Avoiding the Hype

The week before our Thanksgiving trip out to California, I started to mentally prepare for the crowds at the airport and began to plan how I might protest the new airport scanners.  Turns out it was all hype.  The airports were deserted and we even had empty seats next to us on our flight back to Wisconsin (note to self, always travel on the Friday before Thanksgiving and then the day after).  Then we somehow managed to pick all the lines that were not using the new scanning devices. So much for protesting (I guess I'll have to put this idea on the shelf)

Luckily being around family and friends for Thanksgiving lived up to the hype and was a lot of fun.  My only complaint was that California was almost as cold as it's been back here in the Midwest. 

Sesame Soy Meatballs

Favorite new recipe out of Cooking Light.  It's a little on the spicy side so I think I would put in a little less chile paste next time. 

Sesame Soy Meatballs.

Ingredients

1/3 cup minced green onions
2 tablespoons brown sugar
3 tablespoons lower-sodium soy sauce
2 tablespoons dark sesame oil
1 tablespoon chile paste (such as sambal oelek)
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 garlic cloves, finely minced
1 pound ground sirloin

Preparation
1. Preheat the oven to 400°.
2. Combine first 7 ingredients in a large bowl. Add beef; mix gently to combine. With moist hands, shape beef mixture into 20 (1 1/2-inch) meatballs.
3. Heat a large cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add half of the meatballs to pan; cook 4 minutes, turning to brown meatballs on all sides. Arrange browned meatballs in a single layer on a jelly-roll pan coated with cooking spray. Repeat procedure with remaining meatballs. Bake meatballs at 400° for 7 minutes or until done.