique stores, asked those who they knew if they had an old table to get rid of and one day, I decided to go to Hobby Lobby as they were having 30% off their furniture.  Which, they always have 30% off their furniture, but who cares.  I also had a 40% off coupon so I scored another 10% off.  WOOT. 

And I found the most....PERFECT...TABLE...EVER!!!  Exact dimensions and look I was going for.  But, I was with the little man and couldn't get it in the car myself.  So, Scott had to come bring his car to pick it up and it made its appearance in our home.  HAPPY DAY!  I will just stare at it with a big smile on my face because I am a freakin weirdo and I feel as though I now have a table that looks like it came from Pottery Barn.  But at 1/5th of the cost.

I couldn't wait to dress it up with accessories and am still working on that part of it, but found a perfect  $20 mirror that I set on top of it to add even more height to the very tall wall.   The green vase with the things sticking out was $3 at Dollar General.  They have vases like this at West Elm for about $20-$40, so I would say I got a good deal on that.

I also got a teal owl that was $4 at HyVee and my favorite- the orange-ish ceramic pineapple that I scored half off at Hobby Lobby.  I really wanted a pineapple for the entry way ever since getting back from Newport because it is a sign of hospitality and they had them everywhere.  And below, here is how it looks now, all FALL-ified!  I added a couple bags of pumpkin/gourd/leaves things at $3 a pop at DG to fill the big vase (which was filled with something different before the FALL-ification), a pumpkin candle, and a little welcome sign.  All of those previously mentioned things will stay minus the fall things year round and I would like to add some taller/brightly colored dimensional things to balance the other side.  I can live with it for now though, but I'm sure it will look different every couple months cause I don't know how to sit still.  :)

How much better does the entry way look now??  (Minus the toys in the hallway :), but hey, it gives it more character)

Spaghetti Nests

I believe the same episode of Giada at Home with the taquitos had these totally awesome Spaghetti Nests.  The moment I saw the picture of them, I knew we had to make them.  1- cause they are totally kid friendly and I wanted to see what Nolan would think of them; 2- I just wanted to see if I could do it and 3- it entails chunks of fresh mozzarella cheese.

It took a little while to get all the necessary parts together to make these as I couldn't find 4 1/2 diameter spring form pans at Bed Bath and Beyond, Target, or Walmart.  I know,  I REALLY expanded my search on that one.  So, I do what I always do and I found some on Amazon.  You need a set of 4 for these and that is exactly what they come in.  I got them way too quickly even before some things we had ordered online before them, so that was exciting.  We shop for almost everything online (besides groceries) cause stores are annoying when you can't find what you need, so just go to where you can without leaving your house!

So, I got my little pans and made these babies.  Very simple to make and they were really yummy too!  I just bought fresh mozzarella and kind of rolled them into balls for the eggs.  I think you can buy actual little mozzarella balls, but I was unable to find those.  Everyone gets their own individual one and it is definitely enough food especially if you pair it with a couple pieces of Italian bread. Nolan is becoming pickier and pickier by the day and just wanted to "sort" his noodles into piles instead of eat them.  He would live on bread alone, so we stuffed some of the noodles and spinach in pieces of bread and it got him to eat some of it.  He might appreciate them better when he is a little older and can understand their hilariousness.  I ate the fourth one for lunch the next day without any marinara and it was still really good!  I highly recommend these!

Recipe can be found here at Food Network.

Turkey and Spinach Taquitos

Here is a recipe that just looked too plain good not to try.  This is one of Giada's recipes that she made where she uses Mascarpone cheese.  I have been looking for a good recipe that has this cheese as I have always wanted to try it and this was the perfect one to start with. 

These taquitos were so delicious and even just as good at being leftovers.  It took a little bit of nudging for Nolan to take a bite, but once he did, he looked at me, smiled, and clapped his hands!  It was the best feeling ever.  He continued to do that after the next couple of bites, it was so precious.  I will definitely be making these again as they were just sooo awesome. 

