Handmade All Beef Meatballs

Hi!!

Let’s do an Italian day, shall we?

I’ve had this on my list of things to make, oh, I’d say a few months … just never got around to it, you know?

Until one Saturday … a cold and windy Saturday here in NW Indiana. Actually, almost a perfect Fall day, but, eh, not so much.

Anyways.

I made meatballs. 12 to be exact. AND I took an easier way out and used a jar of Raos instead of slaving away with cans of tomato sauce. AND finally used up a package of spaghetti that’s been hanging around the pantry for a long while 😉

Ok, so let’s talk meatballs, shall we? THESE are all beef. I have someone in the household who is highly opposed to pork and well, most meatballs are a mixture of beef and pork.

They also use panko and not the usual seasoned Italian breadcrumbs. Because, you know, seasoned Italian breadcrumbs? It is what it is.

And of course, a little more of that ground beef from Wilson Flying Diamond Ranch…we went through the gifted meat and I went ahead and ordered more! Highly suggest you check them out! Affordable and very good!

They weren’t that difficult to make, per se. I think the hardest part, at the moment, was the last minute decision to make them and then of course, a frozen square block of ground beef to be thawed. That took the longest!

Well then we decided to make them again on a Saturday afternoon … only this time, I made 20.

TWENTY! They were delicious and we had ourselves a lovely Italian meal at home!

Ok, ok, let’s get cooking!

2 pounds ground beef (basically 2 packages of that Flying Diamond stuff!)
1 cup panko
2 eggs
2 tbs Italian seasoning
1/2 cup of grated parmesan (all I had was shredded so that’s what I used)
1/2 cup of finely diced onion
2 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1 tsp minced garlic
1/4 cup of fresh basil, julienned and chopped

*Apparently basil season is OVER in the area here. Whenever I see fresh basil, be it a plant or these prepackaged containers, I grab one … can never have enough fresh basil in my opinion!

Toss everything EXCEPT the basil in a large bowl and mix well. TIP: scramble your eggs BEFORE you add them to everything else!

Form the meat in to balls, choose a size you like. Obviously, smaller balls will yield way more but I opted to go with medium size.

After all the balls are formed, heat up some oil in a large skillet over low heat and add the balls, turning them as they brown. You don’t need to cook them all the way through just yet …

BECAUSE …

Grab your crockpot and jar of favorite marinara / spaghetti sauce (Rao fan here). Pour a little of the sauce in bottom of crockpot and then add the meatballs and cover these with sauce.

Cook on high for about an hour or 2 or low for 3 to 4 hours.

When ready to serve, you can add to pasta (we don’t) OR do as we do and heat up some crusty bread and have that alongside your meatballs and sauce!

Be sure to garnish with a bit of that fresh basil and a sprinkling of fresh parmesan …

Enjoy!

And, as always, for certain family members: tbs = tablespoon and tsp = teaspoon

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