Slow Cooker Party Meatballs!

These "Slow Cooker Party Meatballs" are great to serve for parties, on game day, or just any time you have a bunch of people over!  We hosted a bridal shower for my nephew and his bride to be a few weekends ago and served these!  They are delicious and so easy!  I like to serve things like this for parties, because they pretty much just take care of themselves and they are easy for your guests to eat!

 Here is what you will need:

1 cup grape juice

1 cup apple jelly

1 cup ketchup

1 (8 oz.) can of tomato sauce

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper (optional)

1 (64 oz.) bag of fully cooked frozen Italian meatballs

***You can make your own homemade meatballs.  Just brown them really well before you put them in the slow cooker and cut the time to 4-5 hours!

Combine all of the ingredients except the meatballs in a saucepan, cook on medium low just until the jelly and the brown sugar have dissolved.  The cayenne is optional, because I know some don't care for any heat at all.  I like just a touch in these.  

Place the frozen meatballs in a slow cooker.  Meatballs usually come in two sizes, 1 ounce and 1/2 ounce.  For this, I prefer the 1/2 ounce size, because it's  just the right size bite and it stays on a pick or fork easier!   Pour the sauce over all and set the slow cooker for 5-6 hours on low!  All slow cookers tend to vary, so use your judgment, but they really don't overcook if you go to the six hours!  

For casual get-togethers, serve right from the slow cooker to keep them warm.  For more formal affairs, you might want to place them in a chafing dish!  These will disappear fast!  

Swedish Meatballs!

"Swedish Meatballs" is a dish we grew up eating.  I am not really sure why, because we are not Swedish and these are not really a 'southern' kind of thing, but Mama must have seen the recipe someplace and gave it a whirl and they were delicious.  This is my own take on Swedish Meatballs.  I have sort of changed them up just a bit from the more traditional recipes.  Most of the recipes have spices in them like allspice and nutmeg.  I do not care for those type of spices in savory dishes. It just tastes odd to me.  I don't even like nutmeg in sweet desserts all that much, but can tolerate a bit of it now and then.  However, if you want to add those spices, go for it, but I wouldn't add more than a 1/4 teaspoon of each.

Here is what you will need:

1 1/2 lbs. ground chuck

2 eggs, beaten

1/4 cup half and half cream

1/3 cup Panko bread crumbs (can use regular bread crumbs, if you don't have these)

1/2 tsp. seasoned salt

1/4 tsp. black pepper

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

1/4 cup olive or vegetable oil

4 Tbs. butter

1/4 cup onion, finely chopped

1/4 cup flour

2 cups beef broth

1  (10.25 oz.) cream of mushroom soup

1 cup water

2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

2 tsp. soy sauce

1/2 tsp. seasoned salt

1/2 tsp. black pepper

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

1 cup sour cream

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

Place the ground chuck, eggs and milk in a large mixing bowl and combine.  Add the Panko bread crumbs, seasoned salt, black pepper, and garlic powder.   Combine until it's all incorporated, but don't over work them. If you work meatballs too much, they tend to become too tight and are dry.



Here is a tip on getting fairly uniform sized meatballs. Place the meat in a square shape on a sheet of parchment or wax paper and then with a pizza cutter, cut in equal squares. Then you can just roll each one into a ball.  I don't like to make these huge so they can soak up more of the rich sauce.  I made these each about 1 inch or the size a bit larger than an English Walnut.

Heat the 1/4 cup oil in a skillet with a lid or a Dutch oven.  Place the meatballs in the oil and brown well on all sides.  You need to turn them quite frequently so they don't burn and get an even browning.  Once they are all brown, remove to a plate

 If the beef rendered too much grease, pour most of it off, leave about 2 or 3 tablespoons for flavor.  Add the 4 tablespoons of butter to the pan.  Saute the diced onion, until translucent.  Sprinkle in the flour and cook for about a minute. Slowly whisk in the beef broth, mushroom soup and the water.  Bring this up to a boil, stirring constantly.  It will start to tighten up and thicken.  Turn to simmer when you can tell it is thickening.  Add the seasoned salt, black pepper, and garlic powder.   Temper the cup of sour cream, but placing it in a bowl and slowly stirring in a little of the sauce at a time and incorporating it.  This brings the temperature of the cold sour cream up slowly so that when you add it to the sauce it doesn't break and ruin your smooth gravy.  Once the sour cream is added to the sauce, place the meatballs back in the pan and cover with the sauce.  Make sure to keep the heat on a low simmer, so that it doesn't boil again once the sour cream is added.  Cover and simmer for about 30 minutes.

