Brown Sugar Bacon Wrapped Meatballs

Yes, yes....aaaaand yes. What’s not to love about all the things in this recipe? Especially when you combine them all into one great little ball of goodness? I wanted to try these because a friend of mine works in the Publix grocery store food prep area and she told me about making these and how good they were and how easy they were to throw together. So I hightailed it to Publix to buy a bag of their Italian meatballs to make this. Of course, you can make your own meatballs or buy a different brand....but I have to say, the ones from Publix are SUPER good. So if you’ve got a Publix grocery store near you, it’s worth the trip. IT Guy and I had these for dinner with some roasted veggies and I finished them off for lunch the next day. But of course serving at a party would be ideal! Super good, guys!!

Brown Sugar Bacon 

Wrapped Meatballs

 

1 bag frozen meatballs (or you can make your own)

1 pound bacon

1 cup brown sugar

1 - 2 teaspoons cayenne pepper (optional but recommended)

 

Preheat your oven to temperature instructed on the bag of meatballs. Spray a rimmed cookie sheet with cooking spray.

 

Cut bacon in half across.

 

In a shallow dish, combine the brown sugar and cayenne pepper.

 

Start wrapping the meatballs in a bacon half.

 

Roll each bacon wrapped meatball in the brown sugar mixture making sure the brown sugar gets pack around on all sides.

 

Place seam side down on the baking sheet.

 

Repeat until desired number of meatballs are used or you run out of bacon.

 

Bake for the time listed on the package and/or the bacon has crisped.

 

Remove to a plate, cool for a few minutes...then eat!

Let's go!

Cut the bacon in half then mix together the brown sugar and the cayenne.

Roll each meatball in a half piece of bacon the roll in the brown sugar mixture.

Bake!

Serve!

Taco Meatballs with Cheesy Rice

So what can I say about this other than how yummy and easy it is? I served this right out of the pans onto our plates but you can also put it in a casserole dish, sprinkle with cheese then heat it up in the oven for a few minutes if you want to serve it at the table. Serve all your favorite taco toppings with this to dress it up any ole’ way you like.

Taco Meatballs with Cheesy Rice

1 1/2 pounds ground beef

1 package taco mix

1/4 cup water

1 1/2 cups rice ~ cooked according to package direction to make 3 cups cooked rice

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 cup buttermilk

4 tablespoons butter

1 cup grated cheddar cheese

1/2 teaspoon garlic salt

Salt to taste

Extra cheese for sprinkling

Heat a little olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.

In a medium bowl, combine the taco mix and the water.

Add the ground beef and stir to combine.

Make meatballs about the size of a golf ball.

Cook meatballs in the hot skillet until done on all sides.

In a medium saucepan, melt the butter.

Add the sour cream, buttermilk, cheese, garlic salt and salt.

Stir over medium heat until cheese has melted.

Pour cheese sauce into the cooked rice and stir.

If desired, place rice in the bottom of a baking dish, then arrange meatballs on top. Sprinkle some grated cheese on top then heat in a 350 degree oven until cheese has melted...about 10 minutes.

Serve with salsa, sour cream and guacamole.

The line up!

Combine the taco mix and water then add the ground beef and stir.

Make the meatballs and cook 'em up!

Make the cheese sauce. Super easy!

Add the cheese sauce to the COOKED rice and stir.

Serve the meatballs over the rice with all your favorite toppings!

Swedish Meatball Soup

Swedish meatballs are a favorite in the SFFS house and have been since my kids were little. So I knew this would translate well into a soup for my family. This is super good and pretty simple. If you can make meatballs, you can make this soup. It may look like some effort, but I promise you it's not. This is easy to cut in half if you want but you can make the whole thing and freeze part of it for later. If I was doing that, though...I'd leave out the noodles in the half I was going to freeze and add those later. Serve this with a crunchy loaf of buttered French bread and you've made your family happy, happy!

Swedish Meatball Soup



For the meatballs

2 pounds ground beef
½ cup water
1 egg
½ cup breadcrumbs
1 ½ teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon nutmeg
3 tablespoons butter
Combine ground beef water, bread crumbs, egg, salt and nutmeg in a medium bowl and stir. Mix well with your hands but don’t overdo it. Shape meat into about 40 meatballs.

Heat a large Dutch oven over medium heat and add the butter. Add meatballs and cook until done. (You may have to work in batches.)

Remove meatballs from the skillet to a plate.


For the soup

5 tablespoons butter
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 cup diced carrots
1 cup diced celery
2 cloves garlic ~ minced
1/2 cup flour
2 32-ounce containers beef broth
1 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Salt and pepper to taste

In the same large dutch oven you cooked the meatballs in, melt butter over medium heat. Add the carrots, celery, onion and garlic. Saute for about 3 minutes.

Sprinkle in the flour and cook another 3 minutes.

Stir in the beef broth. Combine the heavy cream with the cornstarch and add that to the broth.

Add the Worcestershire sauce, parsley, red pepper flakes, paprika and salt and pepper.

Bring to a boil, turn heat to medium then add the meatballs and cook about 10 minutes.

Add the cooked pasta and heat through.

 
Here we go! Let's make some soup!

 
Combine ground beef water, bread 
crumbs, egg, salt and nutmeg in a 
medium bowl and stir. Mix well with 
your hands but don’t overdo it.

 
Shape meat into about 40 meatballs 
then cook in a large dutch oven. 
Remove to a plate when done.

 
In the same large dutch 
oven you cooked the 
meatballs in, melt butter 
over medium heat. Add the 
carrots, celery, onion and garlic.

 
Saute for about 3 minutes.

