These aren’t your average meatball.

Stuffed with bits of red pepper, sundried tomato and fresh parsley, these really don’t need anything more than a toothpick (or a fork, if you must). But, when you take a bit of fresh mozzarella and tomato and top them with half a meatball, it’s awesome. breathtaking. orgasmic. indescribably delicious. Total party in my mouth sensation.

How cute would these be to pass at a party? Seriously. It takes caprese salad to a whole new level. You could even add in a basil leaf, if you wanted.

So, how are these made? The process is simple, you start by mixing up all the dry ingredients. Then you add the egg and stir that in, so it’s well combined. Then you mix in the meat. I am a big proponent of kneading seasonings into meat by hand (don’t forget to wash first!). I think it works best to really get them combined in a full and absolute way.

Then you roll the meatballs into one-inch balls. No need to get the ruler out or anything, just do it by feel and site, making all the little balls about the same size. And no worries about crowding them onto the baking sheet–unlike cookies, it’s totally okay if you put them all really close together.

Finally you bake. That’s it. The best part? All in all, these can be ready in about 45 minutes — chopping included. That’s nothing, right? And while they are cooking, you could cut the cheese and tomato, make something else, whatever … easy peasy.

And guess what? Will and Paige couldn’t get enough of these. Then again, neither could I. They were really that good.

Now, before I give you the recipe and send you off to bake up these delightful little meatballs, I want to introduce you all to someone. Earlier this year, I was partnered with The Teacher Cooks for the latest round of Adopt-a-Blogger. Once or twice a year, veteran bloggers take a newbie blogger under their wing and offer guidance and advice on how to improve their blogging and reach their goals.

Now, I have to admit, when I looked at the The Teacher Cooks’ site, I wondered why she needs any help at all. She has beautiful photos, fantastic recipes and a great concept: she shares things she actually makes with her students — including photos of their creations. It’s genius. We’ve been trading emails for awhile, and I hope I have been (and might continue to be) a help to her. But right now, I wish you would just head over to her site and say hello. She’s a great gal and a fab blogger.

Now, onto the recipe.

Sundried Tomato and Red Pepper Meatballs
serves 4

1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1/4 cup finely chopped sundried tomatoes
1/4 cup finely chopped red peppers
1/4 cup finely chopped parsley
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 egg,  lightly beaten
1 1/4 lb lean ground beef

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray with cooking oil. Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine breadcrumbs, sundried tomatoes, red peppers, parsley, garlic, Worcestershire sauce, crushed red pepper and salt. Stir in the egg. Add the ground beef and knead with your hands until well mixed. Roll the meat into 1-inch meatballs and place close together on the baking sheet.

Slide the meatballs into the oven and cook for 25-30 minutes, until browned all around and cooked through. Flip all the meatballs once during cooking.

Remove from oven and serve immediately.

Tomato, Mozzarella and Meatball Stacks
serves 8

fresh mozzarella, cut into 1/2 inch slices and quarted
4 plum tomatoes, cut into 1/2 inch slices
1 batch Sundried Tomato and Red Pepper Meatballs (above)

Arrange the mozzarella on a plate and top with a slice of tomato. Cut all of the meatballs in half and stack on top. Serve immediately.

Want to make this more like caprese salad? Add a basil leaf to each stack between the tomato and mozzarella.

What makes a go-to recipe for you? It’s something personal, something that really depends on how you cook and how much you really enjoy cooking. For me, go-to recipes have to produce dishes that make you crave seconds and eye leftovers. But they also need to be low-fuss.

This recipe fits the bill for me. It takes some planning — the flank steak needs to marinate for a few hours (minimum) and needs to be room temperature when you go to cook it. But ultimately between making the marinade and cooking, this takes less than 20 minutes to make. Easy peasy? Definitely.

The flavor of this is remarkably like our favorite beef with broccoli. The difference? It’s not drowning in sauce — the flavor permeates the meat and the sauce adds a nice boost, but it’s not a gravy-heavy dish. So yes, it looks a little different but the taste is spot-on.

We adore it.

This isn’t the first time that I’ve mentioned this dish – I actually wrote about it two years ago. I can’t tell you how many times we’ve had this since then, but I can tell you that it’s not often enough. As Shawn said last night, we really need to make this more often.