Plate over egg noodles, mashed potatoes, or rice!  Once plated, sprinkle with the fresh parsley!

Serve and sit back and wait for the compliments!













Cheese Stuffed Meatballs!

I love a good homemade meatball and I have experimented with many different recipes and cooking methods, but I think these are some of my favorites.   Pizza Hut with their cheese stuffed crust pizza has nothing on these meatballs because they have a hunk of mozzarella stuffed right in the middle of them.  This makes them really moist and yummy and if you have your kids help making these, they love to 'hide' that cheese in the middle.   These are perfect for spaghetti and meatballs, meatball subs, or even cut in half and used in pizza casserole or lasagna.   Here are the ingredients:

1 1/2 lb. ground chuck (ground beef is too fatty)
1/2 lb sausage (Italian or just breakfast sausage, you can also just use 1/2 lb ground pork) 
3/4 cup Italian bread crumbs
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1 pkg. dry Italian salad dressing mix
2 tsp. dry basil
1 tsp. dry oregano
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
2 eggs
1/4 cup pasta sauce, tomato sauce, or ketchup
8 oz. block of mozzarella cheese cut in bite size cubes

Since I have a ton of fresh basil and oregano, I substituted about 1/4 cup of each of the fresh herbs that I snipped in small pieces with my kitchen shears.  You have to use more of the fresh herbs than the dried ones.  The dried herb's flavor is more concentrated.

For the pork, I used my old standby Purnell's medium flavored breakfast sausage.  Italian sausage would be great also, but guys don't like the taste as well.  Purnell's make an Italian sausage packaged just like the breakfast sausage also which would work great in these, but this is what I used:

Best sausage on the market...I promise! 

 

Beat your eggs slightly in a large mixing bowl.  Crumble the ground chuck and the sausage over the eggs.  Add all of the other ingredients except the fresh herbs and the mozzarella cheese cubes.  Mix it all up lightly to combine, but don't over mix.  Put your snipped herbs in and incorporate them.  If you are using dried herbs, you can just add everything at once and mix.   When you mix meatballs, use a light touch.  You want them mixed but loosely...don't pack them tight or mix them to death, because it will result in a tough too dense meatball. You do have to mix them to a point though or they will fall apart. 

This is what your mixture will look like.  You really have to use your hands to do this.  If that makes you queasy, get you a box of gloves to wear in the kitchen.  It's more sanitary and keeps it off of you.

I use my smaller ice cream scoop to scoop the meatballs up.  It helps to keep them uniform in size.  I don't like a huge meatball so these are a little smaller than a golf ball.  You do have to scoop enough meat to cover the cheese cube.

Cube the mozzarella cheese into bite size cubes.  Make sure the cheese is cold, it cuts better and it is less likely to  not cook out of the meatball.

Roll your meat ball and then stick a cheese cube in the center.  Wrap the meat around the cube to completely cover.

Place these on a cookie sheet or pizza pan sprayed with nonstick cooking spray.  I lined mine with nonstick Reynolds wrap...best thing ever invented.   You can slide these back in the fridge until you are ready to cook them or cook them right away.  I do think that the cheese stays in the middle better if they are chilled.  Place these in a preheated 400 degree oven on the top rack for 30 minutes. 

Halfway through the baking time, take a spoon and turn each meatball over to brown on the other side.  If you don't do this, you will have a meatballs with one flat side and one rounded side.

You can put these right in the spaghetti sauce you are using once made or just put the number people want on each serving of spaghetti and then cover with the sauce, which is what I do. They are great for meatball subs also.