• Home
  • About
  • Connect
  • Press/Media

The Pinke Post

  • Life in North Dakota
  • Recipes
  • Small Town Living
  • Women In Ag

Posted By Katie On December 19, 2011 2 Comments

Hunk of Meat Monday: Traditional Meatballs Recipe

Filed Under: Proteins, Recipes Tagged With: cooking, hunk of meat Monday, protein 2 Comments

Meatballs and mashed potatoes are staples in family meals on the prairie. They aren’t sexy and probably frowned upon by many food snobs. But I was raised with them. It is comfort food and I love them. When we were in Disney World’s Epcot at a princess dinner in “Norway”, traditional meatballs were on the menu. Naturally we had to try them. My ancestors came from Norway. Meatballs are in my lineage. Below is just the kids’ serving of the “Norway” Epcot meatballs. 
It reminded me of home. Last week when we were home and I could cook again I found myself still craving meatballs. 
These are meatballs I modify based on what I have available but they fed a hungry teenager, a famished husband, two squirrely girls and me last week. Plus we had leftovers that I froze.


I doubled the recipe as usual and used a mixture of ground beef and pork. Usually I make beef meatballs but the pork/ beef mixture was excellent. I never follow a recipe for meatballs but realized what I do add is very similar to The Pioneer Woman’s Comfort Meatball Recipe which is in her first cookbook. I listed most of the measurements she lists in her recipe below…because I tend not to measure very well. However she makes a slightly different sauce. Any tangy, zingy sauce will do.

Meatballs:
1 1/2 lb ground beef
1/2 cup quick oats
1 cup milk
1 TBSP minced onion
2 tsp season salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
canola oil for pan
1/2 cup flour

Sauce:
1 12 oz. chili sauce
1 18 oz jar apricot (or any fruit) preserves
1/2 cup water
1 tsp. minced garlic
1 tsp. ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 375F. In large mixing bowl, combine meat, milk, oatmeal, minced onion, 1 tsp. season salt and black pepper. I mix with my hands. But I’m sure a wooden spoon would work.

In a shallow pan, add 1/2 cup flour with 1 tsp. season salt. Make medium sized meat balls from your meat mixture and gently roll each in the flour mixture.

Place floured meatballs in a pan.

On the stove top, over medium heat have a dutch oven or cast iron pan to brown the meatballs with the canola oil at the bottom of the pan.

Also on the stovetop, stir chili sauce, fruit preserves, minced garlic and black pepper, heat over medium heat until it comes to a boil and remove from heat. Stir.

Once the meatballs have browned for about 5-7 minutes, I pour over the sauce, stir and cover, placing them in the 375F oven.

This is the same sauce I pour over meatballs in a slow cooker which I had yesterday at our Christmas Cheer holiday party for customers of our small business.

Bake for 35 minutes at 375F. While the meatballs baked, I pulled potatoes from the oven and mashed them. I don’t peel the potatoes. I mash the whole potatoes, adding a little skim milk, cream cheese, cheddar cheese, garlic, salt and pepper. I placed them in a baking dish and covered, putting them in the oven for the last 15 minutes the meatballs finished to warm up the potatoes, melting the cheeses and melding the flavors.
Steam up some green veggies. Set the table. Pour a few glasses of milk. A meatballs, mashed potatoes meal…need milk in my opinion as a beverage. It’s the prairie way.

This was our starving like a pack of wolves plate…his first helping of our meatball family meal.

The leftover meatballs are just as yummy. Our son always wants a pre-game meal these days. I froze the meatballs to have on hand for meatball sub sandwiches this winter. 
Even though it’s a holiday week and people are cooking up hams, turkeys, ribs…and my grandma (Happy Birthday TODAY to Grandma Nola!) will be boiling an old Norwegian tradition of smelly lutefisk (cod soaked in lye) on Christmas Eve, I have a special place in my heart for holiday meatballs. 
Meatballs are like home to me, comforting and full of memories and are today’s Hunk of Meat Monday. Because everyone should have a meatball or two on Hunk of Meat Monday. Wrap them in bacon and they’d taste even better!
Linking up for Hunk of Meat Monday with Beyer Beware…
Hunk of Meat Mondays

Pin It

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Email
  • Print
Previous Post: « Naughty, Nice & Holiday Party Recipes
Next Post: 4 Generations of Basketball Fans »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Nants says

    December 19, 2011 at 7:47 pm

    Sounds delish! Another really simple sauce recipe which is almost identical to yours and is always a winner is instead of using the apricot preserves try using a jar of grape jelly – yes grape jelly – with the chili sauce, etc. It makes for a bit of a darker sauce but the tang is quite nice and is a real hit with everyone! Just something different to try if you have not had the sauce this way before. Enjoy!

    Reply
  2. Farmchick says

    December 19, 2011 at 11:58 pm

    I have also heard of using the grape jelly. I also like the sweetness of the preserves. Meatballs, like meatloaf, are a family staple for us as well.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Welcome to the Prairie…

I am a mom of three kids and a wife to Nathan. Together we live on the North Dakota prairie, 97 miles from a Starbuck's. I share about family, food, farming and the prairie that I love. I used to commute 98 miles one-way to work but it required too much coffee. So now I am home, consulting, speaking, writing and primarily, juggling family life.
See more of our life on the prairie... Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest | Twitter

Stay in Touch…

Get the news from the prairie delivered directly to your inbox when it's hot off the press!

from my kitchen. . .

Hunk of Meat Monday: Fast & Easy Chicken in a Bag

Whole-Wheat Lemon Almond Pancakes

3 Make Ahead Beef Roasts & Freeze

farm life

Favorite Farm Girls

  • Beyer Beware
  • GOODEness Gracious
  • The Wife of a Dairyman
  • Fresh from the Farm

Griggs Dakota

Visit our 5th generation family farm...

Latest Recipes

How To Make Snowman Sundaes

Real Farmwives & Friends: My Favorite Christmas Entertaining Recipes

Rhubarb Sauce Recipe

More Posts from this Category

Life on the Prairie…

More Posts from this Category

Women in Agriculture

Ladies Night on a North Dakota farm

Sarah Nasello’s Party on the Prairie Giveaway

Debbie Lyons-Blythe of Kids, Cows and Grass & The Need For Organ Donors

More Posts from this Category

Footer

Archives

Categories

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries RSS
  • Comments RSS
  • WordPress.org

Copyright © 2023 ·Captivating Theme ·Custom Designed by Design Chicky· Log in

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.