Speedy Meatball Stew

This quick and easy weeknight meal from Cheap. Fast. Good!
came together in a matter of minutes with very little effort.

The only thing that you have to chop for this recipe is an onion. Oh, and you have to mince a clove of garlic if you're not using the bottled stuff. Saute the onion in a couple of teaspoons of olive oil until tender, and then toss in the garlic and cook for a minute or two longer.



Next I added about 24 pre-cooked meatballs to the onions and garlic. Cook and stir for a few minutes to warm up the meatballs.

*You can use meatballs purchased in the freezer section of your local grocery. I make a big batch of meatballs every so often, then package them in bags of 12 and freeze. You can find my meatball recipe in this post about meatball sliders HERE. I love having meatballs on hand for quick dinners like spaghetti and meatballs, Swedish meatballs, meatball subs, and quick appetizers. For this recipe, I just pulled two bags from the freezer and let them thaw on the counter top while I gathered the other ingredients.

Once the meatballs are warmed, pour in water, broth, and Marsala cooking wine. Bring the mixture to a boil.



Then add a bag of frozen mixed veggies. Return the stew to a boil and cook for about 10 minutes, until the veggies are cooked through.



While the veggies cook, prepare a packet of brown gravy according to the microwave directions on the package. Stir the gravy into the stew. Cook, stirring until the stew thickens slightly, then reduce the heat and simmer for another 5 to 10 minutes. I thought this stew needed to be a little thicker, so I stirred together a couple of tablespoons of cornstarch with cold water and added that to the mixture to thicken it up a bit more.




When you're ready to serve, place some steamed rice in each soup bowl and ladle the stew over the top. This recipe lived up to the name of the book it came from. It was cheap, fast, and good...and my family liked it too!



Speedy Meatball Stew adapted from Cheap. Fast. Good!

1 cup long grain rice
16-20 oz. frozen mixed vegetables
24 already-cooked meatballs (thawed if frozen)
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 14 oz. can fat free beef broth
1/4 cup Marsala wine
1 envelope brown gravy mix

1. Prepare rice according to package directions
2. Heat oil in a soup pot over medium heat. Add onion and saute until tender. Add in the garlic and cook and stir for another minute or two until the garlic is fragrant. Stir in the meatballs. Cook and stir until warmed through.
3. Add in 1/2 cup of water, broth, and wine. Bring to a boil.
4. Add the frozen vegetables. Return the mixture to a boil and cook for 8-10 minutes until the vegetables are cooked through.
5. Prepare the gravy mix in the microwave according to package directions
6. Stir the gravy into the stew. Cook, stirring for 1 minute until the stew thickens slightly, then simmer for 5-10 minutes.

Serve over rice.

Notes: The original recipe called for 8 oz of sliced button mushrooms. These would have been a good addition to the stew, but I didn't have any. If you decide to make this with the mushrooms, add them to the sauteed mushrooms and garlic, before adding the meatballs. Also, this stew was a little thin for my taste, so I stirred in 2-3 tablespoons of cornstarch mixed with the same amount of cold water and added it to the stew, then cooked and stirred until thickened.

Krista's Kitchen Quick Fire Winner: Tracy's Porcupine Balls

Last week, I issued my second "Quick Fire Challenge" on the Krista's Kitchen Facebook page. I do this when I have an ingredient that I'd like to use. Plus, I really like to read about what everyone else "out there" is cooking. This recipe caught my attention for a number of reasons: One, because it was such an interesting way to use ground beef. I've never heard of Rice-a-Roni meatballs. Two, because it sounded simple and only used 4 ingredients. Three, because my kiddos always eat meatballs. And four, honestly...the name made me laugh. I know, I know, the name comes from the prickly looking texture created by the Rice-a-Roni, but the juvenile aspect of my sense of humor couldn't help but laugh like Beavis and Butthead whenever I mentioned the name of this recipe.

Here's how it all came together:

First, combine a pound of ground beef with an egg, some onion flakes, and salt and pepper.



