Meatballs [even I can make]
Meatballs and I have a love-hate relationship. I’m not entirely sure what happened between us, but our first dance around the kitchen ended in sloppy joes. I resigned myself at that point to never, ever try them again.
But my two year old . . .
Oh the sentences I begin with the phrase but-my-two-year-old . . .
He loves meatballs. And I can’t bring myself to do the easy thing and buy a bag of processed ones at the store because of the horse meat scandal Mike casually mentioned to me when I suggested it. [Sends shivers down my spine just thinking about it.] I can’t feed my baby horse meat. No matter how much I hate the feel of their squish between my rubber gloved fingers, for the ease of a quiet dinner at the table, I had to try again.
If these meatballs were a song, they’d be a mash up of two recipes we’ve tried. One, a meatloaf we loved, and one a BBQ meatball that was just kind of meh on it’s own. What has emerged are tiny bite size pieces of meaty wonder that are simple and zesty. Most importantly, for all those involved at MY house, they look like meatballs.
Ingredients
2 lb ground beef
2 eggs
1 package Chicken flavor Stove Top Stuffing mix
1 packet of Zesty Italian Herb Dressing (dry mix)
1 cup spaghetti sauce
1/2 cup pureed red peppers and carrots
Cooking Spray
Directions
- Preheat oven to 400F. Line a baking tray with tin foil and spray foil with cooking spray.
- Mix all ingredients thoroughly by hand in a large bowl. (I use disposable rubber gloves, because who likes the feel of raw meat under their fingernails anyway?!)
- Shape meat mixture into small balls and arrange on prepared baking tray.
- Bake 15-20 minutes until cooked through.
Meatballs can be eaten as is, thrown in a sandwich, served with additional spaghetti sauce, or dipped in BBQ. Makes approximately 80 meatballs.