A couple weeks ago I was at Kuhn's checking out, and Deb (my favorite cashier) asked "Do you have your Members card with you? You should run back and grab some ground round, it's on sale members only."
I said I had my card but didn't need the meat, and she said "But this is the good stuff. It's $7.99 a pound for $2.99!"
So I ran back and grabbed a pound, but wasn't sure what I'd do with it--it was 85% lean, too lean for hamburgers. And then Sunday I was looking at the leftover hearth rolls from New Years in my bread drawer and it occurred to me, meatball slammers would work and I've got everything I need.
Doug's Meatballs
1 lb. extra lean ground round
1/2 cup milk with 1 beaten egg
1/2 cup seasoned breadcrumbs
1 small finely minced onion
1/4 cup shredded parmesan cheese
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon salt (careful...)
1/4 teaspoon pepper
Mix well, roll into golf ball sized meatballs, bake at 350F for 30 minutes. Flip them halfway thru so you don't have scorched bottoms.
Don't these look tasty? You can't tell from the photo but they're very juicy. They're not perfectly round balls, but I didn't have an ice cream scoop so I had to hand-roll them. I made 15 total.
Once they cooled down, I put them in 2 large ziploc freezer bags for future meals.
I put a pan of broccoli in the oven next (I love roasted broccoli) and placed 4 of the meatballs in a saucepan with some Mid's Pizza Sauce. I used 2 meatballs per hearth roll. I also had some shredded mozzarella cheese to top the sandwiches with.
Dinner is served 😋
It looks great and bet it was delicious, Doug. (smile)
ReplyDeleteThank you DJan, hope you have a great day. 🙂
DeleteI can see why Deb is your favourite cashier! Nice tip-off! And those meatballs look delish!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks Florence, Happy New Year my friend 🧡
DeleteDoug, these look delicious! Love having meals tucked into the freezer. Great for a day when you don’t feel like cooking. Take care!❤️
ReplyDeleteThanks Robin and I couldn't agree more about those tucked meals, Happy New Year my lovely friend 😊 🤎
DeleteYou should have bought an extra pound for the freezer. That was a great price.
ReplyDeleteAnon, I promise next time I will 🙂
DeleteGigi Hawaii. That looks great. A well balanced meal.
ReplyDeleteThanks Gigi, much appreciated. Happy New Year :^)
DeleteEven at 7.99 that price is amazing. I buy 80% at Whole Foods, usually between 8 and 9 dollars a pound. I like the fatter hamburger meat for meatloaf. Much better flavor.
ReplyDeleteThanks dk, I prefer the fatter meat too usually--but if these prices don't stop climbing so high, we're going to be eating soylent green soon!
DeleteI don't see prices getting lower, only going higher. We had a plumber in yesterday to install a new sink faucet in our master bath. Terry had bought the faucet but found one pipe was going to need extra work to get it installed. He called our trustworthy plumbing company that has done work for us for 30 years.
DeleteThe last time he had something similar done the cost was $130 plus the $60 for the faucet he bought. This time the faucet was $75 and the labor was $600. The plumber did have to do some other work on the sink and was here over 3 hours, but still. I remember a time when $600 would renovate a whole bathroom.
I just choked on my coffee! I was just going to remark the faucets updated price didn't seem bad; the labor however, come on! That is unreal! 3 hours is a long appt but still...! We'll dkzody, 4 months ago I sat in a dentist chair for nearly 3 hours and my bill was $1085. I still think I was rooked.
DeleteWhat a great dinner, Doug! It looks delicious. I love broccoli too although it doesn't love me back. :) I admire you for cooking for one the way you do. I often settle for cottage cheese and a muffin with peanut butter for dinner. My bad.
ReplyDeleteThanks Margaret! I do love broccoli, I could eat it daily. Listen, you're not doing anything wrong, dinner-wise; you keep yourself in terrific shape! :^)
DeleteHi Doug I'm Marjorie. My girlfriend told me to check out your site. You are some cook! What's the catch? I live in Dormont not far from you. I plan to retire this year. Take care!
ReplyDeleteHi Marjorie thanks for checking out my blog and the kind words, and congrats on the upcoming retirement! I've heard of Dormont but never been... um, there's no catch. 🙂
DeleteIt's always fun to come up with new ideas for meals for one. At least I think so...as I don't have to take into consideration the preferences of other family members. Your meatballs look delicious, and I bet the broccoli was great too.
ReplyDeleteThank you Maebeme, you're right but I have to admit I often go for the easy stuff, like you said when you're only cooking for one... I do love roasted broccoli though, I may start having that with my eggs in the morning too. :^)
DeleteWow - that was a bargain. When I was in high school a local Italian family opened a restaurant and served meatball gondolas. These were meatball sandwiches on a soft homemade roll with a great crust, lots of delicious tomato sauce and covered in melted cheese, baked in an au gratin dish. I guess some people ate them like a sandwich, but we always used a knife and fork. I would skip lunch for a week to save up for one meatball gondola lunch at "Joseppi's" (his name was Joe, he graduated with my mom).
ReplyDeleteAll good things come to an end and the restaurant closed when I was in my 20's. About 10 years ago a local pizza place claimed to have the "Joseppi" recipes and put the meatball gondola on the menu. It is not the meatball gondola. I saw gondola buns at Trader Joe's and tried their recipe. Not it. I re-ordered from the pizza place. Not only is it not the sandwich, it is not the same sauce either.
I went crazy making meatball sandwiches. None are what I remember. I had to stop.
Your sandwich looks delicious! But not a meatball gondola, lol.
Miss Merry you always manage to make me smile! 😊. Thank you for sharing this meatball memory, I love it. Makes me a little sad though, all the great dishes out there I'm missing out on! 😭
Delete$2.99/lb is a great price! Wow! We buy our ground meat at Central Market but pay probably 8.99/lb for it also. Luckily we don't eat a lot of red meat... mostly chicken, pork chops, and fish. But your meatballs look great... and I love broccoli too!
ReplyDeleteThank you Rian, I'm really amazed how much people are paying for ground meat these days. I remember when I was younger, it was like 89 cents a pound, and why Hamburger Helper was so popular. I need to pay attention more to the sales.
DeleteThose sandwiches look pretty great!
ReplyDeleteThanks RCS, much appreciated! 🙂
DeleteI only have meatballs about once or twice a year, and then the splendid Italian meatballs I get from the excellent butcher at Prahran Market (it’s always fun hearing folks who aren’t from Melbourne trying to pronounce that suburb’s name).
ReplyDeleteHowever, your recipe sounds pretty good (I would have omitted the egg, but I suppose it binds it together).
Also, I’d cook it on the stove in a frying pan and have it with tomato chutney or green tomato pickle, whichever I have on hand (I usually have both).
You didn’t mention the weather this time, but that’s not going to stop me. It’s a tad warm today, I just heard that it’s 43 degrees (that’s a smidge over 109 of your degrees).
Whenever I don't hear from you I tend to worry a little. I know you're a grown man but still... glad to hear from you Peter, thanks for sharing. To be honest it's probably been a dozen years since I made meatballs! But they turned out alright and I almost DID cook them on the stovetop. Your way sounds very tasty. As for the weather, haha it's not 109 here but it is 50F today, a warm rain all day thats melted all our snow :^)
DeleteThe meatball slammers look delicious! I am always looking for new recipes so I may have to try and recreate this! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThanks Jackie, much appreciated! 🙂
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