A Month-of-Appetizers: That's a Some-A Spicy Meatball

Okay, I ripped off the old commercial’s tag line. However, you won’t need Alka-Seltzer after eating these two treats. But you will have to make sure you have enough for everybody. I provide a basic recipe and then an addition to change up your meatballs. Same base, very different taste! Buy 3 pounds of hamburger and make them both!

Beef is another umami taste, so see how easy it is to have all five tastes at your next appetizer party? By the way, this is my meatloaf recipe except that I sometimes add a half-cup shredded cheese to the mixture just for fun. When we camped, I made the mixture into football shapes, single serving size, and we cooked them in foil packets over the campfire with potatoes, carrots, and onions around the meat. Very tasty!

If your meatloaf/meatballs are dry it’s probably lack of a panade (pronounced puh-nod). Ground beef interacts with bread to bind ingredients to make a moist loaf or ball. But no bread crumbs; they’re too dry. Use bread of some sort for the moistness. I use cornbread, but you can use any bread you have. Big Mama always used cubed white bread.

The number of servings depends on how large you make your meatballs, but you should get 30 or more from this recipe.

Some-A Spicy Meatball (serves 15/2 each)

1½ pounds extra lean ground beef

½ medium onion, diced

1 egg, lightly beaten

½ cup salsa

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 large corn muffin (or two small), crumbled

salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400°. Prepare a baking pan with a rim.

Mix all ingredients with your hands to thoroughly incorporate the onion, egg, salsa, garlic, and muffin into the meat.

Form into 1” balls and place on the baking pan. Bake for about 15 minutes until outside is browned nicely and inside is no longer pink.

Remove to a plate and serve immediately with toothpicks or cool and freeze for later use.

SweetMeat Balls

One recipe of meatballs, frozen

1 small jar of jalapeno jelly (comes in different heat levels)

Toss frozen meatballs with the jelly and place in slow cooker. Start on high and cook for one hour. Turn to low and cook for 4 hours longer.

Spoon the jelly sauce over the meatballs in a dish and serve with toothpicks.

DH’s Rating: 5 Tongues Up. DH didn’t like meatloaf/meatballs when I first met him. Last night I asked him about that as he was licking his plate. He said, “I didn’t?” Now that’s a compliment!