Name: Drunken Meatballs
Ingredients: 3 lb Ground Beef; 1 Onion (Grated); 1 tsp Garlic Powder; Salt & Pepper; 24 oz Ketchup; 1 12 oz Beer; 2 Beef Bullion Cubes; 1/4 C Water; 2 TBS Corn Starch

It’s almost time for the big game. I’m not much of a sports fan, but I love Gametime parties. I’m in it for the yummy food!

Walmart knows that Gametime is recipe time, and asked me to share a great savory snack that you all could use for your next football watching party.

I’ve got a lot of great dip recipes I’ve shared in the past. Individual 7 Layer Dip Cups. Pizza Dips. Buffalo Chicken Dip. Hot Artichoke Spinach Dip. Reuben Dip. I’ve done a variety of savory snacks. Walking Tacos. Beef Bulgogi on a Stick. Deep Fried Spicy Mac ‘n Cheese Bites. Fried Ravioli Nachos. Oven Baked “Wings”.

So what to make this time?

I admit it. I was fresh out of ideas. So I did what any smart woman would do. . .

I called my Mother in Law!

She’s a great cook and always has interest recipes from her lifetime of hosting bridge parties, family events and yes–Gametime gatherings over the years. She pulled this recipe for “Drunken Meatballs” out of her card file and shared it with me. The recipe came from a neighbor who had served it at a party years ago.

Start out by heading to your local Walmart to pick up supplies. Nothing too fancy here–ground beef, an onion, a small bottle of ketchup, one 12 oz can of your favorite beef. Easy stuff. Pick up some toothpicks for serving as well–either the plain wooden toothpicks or the fancy flagged toothpicks.

A note on the ground beef: Leaner is better. You will cook the meatballs in the sauce, so the fat will go right into the sauce. If you use a less lean cut, you will probably want to use a spoon to skim off the layer of fat that will accumulate on top of the sauce as it simmers.

In a large pot make your sauce. Combine the beer, ketchup, and bullion cube together.

The meatballs are made by mixing together your ground beef, onion and the spices. Here’s an easy way to handle the onion. Sure–you could stand there and grate the thing on a regular grater. . . but it’s far easy to use a mini chopper. This is basically a small food processor–I’ve had a Black and Decker Handy Chopper from Walmart for about 12 years. I use it for making chicken or tuna salad (just toss the meat, mayo, onion, and celery in and whir), dicing up onions, dicing up celery. . . it’s amazing how often I use it. If you don’t have one, I highly suggest picking one up. They usually run less than $15.

Once you’ve got your onion grated and your meat mixture all together, it’s time to roll the meatballs. Now I used to just pinch off a bit at a time from the bowl and then roll the meatballs. Then I learned a great trick! Pat your meat mixture out into a slab of even thickness. Square it off nice and pretty, and then use a knife to cut it into small squares. Then you just pick up a square and roll. It still isn’t a fast process, but it goes much faster than the “pinch” method.

The meatballs go into the sauce and get simmered on the stove for an hour. You could probably just use a slow cooker on low for a couple of hours too.

I like a thicker sauce that clings to the meatballs, so I dissolve a couple tablespoons of corn starch in cold water and then mix it in at the end to thicken it up.

Drunken Meatballs

Ingredients

3 lb Ground Beef
1 Onion Grated
1 tsp Garlic Powder
Salt & Pepper
24 oz Ketchup
1 12 oz Beer
2 Beef Bullion Cubes
1/4 C Water
2 TBS Corn Starch

Instructions

In a large saucepan (big enough to simmer all the meatballs in the sauce) combine ketchup, beer and the bullion cubes. Warm thoroughly and then cut heat back to maintain a simmer.
Combine beef with powdered garlic, grated onion and salt & pepper. Mix very well.
Form all the beef mixture into small meatballs and gently place into the hot sauce.
Simmer for 1 hour.
Whisk together the water and cornstarch, mix into the sauce and increase the heat slightly to thicken.
Enjoy hot.