Our Favorite Beef with Broccoli
serves 4
Adapted from One-Armed Cook

1/2 cup low-sodium soy sauce
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp sesame oil
1/4 cup olive oil
1 1/4 lb flank steak
2 cups steamed broccoli
2 cups cooked white rice

Whisk together soy sauce, ginger, pepper, garlic, sesame oil and olive oil. Pour into a large resealable plastic bag and add the flank steak. Marinate for at least three hours (longer is better!).

The flank steak should be at room temperature when you are ready to cook. Preheat your broiler on high for two minutes. Place the flank steak on a broiler pan, reserving the marinade. Pour the marinade into a small saucepan and set aside.

Cook the flank steak under the broiler on the highest rack for 5-7 minutes on each side, until cooked to medium doneness. Remove from oven and let sit for 10 minutes before slicing against the grain.

Meanwhile, place the saucepan with the marinade over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and let simmer for 5 minutes.

Plate the beef with the rice and broccoli and spoon the sauce over. Serve immediately.

Tacos hold a very special place in my heart. Serious. Ever since I was little, something about the crunchy little shells filled with spicy meat, cheese, lettuce, tomato and hot taco sauce just made my mouth so darn happy. I mean sure, you can have better, more authentic tacos — and I enjoy those too — but it’s the totally Americanized version that I adore. No food snobbery here.

My kids really like tacos too, but for a two-year-old and a four-year-old, they can be a challenge to eat. Plus, I always worry if they are actually eating enough on taco nights. Paige usually doesn’t eat the shell (and gets tired of the spiced meat pretty fast) and Will stops after one, maybe two, tacos. How could their bellies be full? It’s with that thought that I usually whip up a side salad and yellow rice too.

There has to be a better way, right? A way that I can have the flavor of tacos that I love but in a form that is more kid friendly. Enter the Taco Burger.

Burgers have been on my mind lately. A friend mentioned them a few weeks back and I said that I usually don’t cook them in the winter. No sooner did those words exit my mouth then I developed a hankering for a good, homemade burger. Go figure.

Anyway, the other day while I was trying to figure out dinner, I got the idea to take the seasonings of a taco and use them in burger patties. It was a simple thought (and one that took advantage of ingredients we had on hand!) but it seemed like worth a shot. So, I mixed, we cooked and we ate. The result? A lip-licking good burger that everyone in the family enjoyed. It was everything that I was hoping for.

These juicy burgers are perfect topped with taco-inspired toppings like salsa, guacamole and sour cream. Delish! And if your kids want in on the salsa action without the spice of your favorite hot blend, try spooning on a little jarred bruschetta — it looks very similar without any of the spice.

Are you a taco fanatic too?

Taco Burger
served 4

Be warned, these aren’t spicy taco burgers. They are seasoned enough that they are unmistakeably taco flavored, but they won’t make anyone’s mouth burn. (Hence, these are very kid-friendly.) If you want spicy taco burgers double the quantities of the spices.

1 lb ground sirloin
3/4 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp cumin
4 1 oz slices sharp cheddar cheese
4 hard rolls

Combine the ground sirloin, chili powder, garlic salt, dried oregano and cumin (I use my hands to knead it together). Separate into four equal pieces. Form patties, making sure to press an indentation into the center of each (it will prevent shrinkage).

Cook as desired. When the burgers are close to being done, top with a slice of cheddar and let it melt. Transfer the patties to the hard rolls.

Serve with a choice of toppings such as lettuce, tomato, guacamole, salsa and sour cream.

When the air hits that certain cold temperature and you can see puffs of breath whenever you go outside, you know it’s time for hearty meals. You know, ones that will warm you from the inside out like stews, roasts, chowders … and also chili.

I love chili. It reminds me of ski lodges, chair lifts and snow covered mountains. When I was younger, I was an avid skier and loved to fold into the lodge between runs for a hot lunch. Among my favorite bits? You guessed it – Chili. I haven’t skied in years, though I would love to.

