Meatballs

This weekend I began prepping for my annual cookie bake.  I started this about 10 years ago as a girls get together, to bake some cookies before the craziness of the holidays set in.  As new friends,  husbands and children began to enter the picture the party grew and the baking of cookies was no longer the focus.  We still call it a cookie bake, but we no longer bake cookies - which is a little confusing for first time invitees.  Instead of a cookie bake we do a cookie exchange and enjoy meatball subs.  We added the meatballs as a way to entice boyfriends, soon to be husbands, to join us for the day without getting in our way.  Early on the guys would hangout by the fire pit or watching football and we would bake.  Now we all hang out around the fire pit, chase kids, catch-up and eat, a great beginning to the holidays.  So this weekend I began prepping, not by baking cookies, but by making sauce and baking off a couple hundred meatballs. 

I am a fan of baking meatballs, frying is just too messy and time consuming.  If making them and eating them the same day I finish cooking them in the sauce, but when making meatballs and freezing I just bake them thoroughly in the oven then reheat them in the sauce.  This year I am also returning to the large sized meatballs.  For a few years I went with the mini slider size, which were fun and easy for the kids, but they just don't have the same feel and the messiness is part of the fun.  Here is the base recipe I use, obviously when making huge amounts I alter the quantities of the ingredients.

Meatballs

2 Eggs

1/4 cup Milk

2 lbs Ground Beef

2 Cloves Garlic - finely diced

1 Tbs. Onion powder

1 Tbs. Worcestershire Sauce

1 cup Grated Parmesan cheese

1 cup Bread Crumbs

Salt and Pepper

Bake at 375

In large bowl mix eggs and milk together, beat lightly.  Add remaining ingredients, mix until combined.  Shape into desired size.  Bake until done, time will be determined by size.