Once you've mashed that all together, pour in the rice/vermicelli mixture (save the seasoning packet). I used a cheaper version of Rice-a-Roni that I found at ALDI. I began by stirring this together with a wooden spoon, but ended up using my hands to squish it all together.



Roll the mixture into balls and transfer to a skillet.



Saute the meatballs until brown on all sides. You'll wanted to stir/flip them a bit while they cook. I drained of the excess fat after the browning process.



Now add in the recommended amount of water from the rice box. This one called for 2 1/2 cups. Stir in the seasoning packet. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Cover and cook for 20-30 minutes until most of the liquid is absorbed.



I don't know why I needed to serve these with Brussels sprouts, but from the minute that I decided to prepare this recipe, I knew that I was making Brussels sprouts for our veggie. Maybe I needed conformity. A whole dinner, rolling around on my plate. It just seemed right.



Okay, here is the bottom line: These were really easy to make and the Porcupine Balls and accompanying gravy created in the cooking process were really flavorful. However, these made for a meatball that is more dense and a little chewier than I am accustomed to. The texture and ahem...the cross section of these kind of "weirded me out". See?



Not that any of these personal hang-ups stopped me from eating 5 or 6 for dinner, but the whole time I was thinking, "Interesting. Do I love them or not? The flavor is there, but I'm not sure about the texture." I was still thinking about them when I climbed into my friend's car after dinner to go to Mom's Night at our daughters' pre-school. I just had to tell my friend all about them. She suggested that I let her sample this recipe. When we returned home, I re-heated a few and let her and her daughter give them a try. They loved these! Seriously, loved them. She even called me later to talk about all of the applications for these Porcupine Balls...sandwiches, teriyaki-style appetizers, Italian Wedding Soup. So, thank you Tracy...for an easy and thought provoking recipe and for making my friend (and her daughter) so happy.

Tracy's Porcupine Balls

1 lb. ground beef
1 egg
Onion flakes, a couple of shakes (I used a little more...around a tablespoon)
salt and pepper, to taste
1 package Rice a Roni rice/vermicelli mix, beef flavored
water

Combine the ground beef, egg, minced onion, and salt and pepper. Stir in the rice mixture, reserve the seasoning packet. Form into balls. In a skillet, saute until browned. Drain. Add the recommended amount of water from the box. Stir in the seasoning packet. Bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for 20-30 minutes until most of the liquid is absorbed and a nice gravy has formed around the meatballs.

Thai Beef Meatballs with Peanut Dipping Sauce

Saturday nights are often game night in this house. We put the kids to bed and our friends come over to play cards, board games, or Wii games. Last week we played my favorite card game, Euchre. My fellow Euchre enthusiasts may want to click the link for a little history lesson. Did you know that Euchre was once considered the national card game? Check it out! These days, I think Euchre is mostly played in the Midwest. I grew up playing this game at family dinners, the county fair, youth trips...just about anywhere! I'm curious, how many of you play Euchre?

I'm always on the look out for new recipes to try out on our friends for these game nights. In the past year, game night has brought us favorites such as Spicy Cheeseburger Dip, Cajun Seafood Bread, and Sesame, Asparagus and Caramelized Onion Bruschetta. Tonight's featured game night recipe brings us Thai Meatballs with Peanut Dipping Sauce. When I came across this recipe in The Mixer Bible: Over 300 Recipes for Your Stand Mixer, I knew that I wanted to give it a try. One, because it utilized my new mixer attachments and I hadn't yet tried out the meat grinder. Two, because I love the flavors in Thai food. And three, because in the past year, I've become a meatball-making pro and I wanted to add another recipe to my "balls of meat" repertoire. Meatball recipes consistently make more than we can eat in one meal and they freeze well. This recipe was perfect for me! And it was good too, especially with the peanut-coconut milk-red curry dipping sauce. Mmmm.

Meatball ingredients: 1 lb. ground beef, garlic, fresh mint, fresh cilantro, fish sauce, Thai red curry paste, 1 egg, and bread crumbs.



Mix the ingredients together.