Anyway, back to the chili. For me, it has to be topped with cheddar cheese and, if it’s spicy, it needs some avocado too.  Shawn likes his with a dollop of sour cream and a big sprinkle of cheddar. Paige isn’t yet a big fan of spiciness, but Will loves it, so he gobbles chili right up. Gosh, I hope Paige discovers a love of spiciness soon.

This chili is beanfree and ultra meaty. It has the glorious smokiness of the chipotle peppers, with the slight sweetness of the red onion. When you take a bite, you are hit with those flavors first, and then a hearty sting of spiciness. It’s divine. If you like chili, that is.

What’s your favorite cold-day meal? Share!

Meat-Lovers Chipotle Chili Con Carne
serves 4

Please note: the recipe calls for one chipotle chili in adobo. Cans of these can be found in the ethnic section of most major supermarkets. DO NOT use the whole can. Simply remove one chili from the can for this recipe. Leftovers can be store in the fridge in an airtight container or pureed and frozen for future use.

1 lb lean ground beef
1 lb beef stew meat (in chunks)
1 red onion, peeled
3 cloves garlic, peeled
1 chipotle chili in adobo, plus 1 tsp sauce
1 20 oz can crushed tomatoes
1 6 oz can tomato paste
3/4 cup water
1 tsp cumin
salt and pepper
Garnish: avocado, cheddar cheese, sour cream

In a large pot, brown the ground beef and the stew meat. Once it’s mostly cooked, pour off any excess fat.

Meanwhile, combine the onion, garlic and chipotle in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Process until everything is chopped up ultra fine (almost smooth). Add the mixture to the pot and stir to combine with the meat. Cook for five minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add the crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, water and cumin to the pot. Salt and pepper to your desired taste.  Stir and then cover. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 1 hour.

Serve, garnished with cheese, sour cream and/or avocado chunks.

What I’m Cooking With: a 5 quart pot, a wooden spoon and a full size food processor

Making food from scratch is one of those things that I take pride in. Pancakes? We have ‘em at least once a week, always from scratch. Biscuits? When I get the hankering I turn to a great recipe that I found on The Perfect Pantry. Cookies? Always from scratch. Macaroni and cheese? Usually from scratch.

But that said, I have a strong aversion to any recipe that strikes me as being fussy. Making puff pastry from scratch? Too fussy – I am happy to purchase the Artisan Puff Pastry from Trader Joe’s instead. Croissants? I would love to know how to make them, but I’ve read recipes for them dozens of times and it’s just too time consuming.

So, when it comes to the rare occasion when I pull out the trusty Crock-Pot, I expect that whatever I make will be easy and fast to pull together. Isn’t that the whole point of using it? I thought so.

This is all a very long lead in to saying that I really find the recipes in Not Your Mother’s Slow Cooker Cookbook to be way too fussy. I’ve tried several recipes from this book over the years. Every time, I find that they have too many steps. Brown in a frying pan, cook this, mix that … it’s stealing the ‘quick and easy’ from the whole Crock-Pot idea.

So, it was with great reluctance that I decided to make the Tangy Tomato Brisket recipe from this book (worst name ever — it’s more like a BBQ joint brisket). As usual, I prepped my mise en place and reread the recipe to find that there were way more steps than I wanted. That meant the brisket got into the pan later than I wanted and I had to adjust the heat and time to accommodate it …

But I wouldn’t be telling you about this recipe if it wasn’t good. And good it was. I loved it. The sauce was rich and spicy-sweet, like my favorite BBQ joint’s brisket. It was fork tender and tasted delightful with the onions …

It’s not for a busy mom on a work day – it cooks too fast (5-7 hours on low) and takes too much to pull together (prep time is roughly 30 minutes, maybe 40). But for a lazy Sunday? Perfect. And if you cook it just a little longer than you can shred it with two forks and serve it up on rolls … I bet a little cheddar would be good too.

Slow-Cooker BBQ Joint Beef Brisket
Adapted slightly from Not Your Mother’s Slow Cooker Cookbook
Serves 6

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 3- to 4-pound beef brisket
2 large onions, cut in half and sliced thin
1 6 oz. can tomato paste
1/2 cup light brown sugar
4 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp dry mustard
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 tsp paprika
salt, pepper, to taste

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over high heat. Brown the brisket for three minutes on each side then remove from skillet and set aside. Add the onions and cook until browned, stirring constantly. Beware smokiness — you might need to keep a window open to keep the smoke detectors happy. Once the onions are done, remove from pan and set aside.