 
Sprinkle in the flour and 
cook another 3 minutes.

 
Stir in the beef broth. Combine the 
heavy cream with the cornstarch 
and add that to the broth. Add the 
Worcestershire sauce, parsley, red 
pepper flakes, paprika and salt and pepper.

 
Bring to a boil, turn heat to medium.

 
Add the sour cream and pasta....

 
..the meatballs and heat through.

 
Serve it up in big ole bowls. Very yummy!!

Onion Soup Meatballs

I love meatballs. They're like little balls of.....well, meat. And they're so good! I added some of my homemade onion soup mix to these and they turned out wonderful! You can find my onion soup mix recipe here. I served this over pasta....but you could do rice or potatoes. Easily doubled, but these fed 4 people a good sized portion with a little leftover.

Onion Soup Meatballs



1 1/2 pounds ground beef
2 tablespoons onion soup mix
½ cup milk
1 egg
½ cup breadcrumbs
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
5 tablespoons flour
3 tablespoons butter
Pasta

Combine ground beef, onion soup mix, milk, bread crumbs, egg, salt and pepper.

Mix well with your hands but don’t overdo it. Shape meat into meatballs.

Dredge in flour. (Save flour for gravy.)

Melt butter in large skillet. Brown meatballs on all sides.

Cover and cook slowly for about 20 minutes. Remove meatballs.

Increase heat and add remaining flour to make a roux. Stir until smooth.


Add:

2 cups whole milk
½ teaspoon salt

Cook and stir until thick and bubbly. Add meatballs back into skillet with gravy and heat through. Serve over cooked pasta.

Let's get going!

 

Combine the meat, egg, 1/2 cup milk, 

breadcrumbs, salt, pepper and onion soup mix.

 

Dredge in the flour but save the flour!

 

Cook the meatballs in the butter.

 

Brown on all sides and cover and 

cook for 15 - 20 minutes.

 

Remove the meatballs from the pan

 and turn up the heat. Add the saved 

flour to the drippings.

 

Allow the flour and butter to cook 

until smooth then add the milk. 

Cook and stir until thick and bubbly.

 

Add the meatballs into the 

gravy and heat through.

 

Serve over pasta, rice or potatoes!

Italian Meatball Soup

With winter weather in full force around here, I've been in the mood for soup! It's a good thing everyone likes it because I've got some other soups in the works. But this Italian Meatball Soup was the first one I thought of and it turned out so yummy! I think the only thing I'd change would be to put some red pepper flakes in the mix. But it was tasty without them!
Italian Meatball Soup
 
1 1/2 pounds ground beef
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup Panko Bread crumbs
2 teaspoon Italian seasonings ~ divided use
2 cloves garlic ~ minced
1 cup diced celery
1 cup diced carrots
1 medium onion ~ diced
1 red bell pepper ~ diced
1 green bell pepper ~ diced
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes ~ optional
1 32-ounce container beef stock
3 cups water
3 tablespoons tomato paste
Salt & pepper to taste
1 cup orzo
In a large bowl, combine the ground beef, milk, Panko, 1 teaspoon of the Italian seasoning and some salt and pepper. Shape into small meatballs. Set aside.
In a dutch oven, saute all the veggies until tender. Add salt and pepper to taste and the remaining 1 teaspoon of Italian seasonings and the red pepper flakes if you're using them.
Add the beef broth, water and tomato paste and bring to a boil.
In a separate skillet, cook meatballs in a little olive oil or butter until browned on all sides.
Gently add the meat balls to the veggies.
Add salt and pepper and simmer for an hour...adding orzo the last 10 minutes.
Sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese.

The ingredients.

Combine the meat, milk, 

panko crumbs, Italian seasoning 

and salt and pepper.

Make the meatballs! Set aside.

Chop your veggies.

Saute the veggies in a little olive oil 

along with some salt and pepper, 

some more Italian seasoning and 

the red pepper flakes, if you're using them.

Add the beef broth, water 

and tomato sauce to the veggies.

In a separate skillet, brown the 

meatballs on all side them add 

them to the dutch oven.

Simmer for a while then add 

the orzo and cook until done.

Yum!

I used a loaf of french bread for this but you can, of course, use smaller buns. I also used store-bought pasta sauce but if you have your own sauce, then use that. I used cheddar/jack cheese but mozzarella would be great! So many options! Any way you "slice" this sandwich...it's pretty tasty!!

Giant Meatball Sandwich



2 pounds ground beef
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1 egg
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried chili flakes (optional)
1 small onion - diced
2 cloves garlic - minced
1 jar pasta sauce
1 loaf of french bread
2 cups cheese

In a large skillet, saute onion and garlic until soft.

Combine meat, bread crumbs, milk, egg, oregano, salt, pepper, and chili flakes. Mix well but don't overmix.

Shape meat mixture into golf ball sized balls and place in skillet with the onion. Brown on one side then turn to brown on the other. Cover and allow to simmer for about an hour.

Pour pasta sauce over the meat balls and heat for about 10 minutes or so.

Slice the bread in half and hollow out one side. Place on a cookie sheet. Fill with meatballs then top with cheese.

Broil until nicely browned but not too dark.

Put the top on the sandwich and let stand for a minute or two then slice into 3 inch sections.

The stuff...

Combine the meat, egg, milk, bread crumbs, 

oregano, salt and pepper.

Saute the onion and garlic for a few minutes then add the meatballs. Brown them on all side then cover and simmer for a while.

Then add the sauce and warm through.

Slice the bread and hollow out one side.

Fill with meatballs...

..then top with cheese.

Broil for a bit until it's golden brown.

Plop the top on and slice it up!!