ArcaMax

Your Kitchen Can be a Dangerous Place

One of my least favorite memories of my childhood comes from sitting at the kitchen table, watching my parents cook dinner on a Saturday night.

That’s the night they would sometimes get out the deep fat fryer.

I was just a little kid. Too small to help cook. I was told to sit in my chair and wait for dinner to be finished. The big table was smack dab in the center of the kitchen. It was one of those old metal tables from the 50’s that had a Formica top on it. The top was a mottled grey that I guess was made to look sort of like marble.

Sitting in the chair, my head stuck up over the edge of the table but that was about it. I was knee-high to a grasshopper.

I knew enough though to understand the danger of high heat. I suppose it could have been because my mother warned me repeatedly. I didn’t have to be told twice to sit still in that chair and wait for dinner. I was supposed to be happy. Mom and Dad were making French fries.

Why they decided that Saturday night was a night to make deep fried French fries I’ll never know. I liked the ones that baked in the oven just about as much, so why go to that trouble just for us small tykes? The big kids had dates on Saturday night so they weren’t around. It was just us young-ins.

My parents were drank cocktails before dinner. And on Saturday nights there might be a bit more drinking of cocktails than other times. Combine too many cocktails and a deep fat fryer and you were just asking for trouble. Or at least that’s what I thought, even as a small child. I’d sit in that chair totally stiff, staring at that deep fat fryer, willing it to stay on the counter. I was afraid it would vibrate itself off the counter for one thing. When that thing was frying in full force it sort of jumped around. I was afraid it would get to the edge of the counter and my mother wouldn’t see it. She might not re-position it and it’s would come crashing to the floor with hot oil flying everywhere. Or she or my dad might sway just a bit and bump into it. Then they’d be burned on the arm or worse. They might bump it AND it might go flying. I was terrorized.

I ate my French fries though, and I was glad when dinner was over. I’ve never gotten over what never happened. Kids are like that.

So when Zola Column reader Helen sent me this video on kitchen fires I decided you all had to see it. Pay close attention. You could save your life and your home. It’s not exactly the same as the dancing pot of oil. It’s worse. If you listen closely you’ll notice she refers to it as “your chip pan”. That’s English for French fries. Be careful out there. Your kitchen can be a dangerous place.

For your recipe today I am offering one of my newest soup creations that I designed for The Zola Diet. This one can be eaten during the ZReduction period. My new theme is “Have a Bowla Zola”.

I hope you like it.

Italian Meatball Soup This makes 6 servings.
You can freeze extras. It also reheats well at the office or for another day.

Ingredients:

1 lb of ground sirloin

1 Tbl of Italian seasoning

1 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp of grated sea salt

1 1/2 cups of chopped celery

1 1/2 cups of chopped red onion

1 cup of organic vegetable broth

1 cup of organic beef broth

1 20 oz. can of crushed organic tomatoes (no sugar)

1 Tbl minced garlic

1/2 packet of Truvia (stevia)

2 cups of water

1/4 tsp of cracked pepper flakes (if you like your Italian food to have some zip)

2 handfuls of spinach, washed and chopped or baby spinach leaves will work too

Directions:

Put your sirloin in a large bowl. Add the seasoning, salt and pepper. Mix up really well. Using a small spoon, grab bits of sirloin and round them, in your hand into baby meatballs. They will be one inch in diameter or less. Your goal is to make 40 to 48 meatballs.

Lightly spray a large sauté pan (or two medium ones) with a bit of olive oil spray. Saute the meatballs on medium high until they brown on one side. Then begin rolling them around on medium high until they all get browned on most of the outside edges. Keep browning until there is no pink left in the meatball middles.

While the meatballs are cooking...

You can pull out a soup pot. Add a bit more olive oil spray and then add your celery and onion. Saute until loose in medium. Add the garlic and stir. Then add the veggie broth and the beef broth as well as the crushed tomatoes. Stir and begin to heat on medium high. You want to bring it up to a low boil. Add the stevia and water as well as the optional cracked pepper flakes. When it begins to warm add the meatballs from your other pan. Heat the whole pot of soup until it just comes back up to a boil. Then add your chopped spinach. Stir just until the spinach wilts. You are ready to serve.

A serving of Italian Meatball Soup on the Zola diet is one and a half cups. You can have up to eight meatballs per serving.

Cheers
Enjoy,
Zola

Send email to Zola at zolacooks@gmail.com.