5/366 The most amazing sauce EVER!!! And a headache from hell.

Hello there good men and women of the land of Earth. Tonight I bring you the MOST AMAZING SAUCE CREATED EVER... this would be an overstatement-if it were not the truth. The bit of shock that I must add is that... the sauce was created by none other than yours truly... I have to admit I am quite astonished as well... but it is true never the less. I have to tell you, though, that you must be patient and read through the rest of this blog entry before getting the pictures and recipe. (OR you could skip all the b/s about how my day was and just get to the meat of this story... 'sup to you!)

SO this morning I woke up with THE WORST HEADACHE in HISTORY! it was horrifyingly bad. I was supposed to have a job (community) from like 645-1230 but I got up at 5 to 6 with a headache that hurt when I walked. Hurt when I moved... Heck it woke me up at like 2 am and I just laid there in pain and agony until I thought it went away... then I got out of bed and nearly fell to my knees in pain. I went to the bathroom and prayed for it to go away but it just wouldn't. Fearing for mine, and other people's, safety if I took to the road  I called the person in charge of the job I was supposed to interpret. I canceled and I felt awful about it but you know-you gotta do what you gotta do. I popped 2 ibuprofen (another thing I never do) and went back to bed. Ben got up (at 6 am on a Saturday) to get me a glass of water and a heating pad for my neck/shoulders... and I fell fast asleep. When I woke up 5 hours later I was well rested and feeling 100% again-Miraculously! I am so grateful the headache went away. I think it was a culmination of a few things: the detox, not enough water, and beginning my (as my girlfriend likes to call it) shark week... all of these things can lead to a headache on their own-all of them at the same time... well that lead to the headache from hell.

Now that you suffered through that story-Here is the fun part THE FOODS!

Look at these awesome eggs!! We had eggs and bacon for breakfast and this is what I found in our carton. we can't quite name the middle color--taupe? Green? sage? ... its cute tho!

One quick thing I forgot to mention before is that every night before bed (after supper) our dessert has been a nice hot cup of caffeine free tea... this is our new tea kettle my *future* sister-in-law gave to me for Christmas!

Here is Ben pouring the yummy tea of the night (Earl Grey) ... Those cups are HUGE and amazing and also from Nicole for Christmas.

Now... The moment you have all been waiting for... The BEST RECIPE... for THE BEST SAUCE... EVER...

what you will need:

1 tbsp butter

1tbsp bacon grease

left over pan drippings

2 whole onions (sliced)

approx 20 small mushrooms (sliced)

2 cups of  beef broth (home made preferable-but whatever you got is fine)

about... half a tub of sour cream (I didn't measure sorry) Preferable that this is good sour cream as well not cheap stuff.

Your favorite seasonings: Salt, Pepper... herbs? (we added dried basil)

You can also add (as we did) leftover bacon... or cook it the *alternative way* as mentioned at the bottom

What you need to do is portrayed in these images (mostly captured by Ben as he fixed it based on my instructions while I was working):

First you get your drippings from meatballs and fats all together (i got these together ahead of time for Ben so it would not be too confusing)

Put them in the pan on Medium heat... make sure it is a flat skillet with plenty of wiggle room.

This is what cooked fat looks like... it becomes clear and the chunks there are chunks of caramelized fat and meats from the meatball tray (I know right!?)

Add the sliced and or chopped onions to the fats to cook. This is when you would add seasonings such as salt, pepper, and a few shakes of your favorite dried herbs (Ben's is basil so I am assuming that went in)  

Cook the onions until *transparent* and add the bacon bits (pictured-only one onion... we think it would be better with 2)

Add 2 cups of beef broth and bring to a simmer. 

This is what sliced mushrooms look like. Try to make sure all the mushrooms have similar sizes to ensure equal cooking time. (*TIP* Make sure not to add mushrooms too early in ANY meal because they cook quickly and are best when slightly undercooked-over cooked mushrooms get the rubbery texture that caused me to avoid them my entire life)

Add the mushrooms to the pan stirring and bringing back to a simmer. Let simmer for 5 minutes stirring intermittently. (this is a great time to do some dishes... wink wink nudge nudge MIMI!)

Add the sour cream. I am really sorry I didn't measure. It should be a little over half of a container... Stir it around and look for a creamy coffee color... (that's how I judged)

Let the mixture (once it is all stirred together) simmer for 5 minutes to let the sour cream get melted (stirring intermittently of course) Then you take it off of the heat element and let it stand for 5 minutes to thicken. (doing the rest of your dishes)

Pair this meal with your favorite veggies... Our *veggie of the night* was broccoli and cauliflower... IT TASTED DIVINE with the sauce and we got some green veg in! WOOT

Pour sauce on top of Mimi's Balls or over your favorite steak, meatloaf, veggies, or *GOD FORBID* Pasta... if you are into that kind of thing ;) (I love you CW friends!) We also put some delicious butter on top of our veggies as well... what harm could more good fats do really?

Dinner is served: a nice bowl of AMAZING with a cup of Earl Gray, my favorite man and the TV show "Game of Thrones" which-if you haven't watched it-you SHOULD WATCH!

And... this stuff is so good that it calls for seconds. We both decided it tastes better with all the veggies and balls and sauce all just piled together in the bowl... and then we realized we had a bit of Parmesan left over so WHAT THE HECK RIGHT!?

Oh my god... I can not tell you how amazing this was. Well I tried at least. Please-make this... and tell me what you and your loved ones think of it... We LOVED IT... and will definitely be making it in the future (It might even make an appearance at our wedding *HINT HINT*)

Have a spectacular and healthy weekend!

With so much love and gratitude,

Manda

*Alternative way to make this recipe*

If you choose to make it for something OTHER than the meatballs you could start with a pound or half pound or a few strips of bacon (depending on your bacon-lover scale). Just cut the bacon into small pieces (we feel a pair of kitchen shears does this best) and fry it up in your pan. This will make "pan drippings" as well as the bacon grease you will need (still add butter-it helps with creaminess). Before adding the onions remove the crisped bacon to add back in after the onions are cooked.

<3 <3 <3