soy sauce

Traditional Meatballs

April 4, 2020 by Dana

I admit, I have had my fair share of meatball recipe fails. From being dry and tasteless to having a weird texture, meatballs can be hard to master. These Traditional Meatballs bring the flavor and tender texture without the hassle.

This Traditional Meatball recipe is SIMPLE. It is minimal. It does not require mincing onions and garlic and buying several different cuts of meat. It is kid friendly, picky eater friendly, and yields a delicious, tender meatball that will swim perfectly in your favorite sauce. I know, I know, there are a million other meatball recipes out there, but just take my word for it, this one is good!

How to Make the Perfect Meatball

Skip lean cuts of meat. I always use 80/20 when making meatballs. I have tried 90/10 and from my experience this is exactly how to get a dry meatball.
Soak the breadcrumbs. You will want to give your breadcrumbs a brief soak in the milk and eggs before you add them to the meat. This also ensures your meatballs won’t be dry.
Do not over mix. I get my hands in there and mix everything quickly instead of using a spoon or fork. You’ll have to get your hands dirty to get all of your ingredients distributed properly, and that’s ok! Give your mix a few good squishes and you should be good to go.
Season your meatballs properly. The WORST meatballs are bland and tasteless. No amount of sauce or salt afterward will make your meatballs taste better, so you must season as you go. I use a mix of coarse kosher salt, parmesan cheese, Italian breadcrumbs, and a small amount of soy sauce to ensure my meatballs are properly seasoned and taste anything but bland.
Do not bake the life out of them. I prefer to start my meatballs in the oven at 400 degrees. This will give you that beautiful, brown outside crust that we are looking for. However, overtaking can also yield a dry result. I have found about 20 minutes is plenty of time in the oven, then I put them right in the sauce for simmering.

To finish off my meatballs, I paired them with pappardelle pasta. For the sauce (because I have extremely picky children) I used Simply Ragu Traditional. If you have children who like a very smooth sauce, Simply Ragu Traditional is your best friend. I added a little bit of sugar and salt to the sauce and gave my meatballs a quick simmer and viola!

Honey Barbecue Bacon Meatballs

January 26, 2018 by Dana

The Super Bowl is right around the corner, and these Honey Barbecue Bacon Meatballs are a crowd-pleasing appetizer worthy of bringing to the big game!

Truth: I don’t care about the Super Bowl. I don’t follow football, my husband doesn’t follow football, and well… we just aren’t a sporty family. I GUESS I’m rooting for the Eagles because my Mom is a super fan and I’m close to Philadelphia. 🙂 We usually go to a family friendly party, and I’m strictly there for the food so don’t ask me about the game or even the commercials because I could care less!

My ALL TIME favorite Super Bowl appetizer is Buffalo Chicken Dip. It is addicting, delicious, and expected to be at every party. Wings are also right up there on the list of must haves, but you will always need a few other items to fill in for the folks who aren’t into spicy foods. Shrimp, meatballs, guacamole, pizza… you know all the good stuff!

For these Honey Barbecue Bacon Meatballs, I did make my meatballs from scratch because it is super simple to do! HOWEVER…. if you happen to pick up frozen meatballs to make this recipe, no judgement here! That is what I love about this recipe, it is customizable and can be made in even less time if you are in a hurry. Getting all of my family ready and out the door for a Super Bowl party is stressful enough, so I totally get it. If you are running low on time or just don’t care…. GET THE FROZEN MEATBALLS. 🙂

Honey Barbecue Bacon Meatballs Recipe Tips

Again, this recipe is totally customizable. Don’t have time to make meatballs from scratch? Buy frozen! Want your sauce a bit sweeter? Add more honey! Really love ranch dressing? Drizzle some on there like I did!
If you are making meatballs from scratch, the meatball recipe is a basic tried and true recipe. There isn’t anything particularly different about it, because the sauce and the bacon are really making these meatballs.
The sauce is WAY better the next day. I would suggest maybe making it the day before, and letting all of the flavors come together overnight in the refrigerator. Here is the thing about homemade sauces like this…. they need time. Just like the sauce you buy in the grocery store has been sitting for a period of time, it is also good to let your homemade sauce sit and mingle together.
If you’d like to make these as a meal, they are great with a simple side like buttered egg noodles or jasmine rice. We have eaten them as a meal with rice and they were fantastic.
If your party is large, I would suggest making a double batch. If you’d like to stick with a single batch, you can always make them mini-meatballs to stretch them farther.
For the meat… I prefer to use a meatball/meatloaf mix of meats. It includes beef, pork, and veal. I know, I know. But listen, the meat matters! My local grocery stores do sell this already pre-mixed specifically for meatballs and meatloaf. If you can’t find a meatball mix at your grocery store, I would ask the butcher there to make you a mix, or just purchase 1 pound of each and make a large batch and freeze the extras.

