Meatballs!

I apologize for posting this a day later than I expected; my dear eldest son decided to share his virus with me.  I'm so glad I've taught them to share. 

Anyway, now that you have an easy pasta sauce recipe, you really should have an easy meatball recipe to go with it.  This batch makes about 35 or so meatballs and freezes beautifully.  You can use these with pasta, in meatball subs, or just nuked out of the freezer with a little sauce for a tasty lunch.  My family thinks they have an italian sausage flavor to them; but I'm pretty sure they're a little wacky.

Here's what you should go foraging for:

Meat (I like to use a mixture of pork and beef, but you could use whatever kind you have on hand),  bread crumbs, eggs, parmesan cheese, basil, oregano (I used dried of each because I was out of fresh), and salt.

Put your meat in a bowl and give it a good mix to blend them together.

Add the bread crumbs, oregano, basil, salt, and parmesan cheese.  Give it a good stir.

Beat the eggs together in a small bowl or cup and add to the mix.

Using your hands, which I contend to be the most helpful-albeit messy-tool in your arsenal, give this a good blending. 

Once the mixture is well combined, scoop out your meatballs.  I like to use my cookie scooper to get even portions.  Scoop them out and place them on a cooling rack placed on top of a cookie sheet.  Make sure to spray those with oil to help with clean up.  I like the cooling rack/cookie sheet combination.  It gives the fat a place to drain off so I feel a little more healthy about eating meatballs.

Once you've filled your cookie sheet (you will still probably have leftover meat...and that's okay) use your hands to quickly roll the balls.  They will change from lumpy edged scoops into nice round balls and give you more room on your rack to use up the rest of the meat mixture.

Place these into a 375 degree oven.  Depending on the size of your meatballs you want these to cook for about 20 minutes or so.  Check them with a meat thermometer to be sure of a 170 degree temperature before pulling them out.

Serve these tasty morsels with your pasta sauce from yesterday, in soup, sandwiches....ah, the possiblities are endless.  Enjoy!

Meatballs

1 pound ground beef
1 pound ground pork
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, shredded or grated
1/2 cup bread crumbs
2 eggs, beaten

Combine meats well in bowl.  Add seasonings, cheese, and bread crumbs and mix well.  Add eggs and blend together.  Scoop out into balls and place on an oiled cooling rack on top of a cookie sheet.  Bake at 375 for 20 minutes or until internal temperature reaches 170 degrees.