New recipe challenge...meatballs

[Mrs_Sally]

OK, I made them and they are delicious!!! I used 1/2 beef, 1/2 pork. I cheated and used some seasoned bread crumbs because I already had them in the pantry. I added a bit of sauce to help them stick and browned them in the pan before heating through with the rest of the sauce. I have a second batch in the freezer for later this month.

This was actually MUCH easier than I expected it to be. Thanks to all of you for your help! I’ve added another to the list of family favorites!

 

[baltobetsy]

Just wanted to share my tip for freezing meatballs.

My MIL used to spoon a bunch of meatballs and sauce into a ziploc freezer bag, and it would take forever for her to thaw them in a saucepan. This inspired me to freeze mine individually in a mini muffin tin until they are hard and then pop them into a freezer bag. That way you can take out as many as you want and thaw them quickly.

It’s the home version of IQF- individually quick frozen.

Betsy

 

[Mrs_Sally]

Just wanted to share my tip for freezing meatballs.

My MIL used to spoon a bunch of meatballs and sauce into a ziploc freezer bag, and it would take forever for her to thaw them in a saucepan. This inspired me to freeze mine individually in a mini muffin tin until they are hard and then pop them into a freezer bag. That way you can take out as many as you want and thaw them quickly.

It’s the home version of IQF- individually quick frozen.

Betsy

I placed mine (raw) on a cookie sheet an inch or so apart. Once they were hard, I put them in a freezer bag. They were easy to pull out and cook through. I did end up cooking all of the second batch. But they were separate and hadn’t mashed together in the freezer.

 

[Consecrated]

I love meatballs!
I use half gr beef (lean if possible) and half Italian sausage. I break up some bread (usually hb or hd buns that didn’t get eaten), and moisten with milk (whole milk if I have it). about a half cup of moistened bread crumbs per lb of meat. An equal portion of grated parm. Add generous helpings of: minced garlic (at LEAST a Tbsp), Italian seasonings (basil, oregano, whatever you like), pepper. Salt sparingly b/c both the cheese and the sausage are already seasoned.

using a small ice cream scoop, I put them in close rows on a foil covered cookie sheet (cleanup’s a snap!) and bake at 350 til done… ~20 mins, b/c they’re not very big. I do cook thoroughly. Then I either plop them immediately into the sauce already simmering, or cool then freeze in a freezer bag.

This last batch I made, I had been at the meat counter at just the right time… they had just marked the gb and sausage way down. I made ~ 6 lbs of meatballs for about $1.60 per lb! That’s about .50cents per (generous) serving!! :dancing: I was a little proud of myself. I put them in the freezer, and now I can just pull out as many as I need and reheat with my frozen homemade (and homegrown!) sauce for dinner in minutes!

Add to that nothing but nothing makes DH happier than to know we’re having sketti and meatballs for dinner… even if we just had it the night before! lol