In a small bowl, whisk together the tomato paste, sugar, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, dry mustard, garlic, salt, pepper and paprika. Coat both sides of the brisket with the sauce then set on a plate.

Add half of the onions to the slow-cooker. Then add the brisket. Top with the other half of the onions, and then the remainder of the sauce.

The book says to cook on low for 5-7 hours. However, if you need to speed it up, cook on low for 4 hours and on high for 1 hour.

Slice against the grain and serve with the sauce and onions …

It was a steamy, hot day today. It was one of those days where you just don’t know what to do with yourself. The kids and I ran errands, took a walk (what was I thinking?!?) and ran through the sprinkler. Because I wanted to. Finally, we gave in and collapsed onto the couch with the air conditioner on (remember how I was boycotting the a/c this year? I still am … but we did install one unit in an unused window).

When it came to dinnertime, I didn’t want to cook. Who would? But that’s exactly why I plan our meals for the week. When the plan is laid out for you, it makes it way easier to just give in and go for it … so I did. And really, when I realized what I had planned for tonight, I couldn’t say no.

That delicious burger above was worth every bit of heat and torment to create it. It’s just that good.

Inside this juicy burger is an oozing center of juicy, savory deliciousness. You bite into it and it spills warm juices down your chin, leaving you to lap them up wipe it away with your napkin. I first made these about two weeks ago and feel instantly in love. Since then, we’ve had them several times … they are rather addicting.

I have to give the credit for this one to Shawn, who wanted “something, some cheese to stuff the burgers with,” one day when I was heading to the store.

Coincidentally, the hamburger is a total New England food. The hamburger – a ground beef patty stuck between two slices of bread- was created right here in a little restaurant in Connecticut. The first burger was created by Louis Lassen, who ran a small lunch cart in New Haven that he called (so creatively) Louis’ Lunch.

Today, Louis’ is still run by the Lassen family and is now located in a small building on Crown Street. It’s a favorite for Michael and Jane Stern, who have written about it on their website Roadfood as well as naming it one of their picks for “20 Burgers to Eat Before It’s Too Late,” in the June issue of Gourmet. I daresay, I will be trying that little hamburger joint quite soon …

Back to my delectable burger, it’s worth every single second and bite. Try it.

Blue Cheese Stuffed Burgers
serves 4

1 lb ground beef
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2 oz blue cheese, cut into four 1/2 oz slices

In a large bowl, combine the ground beef, salt and pepper. Divide the mixture into four equal-sized balls (they should be 4 oz each). One at a time flatten the ball to 1/4 inch thickness. Place one 1/2 oz slice of blue cheese in the center and fold the ground beef in around it, like a package. Seal the edges, shape into a patty and press your thumb into the center. Repeat for the remaining three patties.

Cook the burgers on a hot grill, flipping once, to desired doneness.

Serve immediately on a soft bun.

Mmm. That is a locally grown and butchered Delmonico steak, hot off the grill. The cow is from a farm run by a family with a young child and I buy it directly from the mom at the farmers market. I. Love. That.

Frankly, I don’t write about eating locally raised and grown food nearly as often as I should. It’s something that I am pretty passionate about and really take to heart. Each week, I shop at at least one, often two, farmers markets. In the summertime, I rarely buy anything at the grocery store.

There are so many reasons I support eating locally. For one, the food just tastes better. Produce in the grocery store is often grown thousands of miles away, picked before it’s peak and flown in. That’s why you will see rows of green bananas and piles of hard plums. You aren’t supposed to pick these things before they naturally ripen, but that is what happens. As a result, we pay for it in taste.

By eating locally, I am also buying from growers who drive mere miles to sell their meats, vegetables, fruits and herbs. It’s less impact on the environment. Furthermore, instead of handing over my dollars to a mega-market with headquarters in parts far away, the people who receive my money are literally right in front of me. My local economy can’t avoid being helped by that.

