Tasty Tender Meatballs

I have not made these in a long time. My husband was my official "Taste Tester".
He told me I was "Holding out on him." I guess I should make them more often.


INGREDIENTS

Sauce

16 oz of canned Tomato Sauce
1 tbsp Chili Powder
1 tsp Onion Powder
1/2 tsp ground Black Pepper
1 freshly pressed Garlic Clove
3 tbsp Apricot Preserves
juice from half a Lemon or 1 oz of bottled Lemon Juice


Meatballs

2 lbs Ground Turkey (or meat of your choice...for my vegan friends, you may substitute crumbled Boca Burger)
1 cup of Brown Rice Bread Crumbs (gluten free!)
2 tbsp Onion Flakes
1 freshly pressed Garlic Clove
1 tbsp Onion Powder
1 tsp ground Black Pepper
*optional a dash of Cayenne Pepper, and a dash of White Pepper
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 eggs
1/2 cup ketchup

DIRECTIONS

Sauce
1. In a heavy bottomed sauce pan, add tomato sauce, chili powder, onion powder, pepper, garlic, apricot preserves and lemon juice.
2. Set to medium heat and stir periodically for 15 to 20 minutes. Set aside to top meatballs.

Meatballs
1. Add bread crumbs, onion flakes, garlic, onion powder, pepper to ground meat.
2. Mix well.
3. Add soy sauce, eggs, and ketchup to ground meat. Mix Well.

*Tip Run hands under cold water to prevent the meat from sticking to palms before forming the meat balls.

4. Using a medium stainless steel scoop will ensure that the meatballs are relatively uniform in size. Form the balls. Add them to a lightly oiled baking dish.
5. Cook the meatballs for 20 minutes to render any fat. I preferred to transfer the cooked meatballs to another dish before adding the warm sauce.
6. Pour Sauce over Meatballs. Cook for an additional 10 to 20 minutes.
You could move these to a chafing dish.

We were able to get about 25 meatballs from this recipe. If you plan to serve these as appetizers, you could use a smaller stainless steel scoop.

These meatballs make perfect appetizers. They are delicious on hoagie rolls with provolone and topped with Parmesan cheese. Of course they go great with pasta. On the night I prepared these, we simply ate them with rice.

Enjoy!

Sauce



















MeatBalls