{pineapple meatballs}

recipe and image from My Kitchen Cafe

 INGREDIENTS:
Meatballs:
2 lbs ground beef
2 large eggs
½ cup dry breadcrumbs
1 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
1 ½ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
¼ teaspoon garlic powder

Sauce:
1 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1 ¾ cups pineapple juice (reserved from pineapple tidbits)
¼ cup white vinegar
1 ½ tablespoon soy sauce
1 ½ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 (14 oz) can pineapple tidbits

DIRECTIONS:

1. Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees. Make the meatballs by combining all meatball ingredients in a large bowl. Mix well and shape into about 1” meatballs.

2. Brown Meatballs in a non-stick frying pan and drain on paper towels (or if you want to save time brown in the oven on a cookie sheet while you’re making the sauce).

3. Make the sauce by combining cornstarch and brown sugar in a sauce pan. Then add 1 ¾ cup pineapple juice and blend until the mixture is smooth. Add vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce and stir. Simmer uncovered on medium low until thickened (about 8 minutes - mine only took about 4 minutes to thicken).

4. In a casserole dish pour sauce over meatballs and add pineapple tidbits. Lightly mix meatballs until they are coated with the sauce. Bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes or until fully cooked.

These were SO good. Definitely need some rice and vegetable to tone down the awesome flavor though. Nate couldn't get enough of these. He rarely comes home saying that he loved his leftover lunch. And he came home 3 times saying that with these.