But I have to admit, it’s a hard road to eating locally for most meals. You need to know where to buy staples, where to locate specific needs and more. My progress as a local eater — and I am far from perfect at it — has been years in the making.

A few years ago, I really wanted to transform my family’s eating habits and attempt an all-local diet. I searched and made notes about where to find certain foods, restaurants that cooked with local ingredients and markets that were family owned and run locally. The one problem I had was locating local, small producers of meat.

To be fair, I found a local bacon, that is manufactured in nearby Torrington, Connecticut. It’s called Nodine’s Apple Smoke Flavored Bacon and is sold in some local markets like Caraluzzi’s. It’s among my very favorite varieties ever — a thick cut, hearty and meaty bacon that is packed with flavor. It’s crispy bliss.

But in terms of beef, chicken, pork and other meats, I came up short.

Then, earlier this summer, I happened upon a fellow Connecticut food blogger’s site, Late Bloomers Farm. It was one of those life changing finds where you are both awestuck and excited to have found exactly what you were searching for. It was like an answer to my local-eating prayers. On the site is a list of local purveyors, farms, farmers markets and more. It made up where my searching via Google and Local Harvest failed.

Since then, I have found several other Connecticut food and life bloggers like Living in a Local Zone and Local Food Rocks. (Psst! I have a list in progress on my Examiner page — did I mention that I am the Danbury Food Examiner too? I started about a month ago.)

After learning about Ox Hollow Farm on the aforementioned Late Bloomers Farm, I tracked down their booth at the Bethel Farmers Market. After one dinner of beef kabobs with their meat, I was hooked. And anyone who eats kabobs knows that the meat is notoriously tough. But it wasn’t true of this meat. Grilled up with a little barbecue sauce (which I brushed on at the very end of cooking), it was tender and juicy. Totally craveworthy.

I’ve since been making my way through their other cuts. The sweet Italian sausage, which I had a bite of at the market, was enough to make you swoon — and I rarely eat sausage. And their Delmonico steak was probably the best steak I have ever eaten. Anywhere. Bar none. The heavily marbling and thick cut grilled up to perfection, and the resulting meat was so smooth, tender, juicy and flavorful. I could be ultra-cliche and say that it was like budda … and I wouldn’t be just saying it.

Do you eat local? Why do you do it?

Sometimes I fear that my posts are starting to be too much of the same. I certainly hope that isn’t the case, but each time I sit down to write, I come from the same happy, joyous place that is grounded in the onset of spring and hopeful for the start of summer.

It was a dark winter here, too long and closed off. Between locked up windows, early nightfalls and the frigid cold that scolded our skin whenever we attempted to venture beyond the confines of our house, it was just hard. But ever since spring struck not long ago (has it been two months already?), everything has felt more open and inviting. As I write this, I can hear the laughter of my children drifting in from our little playground area and everything just seems peaceful. They are happily playing outside while Shawn grills the burgers I made. I am just so happy these days.

Let me tell you a bit about these burgers. They are juicy, with an unexpected pop of flavor. And they grill up to a perfect, round patty. Topped with a little Swiss cheese, they scream “Summer is here!” And it almost is.

So what’s the secret to a good hamburger? (Sorry, no recipe here folks, just a few good tips.)

1. Use ground beef with some fat content. I prefer 88 percent lean. Any leaner, and they tend to be a little dry. Any less lean and they can be a little greasy.
2. Before forming the patties, combine 2 tsp of Good Seasons Italian Dressing Mix with the meat. Work together until well combined … yes, with your hands.
3. When you form the patties, spread them out to the diameter you want from the center, pressing the edges in to form a clean, fat edge. When you are done, press your thumb into the center to form an indentation about 1/4 inch deep. Then grill to the desired doneness.

What’s your hamburger tip?

For more on grilling,  be sure to check out my feature story, Grilling With Fire, on SheKnows.

Finally, after reading about it again and again and again, I gave in and tried it. As it turned out, when cooked just right, this lean meat is quite tasty. I’ve since marinated and stuffed my way through many flank steaks.

