All-Purpose Meatballs

This is a great freezer friendly bulk recipe you can make up and use in numerous other recipes. I made a batch and divided into two bags for the freezer. I have sweet and sour meatballs on my radar to make and enjoy soon!

This is one of the recipes I saw while watching yet another episode of Pioneer Woman with my 5-year old who absolutely loves Ree Drummond, her show, and her cookbooks. I had a large package of ground beef in the freezer, along with some ground turkey and decided to put the two together to whip these meatballs up to try out. They came out tender and lightly seasoned - perfect to be used any which way you desire!

We're getting ready to head out of town for a few days (me and the kiddos) and I can't wait to share all about our trip when we're back again!

All Purpose Meatballs adapted from Ree Drummond

Ingredients
2 lbs ground beef
1 lb ground turkey
2 1/2 cups plain breadcrumbs
1/3 cup milk
2 ½ TBS heavy cream
1 TBS dried parsley
1 TBS grainy mustard (I used a mixture of half yellow, half "basil mustard")
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/3 teaspoon red pepper flakes
3 large eggs

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place a metal rack in a baking sheet and set aside.
2. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix thoroughly (I recommend taste testing at this point by taking about 2 teaspoons of the meat mixture, shaping into a small patty and cooking in a skillet - if you aren't happy with the flavor adjust at this point before moving to the next step).
3. Form meat mixture into tablespoon sized meatballs. 
4. In batches, if needed, place meatballs on the baking sheet and bake 20 minutes in the pre-heated oven.
5. Cool about 10-15 minutes, remove to a foil or parchment lined clean baking sheet and freeze 10-15 minutes to firm up. Use as desired.
6. If freezing, allow to freeze on the baking sheets completely, then put desired quantities in Ziploc bags and return to freezer to be used later.

Note: I like to place pieces of bread / biscuits that are going stale in the freezer together in a large bag. When I have enough of a collection of random pieces I blitz them in the food processor until fine crumbs and use anywhere plain breadcrumbs are called for! Any unused breadcrumbs go back into the freezer for a later use. Easily adapted to Italian breadcrumbs by adding a little Parmesan cheese, garlic powder, and Italian seasoning as well.