Crockpot Sweet and Sour Meatballs

Crockpot Sweet and Sour Meatballs

One of the easiest recipes I've ever made. I found a similar recipe on Pinterest that used kielbasa. Since I didn't have that and not as much bell pepper (my family won't eat it any way) I altered the original recipe that was for Freezer Meal Crockpot Sweet and Sour Sausage, to Crockpot Sweet and Sour Meatballs. 

Trying to adjust to having a baby and three teenage boys, making dinner has been a real challenge. Well, at least made by 9pm. The two older teenage boys are playing football this fall, and are at practice most of the day. When they come home they are famished, to say the least. Having something quick and easy to make and have ready has been much needed these days. 

Luckily, lately the baby has been napping without me holding him for a few hours in the morning. Thus I can get a few things done that were previously neglected. 

One of those being dinner prepped and/or made.

Crockpot Sweet -n- Sour Meatballs

1/2 bag prepared meatballs (found in frozen section)
1 can pineapple, DO NOT DRAIN (I use the small can..8 oz. I think?)
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1/2 bell pepper, chopped
**Or, alternatively, I buy a small bag of frozen, chopped pepper and onion mixture to throw into it. (I would probably only use half a small bag)
Cooked rice

Sauce Ingredients
3/4 cup sugar
4 T. ketchup
1/2 cup distilled white vinegar
2 T. soy sauce
1 t. garlic salt

3 T. Sweet Chili Sauce
Mix the sauce ingredients together in a large bowl. Mix well. Add directly to Crockpot mixing the meatballs, pineapple, bell pepper, onion and sauce mixture. Cook on low 6 hours.

Freezer Meal directions:

Place the mixture in a gallon ziploc and freeze.  The day before serving, thaw mixture in fridge.  The morning of serving, place the mixture in the crockpot and cook on low for several hours.  Serve with rice.

Half Veggie, Half Meat - Meatballs

I have been trying to think of a way to infuse my kids food with more veggies then they normally eat every day. Since it's pulling teeth to get some of them to eat 2TBSP of green beans. I know ridiculous. So since last night I had to pull teeth to get the green beans eaten. Today I thought i'd hide the veggies. Of course, they eat spaghetti sauce, but not usually the diced tomatoes. So here is what I did. Also, I tried a meat ball before I put it in the spaghetti sauce and it was fabulous!

Ingredients:

2 veggie pucks (see recipe for veggie pucks)

1 onion minced

1 bell pepper minced

1/2 cup potato flakes

1/2 cup italian bread crumbs

1 lb ground beef

1 lb ground sausage - bulk

3 eggs

3 TBSP ketchup

1 pkg italian dressing dry mix

1 pkg au ju dry mix

2 Tbsp salt

1 Tbsp fresh ground pepper

Preheat oven to 400F. In a large mixing bowl, add all ingredients. blend well using hands, until all ingredients are incorporated. Spray a jelly roll pan with PAM. Then, using a scoop, take a scoop full of the mixture and place it on a jelly roll pan. Repeat until all the mixture are in balls on the jelly roll pan in a single layer. This made 47 meatballs for me. They can be touching that's fine. They shrink slightly as they cook. Place jelly roll pan with the meatballs in the 400F oven for 45 minutes. Then cool and remove. Add to spaghetti sauce and eat with pasta or on a hoagie roll.

These are so delicious and good for you, full of vitamins and veggies. It's a great way to get the veggies into those picky eaters, whether they be your husband or your kids or both.

I also, added to my 2 cans HUNTS traditional spaghetti sauce 2 veggie pucks, and two cans of diced tomatoes. To give further veggie factor. This is so yummy! Enjoy! The sauce and meatballs are simmering in the crock pot for a nice easy dinner tonight. The meatballs can be made a head of time cooled and placed in a ziploc freezer bag and used at a later time. They freeze well too!

Pineapple BBQ Meatballs

Tonight I wanted meatballs, but I had a feeling everyone is getting a little tired of the spaghetti sauce with our meal. We tend to do a lot of spaghetti sauce with our meals. So, I remembered back when my cousin Mimi got married, they had this sweet and sour type meatballs... Oh my, was it yummy. I remember pineapple and catalina dressing. I couldn't remember anything else. Well, I don't have any catalina dressing or pineapple, just pineapple juice. I thought I'd make my own version using BBq sauce and pineapple juice. I made some homemade bbq meatballs which is different than my normal meatball recipe. I'm trying to use what I have and add extra veggies to my kids meals. Since I blended and froze some of the veggies from making the chicken stock. (using it instead of throwing it away). I added two of my frozen "pucks" of minced mixed veggies. It has a ton of celery, carrots, onion and seasonings. I thawed them in the microwave to be able to use them.

