Recipe: Italian Meatballs

which could also be called "a quasi-italian girl's meatballs"

Several months ago, I saw that a friend's husband had made homemade meatball subs. I thought "I'm part Italian. I am going to Italy soon. I can do this" (again, this was several months ago). So I sat down and I did it. And GUESS WHAT! My father-in-law, who grew up in western Pennsylvania where every woman makes her own meatballs, liked them. Genuinely liked them, even after he found out they were made with ground turkey. If that's not a seal of approval, I don't know what is.

Some friends we had over for dinner a few months later enjoyed them, too. And Ben & I enjoyed them. So, you could say, the meatballs were a great success. In fact, such a success, I swore I wouldn't buy the frozen ones anymore because these homemade babies were soooo much better. 

And that lasted about a month.

But I made them again last night for a potluck at work today to celebrate a co-worker who's having a baby, and they're just as good as I remembered. They're not as pretty as the frozen ones, but they're so much better.

Ingredients

• 1 lb ground turkey
• 1 lb ground beef
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/3 cup breadcrumbs
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion, minced
• 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup parsley
• 1 tsp italian seasoning
• 2 tbsp parmesan
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper
• salt and pepper (to taste, about 1 tsp each)

Meat Goo, Gross!

1. Saute onions in small pan with a little bit of cooking spray until translucent
2. Mix milk & breadcrumbs in a small bowl, let stand for 20 minutes
3. Combine turkey & beef in a large bowl
4. Add eggs, parsley, cooked onion, garlic, parmesan, olive oil, garlic, italian seasoning, cayenne, salt & pepper (I normally add a few ingredients, then mix it all together, then add a few more and so on; makes it easier to get everything combined)
5. Stir in breadcrumb / milk mixture
6. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze for 20 minutes or refrigerate for 1 hr
7. Cover two cookie sheets with aluminum foil and spray with cooking spray
8. Preheat oven to 425
9. If you have a small ice cream scoop, use that to ball the meatballs. Otherwise, keep a glass of cold water handy to dip your hand in and begin balling the meat - should be about golf ball size
10. Line the meatballs 6 rows of 5 (I was able to make exactly 60 from this batch, but I make mine small

    

    An Army of Meatballs! Oh No!

11. Bake 20 minutes - there will be some nasty looking greasy stuff on the pan, I normally wipe that off the meatballs with a paper towel but I'm sure it doesn't really matter
12. You can either add immediately to a sauce pan with tomato sauce, or freeze for later use. OR, do what I do, throw them in the crock pot on low or warm for a few hours

Ta Da! Nom Nom Nom