Fooding

The plan for tonight was sausage lasagna and cranberry meatballs. Then it became ground beef lasagna and cranberry meatballs when we realized someone -- can't imagine who -- had put the mild sausage in the freezer when he was putting away the groceries. That transmuted into baked ravioli with ground beef and cranberry meatballs when we thought that we wanted to use the chilled ravioli we'd bought last week, before it grows stale ....which is now rice with cranberry meatballs, because the aroma of that sauce is quite enticing, and we're getting hungry. Since dinner is about half an hour away, I think that's what it's going to be. We'll have the other -- whatever it is! -- tomorrow. Or perhaps Wednesday.

This recipe is very similar to our favorite 'sweet and sour' meatballs, except that it's simmered in a pot rather than in a slow cooker, and it has some lemon juice in it.

Cranberry Meatballs

INGREDIENTS

* 2 pounds ground beef
* 1 cup bread crumbs
* 2 eggs, beaten
* 2 tablespoons soy sauce
* 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
* 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
* 1/3 cup ketchup
* 1 (16 ounce) can jellied cranberry sauce
* 1 (18 ounce) bottle barbecue sauce
* 2 tablespoons brown sugar
* 1 tablespoon lemon juice

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. (175 degrees C).
2. Mix together the hamburger, bread crumbs, eggs, soy sauce, pepper, garlic powder and ketchup. Form into small balls and bake for 30 minutes.
3. In a saucepan over low heat, combine the cranberry sauce, barbecue sauce, brown sugar and lemon juice. Simmer and stir until smooth. Add meat balls and simmer for 1 hour. Serve warm.

Oh, and we added a mess of Parmesan cheese to the meatballs -- we like the taste.