Ingredients for BBQ Meatballs

1 lb ground beef

1 lb ground sausage

2 veggie pucks

3 tbsp minced onion

1 cup quick cooking oats

4 tbsp bbq sauce

2 eggs

2 tsp garlic sea salt

Mixed all together, balled and placed on a cookie sheet baked for 40 min in a 375F oven. Pulled off the hot cookie sheet into a sauce pan.

Pineapple BBQ sauce

1 -1 1/2 cup Famous Daves BBQ sauce

1-2 cups pineapple juice (to thin the BBQ sauce)

stir in a sauce pan, then add the meatballs from the oven, heat sauce with meatballs til boiling then lower heat and simmer.

This makes a nice sweet, tangy and with a little kick sauce and meatballs.

I am serving this over rice with a side of green peas. I had my taste tester (braeden) try one of the meatballs in the sauce and he said it was AWESOME!!! Best meatballs ever!

I think they are pretty good myself. Enjoy.

Hoagie Rolls and Meatball Subs

This week I took on an adventure I had not really done before. I made some hoagie rolls for meatball subs. I had made the meatballs previously as part of spaghetti and meatballs. I had leftover meatballs and thought they would be GREAT in meatball subs. I stuck them in the refrigerator in the spaghetti sauce for a future date. I will include the recipe for the meatballs in this post. They are fantastic :) Well, when it came time to make the meatball subs, I realized I didn't have any hoagie rolls. I thought about going to the store but realized I had a vehicle with a flat tire and that I wanted to save a little money. (I know buns are not that expensive, but every little bit counts). So, I started searching the web for recipes for hoagie rolls. Not many came up. Most if I wanted crusty hoagie rolls would take at least two days. So, I went to Food.com and put in hoagie rolls. I came up with a few recipes. Mind you I follow some recipes to a "T" other's I doctor to fit what I have at home.

Hoagie Rolls

Ingredients:

2 (1/4 oz.) package of active dry yeast

3 cups water, divided (110-115 degrees)

2 tablespoons sugar, divided

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 tablespoon salt

8-8 1/2 cups all purpose flour

Directions:

1. In mixing bowl, dissolve the yeast in 1/2 cup warm water add 1 T. sugar and then let stand about 5 minutes.

2. Add remaining water and sugar. Beat in oil, salt and 4 cups flour until smooth. Stir in enough flour to form a soft dough.

3. Turn onto floured board. Knead until smooth and elastic for about 6-8 minutes.

4. Place in a greased bowl turning once to grease the top.

5. Cover and let rise 45 minutes.

6. Punch dough down. Turn onto a lightly floured board, divide into 18 pieces.

7. Shape into an oval.

8. Place 2 inches apart on a greased baking sheet.

9. With scissors cut a 1/4-inch slash across the top of each.

10. Cover and let rise 20 minutes.

11. Bake at 400 degrees F for 13-18 minutes until golden brown.

12. Remove to wire racks to cool.

Ok, my verdict and what I did differently. I tried to divide into 18 pieces, but it didn't work very well, and they would've been small hoagie buns. I ended up making 8 hoagie rolls, and some smaller rolls. I think that if you want 6 inch or so hoagie rolls then you may only want to cut with the scissors 6 sections. Lightly roll/form into an oval. I have found this to be a yummy roll recipe. I will make these again, and try to make them into bigger rolls. When I cut the rolls for the meatballs, I could fit 3 meatballs and some sauce on each roll. Which worked great with kids and their smaller appetites. My kids gobbled it all up. We had only two meatballs left for my hubby (who had to work late).

Meatballs

Preheat oven to 425 F

1 lb. bulk sausage (or ground pork/ground turkey)

1/2 to 1 lb ground beef

1/2 onion diced to preference (I like them kindof chunky, my kids like them really diced)

1 small bell pepper (diced)

2 eggs

1/4 cup milk

2/3 cup rolled oats (or breadcrumbs)

3 tbsp ketchup

season to taste with salt/pepper

about 2 tbsp italian seasoning or mrs. dash (optional)

Add all ingredients into a large bowl and mix till all incorporated with hands. It will get a little messy, but really worth it. Try not to over mix.

Take a 2 tablespoon size ball, or medium scoop full of meat mixture and put on a cookie sheet. Continue to place in single layer on cookie sheet. Place in the oven and bake for 30 min or until center is no longer pink. Drain off excess grease and add to your favorite sauce. These turn out so yummy. They freeze well too. So make a bunch and store for a later date. :)

Feel free to let me know how your meatballs or rolls turned out. What suggestions do you have, or changes did you make to the recipe?