Sweet & Sour Meatballs

In order for dinner not to get ignored in my very hectic life, I like to create a dinner menu for the week on Sundays. Sometimes I actually follow it, sometimes we end up with more leftovers than I anticipated and can skip some things in the menu plan - and sometimes our days just spin out of control and dinner is whatever I can create super fast with whatever is in my kitchen. While these meatballs aren't in this week's menu, we feasted on them last week.

I had decided that I was going to make some sweet and sour meatballs as there is a recipe for them that Levi LOVES! Knowing that my two cuties don't like the sweet and sour meatballs I normally make, I decided to get two pots of sauce going for the meatballs - one with traditional Italian style sauce and the other with the sweet and sour sauce.

I quickly got to work on the Italian style sauce and poured some tomato sauce into a small pot and added some spices. I then got to work on my sweet and sour sauce and sauteed an onion and then opened a can of cranberry sauce and added it to the pot. This was when I realized that the recipe I normally use needs a whole bunch of ketchup - except all I had was one tiny little bottle of ketchup that was almost empty - not nearly enough. (I love ketchup - no clue how we were on empty of this staple!)

I quickly realized that I didn't have enough tomato sauce to make the Italian style meatballs for the whole family - but on the other hand was missing a main ingredient for the sweet and sour meatballs - and that's when I decided to combine the two.

I emptied the pot of tomato sauce, which was seasoned with oregano and garlic and mixed it into the cranberry sauce with onions. I then finished it off by adding the rest of the ingredients needed for the sweet and sour sauce. I quickly rolled the meatballs and dropped them into the boiling sauce - and then waited for dinner to taste my experiment - I was happy to find that my new creation was amazing!

Sooo..here's the recipe for the meatballs in sweet and sour sauce!

Sweet and Sour Meatballs
Sauce: 
Canola oil
1 onion, diced
1 15 oz. can of jellied cranberry sauce
1 29 oz. can of Hunt's Tomato Sauce
A few squeezes of Heinz Ketchup
Brown sugar
Oregano
Garlic powder
A splash of rice vinegar


Sautee the diced onion in a small amount of canola oil. When onions are soft, add the cranberry sauce and mix well. Add the can of tomato sauce, ketchup, oregano, garlic, brown sugar and a splash of rice vinegar. Make sure to mix the sauce frequently so that all of the ingredients become a smooth sauce. Bring to a boil - add meatballs - bring back to a boil and then lower the flame and allow to finish cooking. 


Meatballs:
1 lb ground beef (I use extra lean)
1 egg
A few tablespoons of cornflake crumbs
A few squirts of ketchup
Garlic powder


Mix all ingredients together - shape into meatballs and place in boiling sauce.