Sweet and Sour Meatballs

I promised myself that I would diet between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Then I would splurge at Christmas and get back on track after New Year's. And then one of the food/cooking channels started showing restaurants that only served meatballs in various forms.  (sigh)

And it got cold and cold weather is comfort food weather.  Right?  And if I serve the meatballs with pineapple, that's healthy.  And serve them over brown rice?  Man, I should eat this way EVERY day.  I would be so freakin' healthy!



Sweet and Sour Meatballs

Meatballs

1 pound hamburger Yes, that's a lot for two people, but try and find smaller amounts...leftovers!
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup milk
2 Tablespoons minced onions
1 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 egg

Preheat oven to 400°.

 

Place all the ingredients in a large bowl and mix with a fork until well blended.  I like to use a medium cookie scoop and over fill it.

 

 I do a bit of shaping by hand and then place them in a 13X9 pan that I sprayed with Pam.  It took two pans.

 

If you are just making meatballs, then you are done and can bake them for 20 to 25 minutes.

I wanted to make sweet and sour meatballs and for that you need some onions.  I wanted to cook the onions for a bit, so I cut up the rest of the onion I used for the minced onions and chopped them into medium chunks.  I placed the onion chunks into the pan with the meatballs and cooked them for 15 minutes. Then I took the pans out and rolled the meatballs over to avoid over browning the bottoms. Cook for the additional 10 minutes and remove.

Sweet and Sour Meatballs

1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 Tablespoon cornstarch
1 can pineapple chunks  I used the kind in its own juice.
1/3 cup vinegar  I used apple cider vinegar
1 Tablespoon soy sauce

 

The rest of the onion, if you like
1 small green pepper, optional...I opted to avoid the pepper

 

Start the sweet and sour sauce about when you turn the meatballs.  Place the brown sugar and the cornstarch in a large sauce pan. 

 

Mix them together and then add the pineapple chunks with the juice.  Add the vinegar and the soy sauce.  Heat to boiling, stirring constantly.

 

Reduce the heat and then add the meatballs and onions.  If you like green peppers, add them here.  Cover and simmer for about 10 minutes.

Serve over brown rice.