Italian Meatballs

Last Friday was the office holiday party and due to so many budget cuts, there's no money in the department budget for going out or catering or much of anything at all. Kinda stinks, but we sucked it up and had an Italian potluck. The result was a real good lunch of antipasto, salad, fruit, lasagna, a most excellent cheesecake, and my contribution, meatballs in sauce. It's been a long time since I made Italian meatballs, so I went looking for recipe in my old cookbooks and I found this one for spaghetti and meatballs in my 1980 Betty Crocker International Cookbook. I didn't make the spaghetti, just the meatballs. They were good - no pictures, though, sorry. I'll post them next time. And there will be a next time.

Meatballs!
Ingredients:
1 1/2 pounds ground round
3/4 cups dry bread crumbs *(make your own)
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
2 Tablespoons fresh grated Parmesan**
1 Tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

* Make your won breadcrumbs - I toasted some 2 day old Italian bread, let it cool, then ran it through the food processor to make the bread crumbs.
**2 Tablespoons? Really? No. I added a little more, about a 1/2 cup.

Method:
1) Heat oven to 350.
2) Mix all of the ingredients together and use the very best mix mixer you've got, your hands!
3) Shape the mixture into 1 1/2 inch balls. (For easier shaping, dip your hands into cold water from time to time.)
4) Place on an ungreased jelly roll pan (I lined mine with heavy duty foil for easier cleanup).
5) Cook uncovered 15-20 minutes. (I "sacrificed" one to make sure they were done. Yummy.)

As for the sauce, well, I went easy and cheap. Once at work, I put the meatballs in a crockpot, and added a 26 oz can of Hunt's Garlic & Herb Spaghetti Sauce. I gave it a quick stir and let it sit in the crock on low from about 0900 until lunch at 1130.

Enjoy,
Lorence