Quick and Easy Beef Meatballs

Sunday morning I grab the paper and immediately go straight for the coupons. While weeding through them nothing catches my eye like the buy, one get one free meatball coupon. Lets face it meatballs are so versatile they go in everything from pasta, soups, sandwiches, appetizers, you can grill them, and they are great in crockpot meals. So who would not want to have a bag or two in the freezer just waiting for the culinary mood to strike you. 

However, my husband can sniff out a packaged meatball a mile away...and oh the complaining...and he is totally right! The meatball itself lacks flavor and is typically mushy, and meat mush is just not attractive on the plate. So starts the internal conflict between flavor and convince. So what did we do? Well we came up with a recipe that is quick, easy, flavorful, and effectively squashing any remaining reasons to buy meatballs.

I know what you are thinking. That is all well and good but who has that kind of time? Well you do! So put on a pot of coffee this is just going to take a half hour, yep that is total time.

Still not convinced? Consider one more argument. The biggest driving force behind any decision I make...cost. We could go into the math, but like I said it is Sunday morning and who wants to do math right now? I just want my coffee! So I will say this (in our area) I can make two pounds of meatballs for cheaper than the buy one get one free coupon.

Now that is settled let's get going.
(Seriously though, someone started the coffee right?) 

Meatballs

1 lb lean ground beef 

2 eggs 

1/2 cup bread crumbs 

1 tsp salt 

1/2 tsp pepper 

1/2 medium onion, finely chopped 

2 cloves garlic, minced 

 Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with tin foil, and give it a quick spray with a non-stick spray.

Put all ingredients in a large bowl. Mix together, make sure you do not over mix, once things come together you are done.

*Side note on the onions. You want to make sure that you finally chop them, if they are too big your meatball will fall apart. However I do prefer the flavor of an onion to a onion powder, so it is worth the extra time. Plus the onion pieces scream "homemade" Which is sure to impress anyone you are making dinner for!

I like to mix by hand, yes it is messy but you have to rolls them into balls anyway so go ahead and get in there!  

Form your mixture into balls. Take creative liberty on this part! Make them as big or little as you need them, this will depend on what you are making them for. The typical meatball is going to be about 1 rounded tablespoon. 

Bake them for 20 minuets. Making 18 large meatballs or 36 small meatballs 



This is your everyday meatball and is perfect for any recipe that you are needing meatballs for. This is also a basic meatball and any kind of substitutions can be made to meet your needs and personal taste.

Remember to make extra and freeze them. After all that is what started this!

Xoxo
Jes