Monday, February 21, 2011

Italian Meatballs (freezer meal)

  • 1 large onion, finely diced
  • 1 C seasoned breadcrumbs
  • 1/2 C water
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 1/2 lb lean ground beef
  • 2 T parsley flakes
  • 1 C grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 t salt
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a hot skillet sauté diced onions with olive oil and cook for 5 minutes until translucent. Add the garlic and sauté another 2 minutes. Remove from heat and cool.
In a large bowl, mix together the meat, eggs, cheese, parsley and bread crumbs. Add the onions and season with salt. Use your hands to mix it together. Add the water, it should be quite wet. Shape into golf ball size balls.
Place meatballs in a hot skillet to brown the sides. Then place them on a cookie sheet and bake them for about 15 minutes. Cool and then use some right away and freeze the rest. Freeze on a cookie sheet for 1 hour (flash freeze) then pour all meatballs into a large zip top bag, label and freeze.
To serve: Warm meatballs in the microwave and serve with spaghetti sauce on bread, over noodles, with a sour cream sauce or served as appetizers with a BBQ sauce, etc.

*It's healthier and cheaper to use fresh bread crumbs, made from your own whole wheat bread. Just drop a couple pieces in a food processor, pulse a few times, and you've got bread crumbs from scratch!

*Parmigiano Reggiano cheese is pretty expensive, but it tastes FABULOUS. For a cheaper version, just use Parmesan.

*This recipe is originally from this website: Freezerdinner.com

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