Run it through the grinder. Honestly, I probably didn't need to run this through the grinder. I could have just stirred it all together. I began with beef that was already ground. The recipe called for boneless chuck or cross rib. I was supposed to run cut up meat through the grinder, then mix with the other ingredients and grind again. All of this was un-necessary for me, but I wanted to see my new meat grinder in action, so I ran it through just once. As I watched the meat squeeze through the grinder openings, I was thinking how "cool" it is that I have the capability to grind up big cuts of meat into hamburger or turkey burgers or sausage. Oooh...sausage. Look for that one of these days. I've gotta try to make my own sausage. Here's my grinder in action. Probably not the most appetizing shot in this series...



Mix in the egg and bread crumbs. The recipe called for fresh bread crumbs, but to make this a little quicker, I didn't take time to make bread crumbs. I used the pre-packaged crumbs from my pantry and cut back the amount by 1/4 cup, since they are drier and I didn't want the meatballs to end up dry and crumbly.



Form into 1-1/4" meatballs. I didn't measure mine. If you use a tablespoon to scoop up the meat it makes an average-sized meatball. Place the meatballs on a baking sheet. Bake at 450 degrees for 8-10 minutes until the meatballs are no longer pink inside. I mixed up the dipping sauce while these were baking. It's only 5 ingredients, no chopping...just dump, cook, and stir.



And that's it. So easy. So good. So perfect for game night.



Here's the recipe:

Thai Beef Meatballs with Peanut Dipping Sauce from The Mixer Bible: Over 300 Recipes for Your Stand Mixer revised by me

Meatballs:

1 lb. lean ground beef
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/4 cup fresh chopped mint
1/4 fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons fish sauce
2 teaspoons Thai red curry paste
1 egg, lightly beaten
3/4 cup bread crumbs

Peanut Dipping Sauce:

1 cup coconut milk (I used light)
1 tablespoon light brown sugar
1 tablespoon Thai red curry paste
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter (I used creamy, it's what I had in my pantry)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Combine meatball ingredients. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Run through the meat grinder (if you don't have a grinder, just mix it up really well). Mix in egg and bread crumbs until well combined. Form mixture into meatballs and place on a baking sheet, 1/2 in. apart. Bake for 8-10 minutes until golden and no longer pink inside.

Meanwhile, prepare the sauce: In a small saucepan, combine coconut milk, sugar, curry paste, and fish sauce. Bring to a gentle boil over medium heat for 3 minutes. Add peanut butter and cook, stirring, until peanut butter is well blended.

Place meatballs on a serving platter and serve warm with dipping sauce.


Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

To print this recipe just click here!

Meatball Sliders

Oh ho ho....meatball sliders! Where have these been all my life!? From the moment that Colleen from Colleen's Recipes typed this comment about my Meatballs in Tomato Basil Cream Sauce, "Congratulations on making your own meatballs! Now nothing can hold you back....meatball subs, meatball sliders, sweet & sour meatballs..." I have wanted to try my hand at meatball sliders. I'd never heard of such a thing, but they sounded irresistible. Plus, I took her advice on the meatball subs and boy, were they good! I knew that she wouldn't steer me...or should I say us (my family loved these) wrong. Albeit messy, these are the perfect size for little hands and ridiculously good.

The first time that I ever made meatballs, only a couple of months ago, I used Kraft Food & Family's "Best Meatballs" recipe. It was super easy. Just 4 ingredients (not counting salt and pepper): ground beef, Stovetop stuffing, eggs, and water. Now that I've gotten the hang of it, I decided to make my own meatball recipe. Plus, I was out of Stovetop and I had 3 containers of bread crumbs chillin' in my pantry. Last time I made a big batch of meatballs and froze most of them so that I ended up with 3-4 meals outta one batch of meatballs. I knew that I wanted to make lots o' meatballs again so that I'd have extra for future meals or appetizers. Because I'm not sure what I want to do with all of these meatballs yet, I wanted to make them sort of generic. That is, not too Italian. This way I can go Asian, Italian, or even Southwestern with the sauce and the meatballs will be flavorful, yet not overpowering and out of place. Does that make any sense?

