And One for my Husband

Meatballs!

So,while yes I eat differently, I still cook "normal" meals for my family. Although now I make them as healthy as possible. Like with this recipe, I made homemade breadcrumbs with whole wheat bread and things like that. 

When making the menu this week I thought Dan would appreciate little changes to our normal stuff. He loves spaghetti with meat sauce so I serve it a lot but he also loves meatballs so meatballs it is this week! I started with a recipe Mrs. Zak gave me but decided it wasn't what I was looking for this time. When that happens I take to Google and pretty much just took a little something from a few recipes and got this.

Fast & Easy Meatballs

1 lb lean ground beef

1 eggs, beaten

2 slices of whole wheat bread

some Italian seasonings
sea salt - 1/8 tsp-1/4 tsp 

Put the bread in your Cuisinart and pulse until well ground. Put everything else on the list into a bowl and mix well. Form into balls; makes about 12-14. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes, turn once and bake another 5. 

Swedish Meatballs

We had these for dinner Saturday night. Dan loved 'em. MaryGrace loved 'em. I thought they were so so. They are labeled an appetizer in the cookbook where I found them but we ate them as a dinner and then as sandwiches the next day for lunch. I also froze half of them to pull from the freezer at a later date because this makes about 30 pieces.

Ingredients
2 lbs lean ground beef
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 egg
2 T cream (used half and half)
1/4 cup flour
1 cup chili sauce
1/2 cup grape jelly

Mix ground beef, salt, pepper, egg, and cream together. Add just enough flour to hold mixture together. Make miniature meatballs (1/2 to 1 inch diameter) and place in a shallow baking pan in one layer. Bake at 350 for 20 mintues. Turn once to brown evenly. Drain off excess fat.

In large saucepan, combine chili sauce and grape jelly. Heat to simmering. Add meatballs, cover, and simmer for about 30 minutes.

Spaghetti and Meatballs

This is just about the meatballs though. I started making homemade sauce so I'm playing around with it. It's nothing special so I doubt I'll ever post it but the meatball, they are good! I can say that because it's not my recipe. It's a recipe from my old college roommate mother's. It's a family of great cooks and I've got a couple of really good recipes from them. I changed it a little but only because I didn't need to use 2 pounds of meat

Ingredients
1 medium sweet onion, diced extremely fine
A little less than 1 cup of grated Parmesan cheese
1/3 cup bread crumbs (I used store bought but homemade would be even better I'm sure)
1 egg
2 Tbls ketchup
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
1 tsp kosher salt
1 lbs hamburger

Directions
Mix all ingredients together, except meat, until well blended. Add meat and mix until just combines. Roll into 1 inch balls. Bake at 350 degrees about 20 minutes, turn, bake another 15 minutes.

These made the spaghetti, were a fun change, and best of all, easy!