Foodbuzz Tastemaker: Mexican Meatballs with Sticky Pace Picante Sauce

Thanks to Foodbuzz Tastemaker program I was given the opportunity to test out Pace's Picante sauce. I chose to use it in a sauce for Mexican style meatballs. These would be great for a party, like the Super Bowl, since they're small and appetizer appropriate. It also made the Foodbuzz Flavor of the Month, and is my entry for Foodbuzz' Pace recipe contest.

The picante sauce is like salsa, only smoother in texture to make cooking with it easier. It blends into sauces or meat better without sacrificing the taste of salsa. It also is truly mild. There may be just a faint hint of heat, but it's not in any way hot. I also felt it was a bit watery, as a puree of tomatoes would be, so you'll want to take that into consideration if you use it for cooking.

You can find Pace products at your local grocery store.

I knew I wanted to use the sauce for a Super Bowl themed recipe, since I'll be submitting it to Facebook's contest, so I just needed to come up with a good way to feature the sauce. And what better way to do that than a sticky picante sauce for meatballs! You could also use this for wings, too, because it's very versatile.

The sauce consists of equal portions of sugar, water, apple cider vinegar and the Pace picante sauce along with chili, garlic, onion powder and salt. Whisk the mixture together and cook at a continuous boil/simmer for 30 minutes until the sauce reduces by about half and takes on the consistency of a thick glaze. This is like a simple barbecue-esque Mexican-style sauce with a back note of spiciness.

For the meatballs, you take ground turkey, finely chopped onion and jalapeno, minced garlic, breadcrumbs, oregano, cumin, and salt, a packet of Goya seasoning, and an egg and mix it all together. These meatballs are light and packed with flavor. I chose to use ground turkey since it has a lighter flavor than ground beef, and is healthier.

Roll the turkey mixture into tablespoons-sized balls, cook on both sides in a skillet with olive oil, and place on a rimmed baking sheet. This can also be done ahead of time, either by mixing the turkey to portion later, or cooking the meatballs and finishing them with the sauce later.

I finish off the meatballs in the oven, covering with half the sauce and baking for 10 minutes, then flipping over and topping with the remaining sauce and cooking another 20 minutes to let the sauce saturate into the meatballs. The result is a glaze that coats the meatballs thoroughly with the flavor infusing throughout.

Alternatively, you could also finish off the meatballs by cooking in the sauce on the stove, or a crock pot if so desired.

Serve with slices of jalapeno and you're ready to party! You could also make some rice to use for a heftier meal.

If you're looking for a healthy party dish with a different flavor, here it is! The sauce is versatile and can be used in many ways, so pick up a bottle of Pace Picante and get cooking.

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Mexican Meatballs with Sticky Pace Picante Sauce
Recipe by Christina Provo

Yield: 5 appetizer portions

ingredients -

1 8 ounce jar Pace Picante Sauce
1 cup water
1 cup apple cider vinegar
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
3/4 teaspoon coarse salt
1 pound ground turkey
1/2 cup unseasoned breadcrumbs
1/2 cup finely chopped white onion
2 jalapenos, seeded, deveined, and finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 large egg, room temperature
1 teaspoons coarse salt
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
Additional jalapenos, sliced, for garnish

directions -

1. In a medium pot, whisk together Pace Picante sauce, water, apple cider vinegar, sugar, chili, garlic, and onion powders and salt. Bring to a boil over medium high heat, then reduce to medium and let simmer continuously for 35 minutes or until reduced by half and thickened to a glaze.


2. In a bowl, thoroughly mix ground turkey with remaining ingredients, except olive oil additional jalapenos. Using a 1 tablespoon measuring spoon, portion into level tablespoons and roll into balls.


3. Preheat oven to 375°. Heat a large skillet over medium heat with olive oil. When ready, add around 15 meatballs and cook for 1-2 minutes or until the bottoms get a nice, golden brown sear. Flip meatballs over and cook for another 30 second to 1 minute, until the bottoms are golden brown. Remove to a rimmed baking sheet and repeat with remaining meatballs.