Here's what I did:

I mixed 2 cups of bread crumbs (1 cup Italian, 1 cup plain), milk, water, Kosher salt, fresh ground pepper, 4 eggs, minced garlic, finely chopped onion, 2 pounds of ground beef and one pound each of ground pork and veal.



For the sliders, I made some BIG meatballs. I used a 1/3 cup measuring cup to scoop the meatball mix and then I rolled them into balls with my paws.



I heated some oil in a skillet and added the meatballs.



Then I browned them on all sides.



Next, I poured in the sauce. You could just use a jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce. I made my own this time, only because I was fresh out of prepared spaghetti sauce. I'm really glad that I did. This sauce rocked and it was really easy. The recipe is below. I covered the skillet and simmered the meatballs in the sauce for 20-30 minutes.



While the meatballs simmer, prepare the buns. I picked up a pack of dinner rolls from the deli section of my local grocery.



Slice them in half and then place them on a baking sheet. Brush with a little garlic butter and broil them until toasty.



Once the meatballs have sufficiently simmered, remove them from the skillet and keep warm. I transferred the sauce to a food processor and pulsed until it was more "sauce-like" and kid friendly (no chunks).



Now top the toasty bun bottoms with a meatball, sauce, and cheese. I had exactly 1 slice of provolone in my fridge and a bag of shredded mozzarella. I divided the cheese among the sliders and then put them back under the broiler until the cheese melted.



Tah-dah!



I served mine up with some veggies. Hey, meatball sliders may not be the healthiest sandwich, but at least I made them eat their vegetables! I'm tellin' ya...these sliders are delicious!



Once dinner was over, I finished my meatball project. I formed the rest of the mix into smaller meatballs. I scooped them up by heaping tablespoonfuls before rolling them into shape. Then I baked them for 15-20 minutes in a 400 degree oven until done.



I bagged the rest of the meatballs for the freezer. Dinners to come!



I've got bunches of holiday kitchen towels, but today I'm loving this one. Especially after my 5 year old decided to turn a laundry basket into a vehicle for launching herself off of the furniture and down the stairs and my toddler rubbed herself head to toe with a full stick of butter that was softening on my countertop for orange scone butter today. She is now sufficiently moisturized and has a hair-style reminescent of the movie "Grease". Calgon, take me away... If you think that I'm above throwing down the "Santa threat" then you are mistaken. : )

Here's the recipe....

Meatball Sliders

For the meatballs:

*this makes plenty for 6-7 sliders plus about 60 extra smaller meatballs to freeze.

1 cup plain bread crumbs
1 cup Italian bread crumbs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon Kosher salt
6-8 twists from the pepper mill
2 lbs. ground beef
1 lb. ground pork
1 lb. ground veal
4 eggs, slightly beaten
8 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup onion, finely chopped
oil for browning

Place bread crumbs, salt, and pepper in large bowl. Add milk and water. Stir to moisten. Add remaining ingredients. Stir to combine and then mix with clean hands until well mixed. For sliders: scoop out meatballs by 1/3 cupful and shape with hands. Transfer to heated oil in a skillet. Brown on all sides. Drain oil. Add sauce. Simmer, covered for 20-30 minutes. For additional meatballs: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Form meatballs by scooping out in heaping tablespoonfuls and roll in hands. Bake on foil lined baking sheets for 15-20 minutes until done. Cool and freeze in freezer bags if desired.

For the sauce:

2 tablespoons olive oil
1/3 cup onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 heaping teaspoon Tuscany blend seasoning (from my dipping spice quartet) According to the label, ingredients include: sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, basil, bell peppers, and parsley
2 teaspoons to 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1-15 oz. can whole tomatoes, undrained
1-15 oz. can diced tomatoes with basil, garlic, and oregano, undrained
salt and pepper, to taste

Heat oil in medium-sized sauce pan over medium high heat. Saute onion and garlic. Stir in spices. Add in the tomatoes. Simmer for at least 20 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste. Pour sauce into meatball skillet. Simmer meatballs, covered, in sauce for 20-30 minutes. Remove meatballs and keep warm. Puree sauce in a food processor or blender until it reaches desire texture.

