Eliza’s Ninth BD, Rao’s Meatball Tasting, And Cottage Pie Baked Potatoes

 It's just hard to believe that Eliza in already nine and I’m just happy we haven’t gotten that much older as well.  We decided it would be good to drive over to Oak Ridge and take her to lunch and she picked Zaxby’s for the event – a place I had never been to.  My first surprise was finding it was a fast-food place rather than a sit-down restaurant and the second was that they had very few chicken dishes – we were expecting more like KFC.  Everyone had a salad but Eliza and me and I had five wings and a coleslaw and boy was it disappointing as the wings were almost Cornish hen size and they were way over cooked – maybe the worst I ever had.  No way will we be going to Zaxby’s again.

After the meal, we headed over to Wende’s to watch Eliza open her presents.

Rao’s Meatballs Taste Test

A couple of weeks ago I had posted about Bev making a batch of copycat Rao’s Meatballs and we stuck them in the freezer but we wanted to taste them against the ones that Rao’s sells.  We finally located them at Whole Foods and during our recent errand day we picked up a box of frozen Rao’s Meatballs And Sauce.

The Rao’s are in the container and I expected them to be larger.

So, for the meal, it was just spaghetti and meatballs and we put Bev’s version in with the real Rao’s and added more Rao’s marinara to ensure enough for the pasta – both sauces tasted the same.

This is my dish – my old self would have had the bowl full of pasta but even this was a little too much.

The Verdict:

We thought the two meatballs tasted very similar but the homemade ones were lighter in texture and we have other recipes that we prefer.  So while we love Rao's sauce, we won't need to buy their meatballs again but we may give another of their other frozen meals a try.

Cottage Pie Baked Potatoes

I first made Cottage Pie Baked Potatoes three years ago and for this Friday card gathering, I decided to make an easier version of it - you can click on the link to see it.  For this meal, I didn’t scoop out the potato flesh and mash but just treated them like a regular potato.  Everyone just got their potato ready and added a scoop of the meat mixture and for those who didn’t want the mixture, we had butter, sour cream, bacon, chopped onion and cheese available.

Cottage Pie Baked Potatoes

Potato Ingredients:

5 Russet potatoes

2 tablespoons olive oil

1½ teaspoons kosher salt divided, adjust to taste

Filling Ingredients:

2 pounds ground beef

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 ¾ cup onion diced into ¼-inch pieces

1 cup carrots diced into ¼″ pieces

4 large cloves of garlic minced (1 tsp powder)

1 teaspoon kosher salt, adjust to taste

½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, adjust to taste

½ teaspoon dried parsley

½ teaspoon dried thyme

½ teaspoon dried basil

14 ounces petite diced tomatoes

1-2 tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce

¼ cup water or beef broth, only as needed

½ cup frozen peas

1 tablespoon fresh Italian parsley for serving

Potato Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 400°F.

Scrub the potatoes to remove all dirt and then rinse and dry thoroughly. Poke several holes into each potato with a fork and then place them on a baking sheet.

Drizzle each potato with oil and sprinkle each potato generously with salt. Rub with your hands to coat and then place in the oven.

Bake for about an hour, until fork tender. The potatoes should be crisp on the outside and tender inside. 

Filling Instructions:

While the potatoes are baking, cook and crumble the ground beef over medium heat. When it is almost browned, drain off any excess grease and sprinkle with flour. Continue stirring and cooking for 1 minute, to coat well.

Add the onions and carrots and cook for 2-3 minutes,

Add the garlic, parsley, thyme, basil, 1 teaspoon salt, and ½ teaspoon black pepper. Cook until the onions are soft.

Add the tomatoes and Worcestershire sauce. Stir to combine, add a lid, and cook until everything is done. If the mixture looks dry, add a splash of water or broth along with the peas.

Stir to combine. Taste and then season with additional salt and pepper, as desired. Remove from heat.

Spoon the beef onto the prepared potatoes, then top each potato with shredded cheese.

The Verdict:

It was very good but we decided that, even with the extra work, we preferred the version with mashed potatoes.  We decided the leftover filling would make good vegetable beef soup so I added another can of tomatoes, diced potatoes, more carrots, a little chicken broth and seasonings.  

I’ve baked hundreds of potatoes in my day and most times I don’t bother to prick them and have never had one explode until today.

Pricking mandatory from here on as is wrapping in foil when planning to eat the skin as it was tough. 

Photos can be slightly enlarged by clicking on them and the blue words are links.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

11/3-6/26 event date