Don't ever let me catch you, my loyal blogfollowers saying to yourselves,,"I don't know what to cook tonight,
or I'm sick of making the same old thing." Open your pantry, open your refrigerator, the answer may be
right in front of you.  A well planned trip to the market or supermarket should net you everything you need
to be creative throughout the week.  Life's short...make it fun...with everything in everyone's world that
weighs down on us with uber-stress..try not to let dining or cooking be one of them.. You have to eat at
least a few times a day...make all or one of those times a stress free zone for yourself.  Remove the
stress, and even the most challenged cook will become creative.  Nice essay I just wrote...what's the
point you're asking..Point is..after a day of work, and then a "fun" trip to get medicine and a blood test
for Lyme Disease at the doctor's, I needed to have a little fun.  For me, 95% of the time, the planning,
creating, cooking and serving a meal is fun...but I do appreciate that for many it is just a great big
nuisance standing in the way of after work and going to bed.  Try this, open your refrigerator and there
should be your inspiration.  No additional shopping, just use what you have.  Tonight was again one of
those nights.  I had some fresh Italian Sweet Fennel Pork Sausage links, saw a pile of fresh spinach,
a small piece of fontina...I love rolling ingredients into ground meat and creating new kinds of meatballs
so...as you can see in the pic above...I created a fontina Spinach and Pork meatballs.  But, being
the obsessive-compulsive I am, needed to do something more with it...there were a few mushrooms,
1/2 a red onion...and I thought...if I add some fresh basil and balsamic with the olive oil...I can make a
sauce and after frying the balls...let them simmer in the sauce and serve it over pasta of some sort.
Now wasn't that fun?  (are you a. mocking me?  b. shutting off your computer?).  Well I'm going to
believe that you are reading on.  The dish turned out like this:
Fancy? Nope...one of the things I do, and you can too if you start reading regional and International cookbooks, going to ethnic markets and restaurants, and if possible traveling, is to try an keep with ingre-
dients that will regioinally marry well together.  The template (big word) for this recipe was Central/Northern
Italian.  Fontina, Spinach, Balsamic, onions, pork sausage, pasta...all things that are very regional from
Tuscany up thru the Val D'Aosta provinces of Italy.  And Mr. Lazybones didn't want to make a main course, and a side dish tonight..so...the vegetables went into the meatballs and the sauce.  OK, I do this all the time
and maybe this is too much thinking for a weeknight meal..but..practice...in a few months time you'll feel like
you are doing a top notch cooking show every night. 
To make the meatballs get 5 good quality Italian Sweet Fennel Sausages, slit the casings, and remove the meat. In a large bowl, beat 1 egg, add 4 slices of bread,( crusts removed, soaked in milk or water, squeeze all the liquid out,), 1 1/2 cups of finely chopped fresh cleaned spinach leaves, 1/4 cup finely diced fontina
(note about fontina..for this dish use the Italian Fontina..it's a cow's milk, sweet and mild, a little nutty, 
a specialty of the dairy Alpine regions of Italy, most precisely the Val D'Aosta, and it melts beautifully and
is very creamy, yes..I love Fontina), 1/2 tsp. ground black pepper, 2 tbs unseasoned breadcrumbs, 2 finely minced garlic cloves, 3 tbs. grated Parmigiano-Reggiano.  No salt..the cheese and the sausage meat are already salted.  Important
thing to remember, or your balls will be salty (no one wants salty balls..just sayin).  Blend all of this well
together and let it sit for about 15 minutes.  Form into balls, this will make around 25ish..1 to 1 1/2 inch 
balls, no bigger.  Saute' them in a wide frying pan in some olive oil.  Let them brown well on all sides,
should take about 10 minutes.  Remove them with a slotted spoon and keep them warm.  Dice 1/4 
of a red onion, add it to the pan which you've place back on the fire.  When the onions get translucent
(about 5-8 minutes) then add 3 finely diced mushrooms.  Let them cook for about 5 minutes.  Now add
3 tbs. of Balsamic Vinegar.  Deglaze the pan and cook for about 3 minutes. Now add 1/8 cup of good
beef stock, or vegetable stock, or water.  Taste for seasoning.  Now add the meatballs back in and let
this reduce to 1/2 its' volume..let's say...10 minutes.  Keep your flame on simmer.
 
While your balls are simmering...Cook 1 lb. of Cappellini, or Spaghetti or Linguine  Fini according to
the directions...drain.  Toss this with the meatballs which now have cooked fully and are tender and
moist.

Add some more extra virgin olive oil, torn basil leaves, and a good grating of
Parmigiano-Reggiano...(no pecorino here...) and a pinch of ground nutmeg. Serves 6.
An imaginative creation born from a stress free mindset...yes..you can do this too...remember,,
have fun with what you are cooking, that will show up on a plate as something that really tastes
good!