Italian Cocktail Meatballs
Party season is upon us. I love gatherings & getting to be around people that fill my heart & soul with joy. That happens a lot at Christmas time, but also throughout the year at office parties, small group parties, women's club activities & various other things. Usually those events come with them a reason to bring a plate of food to share.
I'll admit that anytime I need to take something to share, I struggle a little bit. I have this ongoing debate with myself as to whether or not I should take a sweet or a savory dish. Would you believe that because I love food, I usually end up taking both?
These little Italian Cocktail Meatballs may forever end my anguish over the sweet or savory controversy raging in my head. These meatballs are full of flavor & the perfect, plump & juicy addition to any buffet. They mix up quickly & are baked in just 20 minutes, plus the made from scratch sauce, takes just 5 minutes to mix together. You can forever throw away any past recipes for store bought sauces & frozen meatballs. And bonus points, these are just hearty enough you could actually make them into a light meal. If I were making these for dinner, I would double the recipe to make sure there was enough for my family of 4.
And just in case you still want to take something sweet too, check out all my dessert recipes ;)
Italian Cocktail Meatballs
{makes 14 meatballs}
ingredients
for the meatballs:
1/2 pound lean ground beef or venison
1/2 pound italian pork sausage {try to find sugar free}
1/3 cup almond flour
1 egg
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon allspice
for the sauce:
1 cup tomato sauce
1/4 cup water
3 tablespoons tomato paste
1 tablespoon honey
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon italian seasoning
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon each: onion powder, allspice, pepper
directions
preheat the oven to 350º & line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
In a large mixing bowl, place beef, pork sausage & egg. mix well.
add in almond flour, garlic & seasonings. mix again, making sure spices are evenly distributed.
using a medium cookie scoop, scoop out meat mixture & roll into a ball, placing it on the parchment lined cookie sheet.*
bake meatballs 15-18 minutes.
while the meatballs are baking, combine all of the sacue ingredients together in a medium saucepan. using a whisk is the best way to do this. heat over medium, just until it begins to boil & then turn the heat down to low until meatballs are done. stir occasionally.
once the meatballs are done, transfer to serving dish & evenly pour sauce over them for serving.
*these meatballs can be made up
24 hours in advance of baking & they
are great as leftobers once cooked!