Sticky Sesame Apricot Chicken

January 20, 2018 by Dana

This may not seem very interesting to most people, but something really epic happened to me today. I FINALLY found maternity jeans that I don’t hate. AND… I got new shoes. 3 pairs! AND… a new bra. AND… a few other nice shirts to get me through the rest of my pregnancy. Life is good. I look like a normal human being again. It feels good!

If anyone ever tells you a new pair of jeans that fit right isn’t life changing, please have them reference this. IT IS. This baby bump and Mama are so happy!

When I arrived home from my epic shopping adventure, food was necessary. Walking around the mall is exhausting when it feels like there is a bowling ball, that may or may not pop out at any time, between your legs. So I put together this Sticky Sesame Apricot Chicken and sat down!

What I really love about this Sticky Sesame Apricot Chicken recipe is it combines so many flavors. The apricot preserves I used are a bit tart. Mix that with the sweetness of brown sugar, and the saltiness of soy sauce….and you have the perfect combination! I’ve mentioned my Jasmine Rice cravings, and this recipe did not disappoint! It goes great over a giant heap of perfectly cooked Jasmine Rice, and some additional soy sauce on top. 🙂

Recipe Tips

I mentioned this in my Honey Mustard Garlic Chicken recipe as well, but when coating chicken it really helps to get everything in place before you start so you don’t have to continually wash your hands and then reach for the forgotten items. I’ve only done this a million times before I started telling myself over and over again to get everything in place before starting!
Use one hand to dip in the egg, and then the other to coat in cornstarch. If you try to use the same hand you will have a hot mess! After working in restaurants and coating about a million pieces of chicken, sometimes this still isn’t second nature to me. The temptation to dip with the same hand is still there! haha
This is a base recipe. If you like more salty, add more soy sauce! If you like more sweet, add more brown sugar!

Sticky Honey Mustard Garlic Chicken

January 13, 2018 by Dana

Hello! Welcome to my first post in 2018, and my first post under a brand spankin’ new name! This Sticky Honey Mustard Garlic Chicken is the perfect way to start off the new year, but first….

What gives on the name change!?!?!

I’m ready to drop a few truth bombs right now, and it may not be pretty but it is genuine and it is me. I was struggling with the name 3boysunprocessed. Struggling for a very long time. In 2018 one of my goals was to make this blog a more comprehensive look at my life. To do that I desperately needed to change the name and break out of the box of unprocessed eating.

Four years ago, my life was completely different! When I started this blog, I was so passionate about cooking with the least processed ingredients. What you saw was what I was feeding my family. It was fun to me then, it was my own little project that I loved and babied. It grew my love for photography, it gave me a reason to talk about my children and document my life, and it was great. I was stunned when people actually cared. But then….

Life happened. My husband started a new career that took him on the road and away from home 5 days a week, we had another baby (and have another on the way now), I started a photography business, and my wee little babes who would eat anything suddenly didn’t want my whole wheat macaroni and honey sweetened delicious treats anymore. Things were different, my family was growing and changing, and my blog needed to reflect that.

Life can be extremely busy at times. Every time I thought to myself that I’d like to post a new recipe, I realized that it may not fit into the unprocessed box I had put myself into. I want to share my love for food here, and ultimately I have to be true and honest that this is not how I cook anymore. Of course, I am still cooking fresh, homemade meals for my family. However I’ve stopped stressing over certain ingredients such as white pasta and cane sugar. My sanity needed a break from hyper obsessing over my kids going to a birthday party and eating a hotdog bun. So I let go a little, and it feels great!

Looking into 2018, I’m really ready to share more stories about life, my family, my cooking, my Lipsense business, my love for photography, and so much more! I absolutely love looking back at all of my posts from when my boys were all super tiny, and I want to keep sharing the special little details without the stress of being in any kind of box. Cheers to 2018!

