These meatballs are great served over rice. They also make a great appetizer.
I found this recipe in a great cookbook called Fix, Freeze, Feast. I've enjoyed many of the recipes in it.
Mozzarella Meatballs
2 Lbs Ground Beef
1 C Dry Bread Crumbs
1/4 C Milk
1 Egg,
1/4 C Onion, finely chopped
6 cloves Garlic, minced
1 tsp Sea Salt
1/2 tsp Black Pepper
5 sticks of Mozzarella String Cheese, cut into 40 cubes
Unwrap string cheese* and cut each stick into 8 pieces. Put cheese cubes into freezer until it's time to form the meatballs.
Preheat oven to 500 degrees.
Cover cookie sheets/Jellyroll pans with heavy duty foil.
In a large bowl, mix together ground beef, bread crumbs, milk, egg, onion, garlic, salt and pepper with your hands, thoroughly combining.
Shape into 1" meatballs around each piece of cheese, sealing meatballs well to keep cheese from oozing out.
Place close together on foil covered, rimmed baking sheets.
Bake for 15 minutes in 400 degree oven.
Remove from oven and cool.
*String cheese shortcut - unwrap string cheese in full sheets, grabbing the tabs at the top and pulling them down a little at a time until they are all open. Lay the cheese logs together and chop into small chunks. This is much faster than peeling each individual package open and chopping each one separately.
Barbecue Sauce
1 1/3 C Ketchup
2/3 C Red Wine Vinegar
2/3 C Worcestershire Sauce
2/3 C Brown Sugar
2 tsp Garlic, minced
1 TBS Onion, finely chopped
1 tsp Dry Mustard
3/4 tsp Black Pepper
While meatballs are baking and cooling, mix ketchup, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar , garlic, onion, mustard and pepper in a large saucepan. Add meatballs and simmer until ready to serve.
Freezer Cooking size batch:
This uses the 6 lb tray of ground beef like they sell at Costco.
I freeze this into 3 batches for our family. It can easily be divided into 6 batches or however you choose to divide it.
Mozzarella Meatballs
6 lbs Ground Beef
3 C Dry Bread Crumbs
2/3 C Milk
4 Eggs
3/4 C Onion, finely chopped
2 TBS minced Garlic
1 TBS Sea Salt
2 tsp Black Pepper
15 sticks of Mozzarella String Cheese, cut into 120 cubes
Unwrap string cheese* and cut each stick into 8 pieces and place in freezer while you prepare the meatball mixture.
Cover rimmed baking sheets with heavy duty foil and heat oven to 500 degrees.
Mix together ground beef, bread crumbs, milk, eggs, onion, garlic, salt and pepper. Mix thoroughly.
Shape into 1" balls around each chunk of string cheese. Place close together on foil covered rimmed baking sheets.
Bake at 500 degrees for 15 minutes.
Cool.
While meatballs are baking and cooling, prepare barbecue sauce.
If you are making these as an appetizer, a half recipe of sauce is sufficient.
Barbecue Sauce
4 C Ketchup
2 C Red Wine Vinegar
2 C Worcestershire sauce
2 C Brown Sugar
1/4 C Onion, finely chopped
1 TBS Dry Mustard
2 tsp Black Pepper
Mix ingredients together and divide into Gallon Freezer Bags. Divide meatballs evenly into bags with the sauce.
Freeze.
Thaw in refrigerator overnight.
Pour meatballs and sauce into baking dish. Bake uncovered in 350 degree oven for 30 minutes, until heated through.
Serve over rice or noodles.
You may also heat these in a Crockpot until heated through.
Pour all the meatballs into Crockpot and pour sauce over the top. Heat through.
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