And was it ever worth waiting for! I finally have a working oven. Two to be exact. After the untimely demise of my old stove, (the week before Christmas), I have a new dual fuel range with a five burner gas cook top and a double electric infrared convection oven. It even has a griddle, wok ring, temperature probe and is wifi enabled. Wow!!! Okay, I might be bragging a bit, but can you blame me? I’m still pinching myself to make sure its not a dream.

I initiated this baby by cooking a Sunday Pork Roast in the oven and sauteing a few mushrooms stove top to go with it. The pork cooked perfectly thanks to the temperature probe, but I’m going to have to learn to cut back on the gas cook top. It’s a lot faster than my old one and the mushrooms nearly got away from me. The potatoes boiled in half the time, and the pink eyed peas almost fell apart. I should be happy to have such problems, and I am!  Not many home cooks are so blessed.

Alright, enough bragging.  Here are a couple of new recipes for you.

The first is a Eggplant Meatball Casserole with Air Fryer Option. These delicate vegetarian meatballs are lighter in texture than standard meatballs, but full of flavor. While they can be pan fried, I used an air fryer basket in a regular convection oven. No grease! The “meatballs” were bathed in some of my homemade Eggplant Marinara and topped with cheese before finishing in the oven for a few minutes. I served them over spaghetti. So good! You’d never know it was Meatless Monday.

I must have been on a meatball binge last week with out even knowing it. We also enjoyed them in a tasty pot of Italian Wedding Soup, made in the pressure cooker.  If you try this recipe, make the meatballs very small, pretty much bite sized.  I’ve never used store bought meatballs, but I wonder if you could cut those in half and re-roll them?  I used orzo pasta, which didn’t get mushy.  This soup is one of those that is even better the next day.  Sprinkle a little Parmesan cheese on top, if you like.

Now that I again have a working oven I need to try out some new dessert ideas for Michael.  I’ve accumulated a stash of ripe bananas in the freezer, so I may start there.  We’ll see… And as always,

Be thankful for what life gives you.