Recipe can be found at Food Network.

21 Jump Street

21 Jump Street is an adaptation from the TV show from the late 80's-early 90's but modernized quite a bit.  The movie is about two undercover cops who have been given the mission to go back to high school to uncover a drug ring.  Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum are an unlikely pair in the strangest of circumstances, but they make it work and it ended up being a pretty funny movie with some laugh out loud moments.   If you need just a fun movie to watch, I would have to recommend this one!

Picture courtesy of IMDB.

Here is a trailer for the movie:

The Best Turkey Chili

Scott found this Turkey Chili recipe and decided he wanted to make it for the first Husker game.  It was really good!  We haven't had much turkey chili in our lives, so I would have to agree that it was the Best Turkey Chili we have had.  Lots of healthy ingredients and perfect for a game day.  AND I got to use my cast iron dutch oven again so it was another plus! Looking forward to making it again when the weather is a bit cooler!

Recipe can be found here at All Recipes.

Young Adult

Young Adult was the next movie we watched and it was quite interesting to say the least.   It was nominated for a Golden Globe and won a few film festival awards throughout the country.  The movie is quite funny but has a dark side as well. It had a pretty simple premise of a girl (Charlize Theron) still attached to her old boyfriend in high school and what could have been.  She tells herself  that she "has it all" when in reality she is a lonely alcoholic with impulsive tendencies that make her just a hot mess.  She thinks she can just go back to her hometown and pick up where she left off with her high school sweetheart, even though he has a wife and a child.  This does not even phase her and she continues her pursuit until the end.  She tries to get others to think she has the perfect life but everyone can see through it and everyone feels sorry for her.  She just doesn't see it herself.  Patton Oswalt's character is the only one who will be honest with her, likes her for just who she is, and helps guide her along during the duration of the movie.  It was interesting seeing him in this type of role and I thought he did a great job.  The end of the movie has quite a dramatic scene that even shocked us a bit.  Interesting movie that I think would be worth watching.

Picture courtesy of here.

Here is a trailer for the movie:

Chicken Veggie Salad with Avocado Herb Dressing

Here is a really delicious meal that Scott actually ended up making since I was out seeing a couple friends and was gonna get home too late to make it myself.  He made the avocado dressing, but it didn't really taste that great so we ate it without it and it was still really good.  The dish has so much flavor, I'm not sure why you need to add a dressing on top of it.  It was a very involved meal he said so I'm not sure if this one will be made that often, but it was definitely a winner for us!  It was kind of nice not having to make the dinner too! :)

Sorry the picture was taken at such a weird angle.

The recipe can be found here at Multiply Delicious.

Paleo Burritos

Got another fun dish for you to try.  This one is Paleo Burritos.  The reason it is a bit different is because you have to make the coconut flour tortillas yourself, which was not an easy situation.  I had to make a few before one was even recognizable as a food product, but I got some that worked good enough.  Don't know if I care enough to try to make these again, but they were quite yummy.  Kind of had to have an open faced burrito situation since the tortilla would have fallen apart if I would have tried to wrap it.  No cheese on these burritos which was a little different, but still delicious nonetheless!  Scott added some jalapenos to his as you can see.  A good, healthy option to one of our favorite Mexican dishes!

Recipe for the burrito and the coconut flour tortillas can be found here at International Consumption.

Chicken Veggie Meatballs with Pesto Zucchini Noodles

Here is another fun Paleo dish that was eh ok.  We absolutely loved the zucchini noodles with the pesto, but there was something a bit off with the meatballs.  Scott stated, "These aren't meatballs."  I couldn't really argue with him.  There was just something really grainy about them.  Nolan only ate tiny bits of them.  We had a ton leftover the next day and so I thought I would try one for lunch.  I put one in my mouth and I spit it out in the trash it was that unsettling.  So, I would definitely make the noodles again, but I think we will pass on the meatballs.

Recipe can be found here at Multiply Delicious.