Meatball Mania

I want to reiterate that if you are looking for fancy, fat free, gluten free, low/slow carb, whatever recipes, you’re probably reading the wrong blog.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for healthy eating and sticking to your own dietary restrictions, but I’m going to be blunt with you — I really love food.  Certainly you will find some healthy meals here (when I pretend that I am a civilized adult who needs to eat proper meals,) but it is by no means the focus!

I’ve had some food-heartbreaks ever since moving in with my Italian boyfriend, who, like every Italian man on the planet, loves nothing more than his mother’s cooking (see: I can’t even make lasagna without him making gentle suggestions that I ask his mom how she does it.)  I have, however, found success in breaking this mold with meatballs.  I thought I’d start my blog off with truly one of the easiest things I make, because I’ve found a lot of people really don’t realize how simple meatballs are.

You will need:

1 lb ground beef

1/4 cup bread crumbs (I use Italian seasoned)

1/8 cup grated parmesan (as much as it pains me — the pre-grated, dry kind, i.e. Kraft, really is the best for this)

1 egg

1 tbsp fresh minced garlic

salt, pepper, & italian seasoning to taste

Pre-heat your oven to 350.

Here’s where it gets complicated, guys.  Throw all of these things into a large bowl, and literally just smoosh them together.  Get your hands dirty and get it all evenly combined.

Roll meat into 1/2 inch balls, and place them on a foil-lined cookie sheet.  Bake for about 20 minutes.

While these are baking, begin to simmer whatever type of sauce you like (at a later date, we will explore breaking away from your jar sauce and making some from scratch– I promise you’ll love it!) at a low heat.

Remove meatballs from the oven and place them into the sauce.  Cover sauce pan and let them simmer on low heat for literally as long as you want (ok… maybe not literally, but I typically let them hang out for 45 minutes to an hour, so the sauce it extra meat-y tasting,) stirring occasionally.

Voila!  You have delicious meatballs, ready to serve.  I’m not a huge onion fan, but if you like onions, feel free to dice ’em up and mix ’em into the meat.  Throw these over some angel hair and you’ve got a pretty easy meal.