Sweet and Sour Meatballs

This one is a family favorite - passed on to be by my wonderful mother-in-law Donna! She created the little cookbook you see below (which is obviously much loved and used!) for me and my hubby for a wedding gift. It is a much cherished gift and probably the only thing that got us through our first year of marriage while I learned to cook! My husband was always such a good sport though about whatever I served up to him. These sweet and sour meatballs have been a go-to recipe for many years and I'm sure will continue to be a favorite for many more to come!

Started with ground beef, milk, bread crumbs, salt, pepper, Worcestershire, sugar, eggs, onion, tomato sauce, Italian Seasoning, chili powder, brown sugar and ketchup.

Weighed out 1 1/2 pounds of meat (often times I just use 1 lb since I freeze beef in 1 lb packages).

Meat and eggs combined in the mixing bowl.

Followed by bread crumbs.

Diced up the onion.

And poured in the milk!

Seasoned generously with pepper.

And a bit of salt.

Thoroughly combined the mixture with clean hands.

Then formed 12 large meatballs and placed them in a 9x13 baking dish.

Time for the sauce! In went the tomato sauce and water.

Next came the brown sugar.

And Stevia in place of white sugar.

Worcestershire.

Chili powder

Lots of ketchup!

And Italian seasoning.

Heated the ingredients through then poured over the meatballs.

Don't those look purty?

90 minutes later - and I want to stick a fork in them and stuff them into my face!! Good thing I have SOME will power... not much... but some!

Served up on top of some brown rice, with some steamed green beans.

These meatballs are SO tender and perfectly flavored and the sauce is tomatoey, tangy, and sticky sweet. A completely perfect combination! My boys absolutely love this dish and love eating the leftovers for a couple days afterwards - not many dishes I can say that about! :)

Ingredients

1 1/2 lbs ground beef
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups bread crumbs
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
3/4 cup milk
salt and pepper to taste

Sauce:
2 8-oz cans tomato sauce
2 8-oz cans water
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 TBS Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp Italian Seasoning
2/3 cup white sugar (or powdered sugar substitute)
1 tsp chili powder or paprika
2 cups ketchup

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine the first 6 ingredients and form into large meatballs (about 12). Place in a 9x13 baking pan.

Combine the sauce ingredients in a pot. Heat over medium heat on the stove until well combined and heated through.

Pour sauce over meatballs, coat well.

Bake in preheated oven for 1 - 1 1/2 hours.