Easy Weeknight Meal - Meatballs

Like most teachers, I work more than 40 hours a week.  When I come home, I am not always in the mood to cook.  So I am always on the look out for easy and fast recipes.  Today I want to share one with you.

Meatballs are a favorite in my house because, not only are they easy and fast, but they can be put with many different things.  Throw them together with spaghetti, eat them alone, put them in BBQ sauce, make a meatball sub, etc.  

I made them the other night and put them with a salad.  Super easy.  I throw all the ingredients into my mixer and then shape them how I want them.  You can shape them into little meatballs (see picture), make large ones for spaghetti, or they don't even need to be shaped.  You can put them in a pan, cook the meat, and then cut the meat into pieces.

So let's get started!  This recipe is based off of a Betty Crocker recipe, but I have modified it slightly and added my own notations.

Grab your ingredients.  You will need:

• 1 lb. ground beef (You can substitute turkey or chicken as well.)
• 2 Italian sausage links (I like the mild.)
• 1/2 cup Italian-Style bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 tsp. pepper
• Dried Onion to taste (I am not a fan of fresh onion, so I use dried onion and when I do, it is very little, but if you love onion, you may want to use a small fresh onion.)
• 1 egg

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl.  I throw everything into my KitchenAid Stand Mixer, but you can hand mix too.  For the Italian sausage, you will need to remove it from the casing.  You want the flavors from the sausage to mix with the ground beef.

 

3. Shape the meat mixture into balls that are about 1-1 1/2 inches.  Place in oven-safe dish.  I use a glass Pyrex pan.  I don't grease the pan.  The fat from the meat makes it easy to release.

4. Bake uncovered 18-22 minutes.  I usually start with 20 minutes and they are perfect.

5. Serve.

Some other thoughts for this recipe.

• I have frozen these meatballs as leftovers and they seem to freeze well as long as you freeze in an airtight container.
• The amount of leftovers depends on the size of meatballs you make.
• If you make larger meatballs, you will need to adjust bake time.

Good luck!  What weekday recipes do you go to?