With a newborn, Mike and I have quickly learned the importance of preparedness- especially when it comes to getting dinner on the table. The first few days after Peter was born, we were too exhausted to prepare a meal at the end of the day and resorted to ordering take-out. We did not want this to become a habit for us.
Food is our love language. We both agree we feel extremely loved when someone makes us a meal, and making a meal for someone is our way of expressing our love! We want each meal we share together intentional and special, with the food enhancing our experience of togetherness.
Mike and I found some freezer meal recipes and spent a Sunday afternoon preparing them. Our goal is to have a few meals in the freezer for the inevitably busy days that come our way. This frozen meatball recipe inspired by Ree Drummond’s recipe in her new cookbook has become a favorite of ours. We had so much fun preparing it together! We often make recipes our own, adding ingredients or trying new methods of cooking. This is what we did for this recipe.
In this recipe we used ground chuck beef purchased from Federal Meats. We find that this flavorful, juicy cut (chuck is cut from the shoulder) is a perfect fit for this recipe. We grill our meatballs, but sautéing them in some good quality olive oil works well, too. The great thing about these meatballs is you don’t have to thaw them prior to cooking- just throw the frozen meatballs into your sauce of choice and voila! Dinner is served!
Make-Ahead Meatballs
Yield roughly 50 meatballs (about 7 servings)
For a printable version of this recipe, click here.
Ingredients
2.5 pounds ground chuck beef
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
3/4 cup breadcrumbs
2 tablespoons freshly grated parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 large eggs, preferably organic
1 tablespoon mustard (we use this kind)
1 teaspoon worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup heavy cream
Preparation
- Turn on grill to obtain temperature of 450 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Combine all ingredients in a six quart bowl.
- Using your hands, blend ingredients together.
- Scoop out 1 tablespoon portions of the meat mixture and form into balls.
- Working in batches, place meatballs on grill.
- Cook meatballs, turning them occasionally to brown all sides, about 5-7 minutes total.
- Place cooked meatballs in freezer for 30 minutes on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Remove frozen meatballs from freezer and divide them into freezer bags, returning them to the freezer.
- To prepare for a meal, lower frozen meatballs into simmering sauce and cook for fifteen minutes. Serve alone or with pasta. These meatballs last in freezer for six months.
– C
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