For the slider assembly:

6-7 dinner rolls
1/2 stick butter, melted
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1 cup shredded provolone or mozzarella

Slice dinner rolls in half and place on a baking sheet. Melt butter in microwave safe bowl and stir in garlic salt. Brush rolls with garlic butter. Broil in oven until golden brown. Remove tops of rolls from baking sheet. Place one meatball on top of each roll half. Spoon on sauce. Sprinkle with cheese. Return to oven and broil until the cheese is melted. Top with the roll tops.


In addition to the sliders here are some the other meatball recipes that I can make with those meatballs from the freezer:

Meatballs in Tomato Basil Cream Sauce
Swedish Meatballs
Meatball Subs
Cocktail Meatballs

Next on my list to try: Meatball Chili!

I never knew that the meatball was so versatile. I'm lovin' it!

Super Fast and Easy Swedish Meatballs

Let's take a one day departure from chicken to feast our eyes upon this:



Comfort food. Meatballs. Sour cream sauce. Curly egg noodles. Dinner on the table in less than 15 minutes. There are so many things to love about this recipe, found in the latest edition of Kraft food & family magazine. Remember my 5 ingredient challenge from a couple of weeks ago? This recipe fits the 5 ingredient criteria.

Here's what you need for the sauce: a jar of beef gravy, a cup of sour cream, and fresh parsley. You could cut fat and calories here by using fat free gravy and low fat sour cream. I didn't...but you totally could. Just a thought. (This is a perfect example of where "it's the thought that counts" doesn't really apply.) Thoughts of lower-calorie ingredients are probably not going to improve my love handles. I'm just sayin'!



Now that I've concluded my tangent of reflection on lower calorie ingredients, we can move on. You also need meatballs for this. Of course. Swedish meatballs. Thanks, Mrs. Obvious. Remember the meatballs that I made and froze last week? I thawed some of them in the refrigerator for this dish. If you really want to cut corners, you could just buy the meatballs from your grocer's freezer. Who am I to judge? I'm the girl who just mixed a jar of gravy with a cup of sour cream and called it dinner.



See? Mix the jar of gravy with a cup of sour cream in a skillet. Add in the meatballs and fresh, chopped parsley. Stir until the ingredients are combined and the meatballs are coated. Cover the skillet and cook over medium-high heat until the meatballs are heated through.



That's it. It really doesn't get much easier. Well, not unless you toss one of these into the microwave:



Speaking of which, this version of Swedish Meatballs tasted very similar to the Lean Cuisine version. Only, they probably used the low fat sour cream. Good for them! So if you like that, you'll like this:




The Best Meatballs from Kraft Foods food & family magazine

Prep Time: 20 min Total Time: 38 min Makes: 8 servings

What You Need for the meatballs:

2 lb. ground beef
1 pkg. (6 oz.) STOVE TOP Stuffing Mix for Chicken
1-1/4 cups water
2 eggs

Make It:

HEAT oven to 400ºF.

LINE 2 (15x10x1-inch) pans with foil; spray with cooking spray. Mix ingredients until blended; shape into 32 (1-1/2-inch) balls, using 1/4 cup for each.

PLACE 16 meatballs in each prepared pan. Bake 16 to 18 min. or until done (160ºF).

Creamy Brown Gravy (What I call Sour Cream Sauce) adapted by me

Mix 1 jar (12 oz.) beef gravy, 1 cup BREAKSTONE'S or KNUDSEN Sour Cream and 2 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley in large skillet; cook on medium-low heat 3 min. or until heated through, stirring occasionally. Add 16 meatballs; stir to evenly coat. Cover and cook until meatballs are heated through. Serve over hot egg noodles. Makes 4 servings, 4 meatballs and 1/3 cup sauce each.

How to Freeze Meatballs: Loosely pack cooled meatballs in freezer-weight resealable plastic bags. Lay bags flat in freezer so meatballs freeze individually. Store up to 3 months. Thaw in refrigerator several hours or overnight before using as desired.

