My husband Richard absolutely loves meatballs. For Christmas, I asked for this meatball maker. I found out about it from my friend Mattie’s Blog . She also loved this because the meatballs browned evenly in less then 15 minutes.

In December and January, there have been many occasions for hor d’oeuvres. I prepared cocktail meatballs for both News Year’s Eve and each time the New York Giants won a game except for the Superbowl, when I made rigatoni and meatballs.

The following recipe is from Allrecipes.com:

Ingredients

1 pound lean ground beef

1 egg

2 tablespoons water

1/2 cup bread crumbs

3 tablespoons minced onion

1 (8 ounce) can jellied cranberry sauce

3/4 cup chili sauce

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

In a large bowl, mix together the ground beef, egg, water, bread crumbs, and minced onion. Roll into small meatballs.

Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, turning once.

In a slow cooker or large saucepan over low heat, blend the cranberry sauce, chili sauce, brown sugar, and lemon juice. Add meatballs, and simmer for 1 hour before serving.

I remembered a recipe from the ’60’s that was easy and great for a Crockpot. It was simple and was reminded of it by my high school friend Ruthann Lagrega. The recipe consisted of a jar of chili sauce and a jar of jelly. It was spectacular!

Italian Wedding Soup

I searched for recipes for this wonderful soup, and I saw many. I finally decided to make my own, based son some of these recipes.

Italian Wedding Soup

1 lb ground beef

1/2 lb ground pork

1 cup soft bread crumbs

2/3 cup parmesan cheese

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 egg

3/4 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup chopped Italian parsley

1 onion chopped

2 carrots chopped

1/4 cup bacon fat

2 bunches of escarole coarsely chopped

2 tablespoons tomato paste

3/4 cup white wine

6 cups broth (3 cups chicken 3 cups beef)

1/2 cup of pastina

1) make meatballs, place in refrigerator

2) saute onion and carrots in bacon fat, add chopped escarole and stir till wilte

3) add tomato paste. Stir. Add broth and white wine, bring to boil

4) add pastina and meatballs and simmer for about 10 minutes