Earlier this week I pulled a flank steak from our freezer, intent on making my Guiltless Beef with Broccoli. As fate (and a bit of sickness-fueled disorganization) would have it, we’d already eaten the broccoli so that idea was nixed. Instead, I went with a nuanced rub that gave a burst of zing and a hint of sweetness. Just a tiny hint. It was tender, juicy and packed with flavor. Ooh, just so good.

The kids devoured it. Shawn loved it and commented on how close it is to a skewered beef dish that he likes at a local restaurant. And me? Well, we will be having this again very soon. Loved. It.

Honey Garlic Chipotle Flank Steak
serves 6-8

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp ground pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 tsp chipotle powder
1 tbsp honey
2 lb flank steak

Stir together the olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic, chipotle and honey in a bowl. Lay the flank steak out on a large plate and rub half of the mixture into one side of the meat. Flip and rub the remainder into the other side. Place the plate in the fridge and let sit for at least three hours.

Remove the steak from the fridge and place on a broiler pan. Boil on high heat in the oven for 8-12 minutes per side, flipping once, to desired doneness. I aim for well done on the ends and medium in the middle so 10 minutes on the first side and 9 minutes on the second does that for me.

Let sit for about 10 minutes before carving against the grain into thin slices.

Serve over rice.

LEFTOVERS: Leftovers from this are a total hit. You can chop up the beef and serve atop a salad. Or slide the meat and make fajitas or burrittos. Diced meat can dress up quasadillas or even homemade nachos.

I love – LOVE – the ease of food that can do double duty. For instance, a roasted chicken like the one mentioned on the Everyday Food blog today can be Sunday dinner, Monday chicken tacos, Tuesday chicken and rice and Wednesday chicken salad. Talk about a blessing for a busy, harried mom — or any uber busy person.

That’s why I love this beef recipe. It doesn’t take long to throw together and it can feed a family of four for three meals. It’s adapted from a cookbook that I’ve had for several years, but rarely used, called Better Food for Kids. My version makes it a bit fresher and more to my style/taste.

Since you use it in different dishes, we didn’t get bored eating ground beef three times in a week. Will and Paige gobbled up the shepherd’s pie and devoured the beefy calzone that I made with this (see below for directions). And the bolognese was a huge hit too.

The recipe makes three cups of beef — three dinners worth. Now, I know, you are wondering how you can stretch three one-cup portions into three full meals for a family. Right? Actually, it’s pretty simple. Just forget the notion that protein needs to be the biggest thing on your plate. Toss that idea completely out.

Done? Okay.

Now, get used to the idea of using more vegetables and some good carbs too. It’s all about keeping meals well-rounded. A trip around the food pyramid, if you will.

So what can you do with this beef?

• Shepherd’s Pie: Mix one cup basic beef with two cups al dente vegetables in a casserole dish. Top with mashed potatoes (garlic mashed, preferably). Cook in a preheated 375 degree oven for 15-20 minutes, until potatoes begin to brown very lightly.
• Beefy Calzone for Four: Stretch one prepared pizza dough into a large rectangle. Spread one cup of cheese along the center length of the rectangle. Top with a single layer of sliced tomatoes (down the center only) and one cup of beef, then a second layer of 1 cup of beef. Cook in a preheated 400 degree oven for about 20 minutes, until golden brown.
• Bolognese Sauce: In a medium saucepan, combine one can of tomato paste with 1/2 cup of water and two large tomatoes, diced. Season with salt, pepper, basil and oregano. Add one cup of basic beef. Heat through. Serve over pasta with a salad.

Beyond these ideas, you could make beef quesadillas or burritos, serve it with rice and lots of peppers and onions, make sloppy joes . . . the possibilities are only limited with your imagination.

Enjoy!

Basic Beef
yields 3 cups
adapted from Better Food for Kids

1 lb lean ground beef
2 cloves garlic
1 medium onion
1 large tomato, diced
2 tsp dried Italian seasoning
salt and pepper, to taste

Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add the ground beef. At the same time, combine the garlic and onion in a food processor and process until chopped to a fine and uniform chop. Add to the beef and cook until the beef is browned. Pour off any excess fat.

Add tomatoes, Italian seasonings, salt and pepper to the beef mixture. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 10 minutes.