4. When all meatballs are cooked, spoon half the sauce on top, covering as evenly as possible. Bake for 10 minutes; remove from oven and flip over. Top with remaining sauce and bake for 20 minutes. Spoon onto a serving dish, pouring juice from the sheet on top, and serve with jalapeno slices.

Foodbuzz Tastemaker: Buitoni Riserva Shrimp & Lobster Ravioli

Don't forget to enter the lifetime supply of dry peas & lentils giveaway

Thanks to Foodbuzz' Tastemaker program and Buitoni, I had the opportunity to test Buitoni's new premium frozen meal lines thanks to a coupon. I chose to test the Shrimp & Lobster with Garlic Butter Sauce because I love seafood, and the box says it's made with real Maine lobster. The ingredient list lists shrimp third and and lobster meat eighth, plus there's a lobster base further down the list. Overall, the ingredient list wasn't too bad, and most of the items were recognizable.

This is a "complete meal for two", with about 7-8 ravioli per person. Included is a packet of ravioli and a sauce packet. The sauce packets is added to the pot of water that's heated to a boil, then the ravioli are stirred in and cooked for a quick 5 minutes. Spoon the ravioli out into a bowl, open the sauce packet (carefully, because it'll be hot) and pour on top and toss to coat (I added the parsley on my own). Pretty simple.

Firstly, I was pleased with the amount of lobster and shrimp the ravioli had, and that's always a good sign because oftentimes the main ingredients are rather skimpy. The flavor was good, and the ricotta filling wasn't overpowering to the flavor of the seafood. Unfortunately, I felt that the garlic butter sauce overwhelmed the flavors of the filling, and you couldn't quite taste the shrimp or lobster when you ate the ravioli with the sauce. The sauce tasted as good as you would expect from a frozen meal, but if it had been a bit lighter, to allow the filling to be highlighted, I would have enjoyed it more. Honestly, though, the consistency and taste almost reminded me of the garlic dipping sauce you get with pizza.

Here you can see more of the filling. I found myself enjoying the ravioli sans sauce more than altogether.

So I didn't hate this, but it wasn't remarkable enough to make me want to buy it again. Thanks to Foodbuzz Tastemaker and Buitoni for letting me review their product!

Tastemakers: Nature's Pride Bread

Part of being a member of Foodbuzz means having the opportunity to participate in different programs. The latest offer from the Tastemaker Program is to sample bread from Nature's Pride, a 100% whole wheat loaf and the 12-grain loaf (contains white flour), both of which fall under the "hearty breads" category.

Nature's Pride gives you loaves of bread that are 100% natural, contain no artificial ingredients, high fructose corn syrup, or trans fat. I'm guessing there must be natural preservatives since the ingredient list is still rather long, though.

Sunflower seeds

For the taste test, I cut a slice of each in half and toasted two halves. The texture of the untoasted pieces were spongy and springy, but I didn't feel that carried over to the taste of the bread, being on the verge of dryness more than moistness. I tasted the molasses in the whole wheat bread, though it wasn't strong, and the 12-grain slice had a rather raw taste to it.

The reason I opted to toast two pieces is because toasting sometimes brings out the flavor of the bread more (kind of odd considering how the bread is already cooked, yet it actually does taste different). I preferred the 12-grain bread toasted since it seems that the sunflower seeds were untoasted, and it kind of brought the flavors together and got rid of whatever raw taste I was tasting. On the other hand, there wasn't much of a taste difference with the toasted piece of whole wheat, really just a deepened toastiness.

Looking at the bags of store bought bread at home, Nature's Pride is one of the brands I get, but the soft loaves instead of the hearty loaves (the soft loaf is shaped more like a traditional slice of bread, i.e., not as wide, the size of the loaf is smaller, and it's not double wrapped), and I prefer that more since it is moister. Not a bad bread at all, though I'd most likely only buy it on sale when I don't make bread.