Meatballs in Tomato Basil Cream Sauce

I have never made my own meatballs before. I've seen lots of wonderful homemade meatballs on other blogs and considered making my own, but until now it has not happened. Over the weekend I flipped through the latest issue of food & family from Kraft Foods. After reading this recipe I knew that meatballs would be on the menu this week. This semi-homemade recipe is a winner! Not only are these so simple to make (only 4 ingredients!) but the recipe makes a big batch. The article recommended to use some now and freeze the rest for later. The magazine also provided two simple recipes for different sauces to serve with these meatballs. Love it! Next week I'll pull the rest of the meatballs from the freezer for a quick and easy Swedish-style meatball dinner. Thank you food & family!

I have to say, dinner was amazing! It is all cold and blustery and rainy outdoors here and we were warm and cozy around our dinner table enjoying this hearty and flavorful tomato basil cream sauce-meatball combination with garlic cheese bread.

The meatballs were a snap. Dump two pounds of ground beef, a box of Stove Top stuffing mix, water, and two eggs into a large bowl. I also added a little salt and pepper to amp up the flavor.



Mix until well combined. The most effective method, in my opinion, is to get in there and squish it all together with your (clean!) hands.



Scoop out the mixture by heaping tablespoonfulls and roll into balls between your hands. Place onto baking sheets lined with foil. I put a baking rack on one of the sheets so that the meatballs would not sit in their grease as they baked. Unfortunately, I only have one such rack. When the non-rack meatballs were finished baking, I drained the grease off of them by transferring em' to the rack.



Bake at 400 degrees for 16-18 minutes or until done. I went with 17 minutes.



Once the meatballs are cool, freeze half for later. I actually froze more than half. I made my meatballs a little smaller than recommended, so I ended up with about 4 dozen meatballs. I kept out 16 for dinner tonight and froze the rest for later.



The provided Tomato-Basil Cream Sauce recipe was also very simple. Just 3 ingredients: spaghetti sauce, cream cheese, and fresh basil. Of course, I have to go and complicate things. I almost never leave canned spaghetti sauce to stand on it's own when I serve it in my kitchen. So here's what I did...

I minced 4 cloves of garlic and sliced some mushrooms. Saute in a skillet until the mushrooms are tender.



Now dump in the jar of spaghetti sauce. I just used the first one that I grabbed from my pantry. It was a store brand tomato basil sauce. After I stirred it into the mushrooms and garlic, I heated through and gave it a taste. Then I played with it a bit, adding a little salt and sugar until it was "just right".



Stir in 2 oz. of cream cheese (I used Neuchatel) and 2 tablespoons of fresh chopped basil.



Add in the meatballs.



Heat through.



Serve the sauce and meatballs over pasta, topped with grated Parmesan cheese.



The Best Meatballs from Kraft food & family adapted slightly by me

2 lbs. ground beef
1/2 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 pkg. (6 oz.) Stove Top Stuffing Mix for Chicken
1- 1/4 cups water
2 eggs
salt and pepper

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Line two baking sheets with foil. Spray with cooking spray. Mix ingredients until blended; shape into balls. Each meatball= 1 heaping tablespoon of mixture.

2. Place meatballs on each prepared pan. Bake 16 to 18 minutes or until done.

3. Freeze half or more of meatballs for later. Combine 16 meatballs with Tomato-Basil Cream sauce.

Tomato-Basil Cream Sauce from Kraft food & family adapted by me

1 tablespoon olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup fresh mushrooms, sliced
1 jar spaghetti sauce
salt and sugar to taste
2 oz. Neuchatel cheese, cubed
2 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped

Heat oil in a skillet. Saute garlic and mushrooms until mushrooms are tender. Stir in spaghetti sauce. Heat through. Salt and sugar to taste. Stir in cream cheese and basil until cheese is melted and heated through. Add in meatballs. Cover and cook until heated through. Serve over hot pasta. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

4 servings, 4 meatballs and 1/3 cup sauce each.