Now that the cat is out of the bag, shall we move on to this Sticky Honey Mustard Garlic Chicken? It is oozing with delicious Asian inspired flavors, simple ingredients, and my latest pregnancy craving… Jasmine Rice and soy sauce! It combines a few simple ingredients to check off every box on the BEST CHICKEN EVER list… sweet, salty, perfectly crunchy, and smothered in a delicious and easy to make sauce.

THIS IS CHICKEN HEAVEN.

The Recipe

One of my favorite way to make takeout inspired chicken is to dip it in egg, coat it with cornstarch, and then cook it on the stovetop. It gives a deep fried texture without actually deep frying or ordering takeout from a place that may or may not be using trans fats to fry their food. I love me some Panda Express, but I hate the way I feel after eating mystery ingredients. This is the perfect way to make it at home and know exactly what you are eating.

The most important step when cooking this Sticky Honey Mustard Garlic Chicken is to make sure your meat is properly seasoned. Don’t forget to season your chicken before you bread it. I always use coarse Kosher salt to season meats, it has never let me down! A sprinkle over all of your chicken chunks will work wonders.

Coating the chicken is easy, but can be messy! One thing I learned while working in restaurants and coating millions of pieces of chicken is to get everything where you need it before you start, and use one hand to dip and the other to coat. No matter how bad you want to just go right from the egg to the cornstarch with the same hand… DON’T DO IT or your hands will be a hot mess.

The sauce is super easy to put together! Cook the garlic, then add the rest of the ingredients and viola! It is super versatile, so if you like it a little more sweet, add more honey. If you like it a little more salty, add more soy sauce! If you don’t have whole grain mustard, use dijon! The sky is the limit here, this is really just a base recipe.

Also, apparently is is really easy to burn Jasmine rice. That is all I’m going to say about that. HAHA

Crockpot Honey Mustard Chicken

October 12, 2014 by Dana

Dana Carvell (3BoysUnprocessed)

Remember when I said I hated crockpot meals, then kept making more crockpot meals? Seriously.

But you know how indecisive women can be so I’m totally blaming my gender on this one. In real non-food blogging life I’m actually pretty indecisive too. Like when my husband asks me a question and I say “I don’t care.” But somewhere inside I care, I do! I just can’t for the life of me make a decision! It is just too mind consuming to actually pony up and say what I want. No…clue…why!

But this CROCKPOT chicken though! It is so yummy and delish in all of it’s mustardy and honey-y glory. Yes, that’s two y’s because honey already ends in a Y. Yeah. So I hyphenated. And all the grammar people go nuts!

I hate to say this…but you know what else is really great about crockpots? The word *freeeedddoommm* singing in my head as I put the ingredients in the crockpot and walk away. Yeah, like knowing you totally have the next 4 hours to NOT spend in your kitchen piddling around over the stove and knocking over spices. Until I decided to make chicken stock.

Did you notice I said the words “knocking over spices?” Who else has a big pile of spices stored right beside their microwave in the most unorganized and clumsy fashion ever? You’d think being a food blogger and all I’d have a really nice spice organization system, like those little jars with magnets that hang right on the wall in the prettiest way ever. But no, I have this heaping mess of spices that is ever-growing and seems to get in the way all the time. Not to mention, try finding something in that mess! Where’s the pepper? Where’s the paprika? Heck, I can’t find it, so I’ll spend the next 15 minutes looking for it, only to find it right in front of me, on top of the microwave, where it was never supposed to be in the first place. Who put it there? Oh yeah.. I did yesterday. *sigh for all of those unorganized folks like myself* Just incase my husband is reading this… my birthday is next week *ah-hem* 🙂

So I’m using whole grain mustard in this chicken because my wonderful husband kept buying it, and I kept putting it into a bunch of random recipes and realized it’s kind of a big deal (are people still saying that?). Now if you aren’t keeping whole grain mustard stocked in your refrigerator at all times already, I’m suggesting you do so. You’ll find a ton of ways to use it, in recipes not just as a condiment, that will make you wonder where it has been all your life. I’ve been using it in pasta salads all summer, in chili, sauces, and now in crockpot meals. So yeah, you can’t go wrong with whole grain mustard!

In addition to the whole grain mustard I added raw honey, soy sauce, and chicken stock. How simple is that? Believe me, it doesn’t sound like much but this chicken is out of this world! The addition of the soy sauce kicks it up 10 notches and goes perfectly with the other ingredients.

*Just check ingredients before purchasing! I have seen some companies sneak random things like high fructose corn syrup and preservatives in mustards. A good mustard should not contain anything that you wouldn’t keep in your own home.