Rainy Days and Sundays (Or Mondays) Means COOKING

Sunday turned out to offer up temperatures in the low 70's with on and off rain.  (We're forecast to have heavier rain on Monday and Tuesday too.  Thank Goodness!  We need it.)  SM had a job that he'd been working on all last week.  He took Saturday off (football) but decided that since Monday and Tuesday looked to be a wash-out for outside work, he would go and finish up what he could at the job site on Sunday.

Cleaning and laundry is a constant thing around here on the weekends since my job keeps me away from home 12 hrs a day Tues-Fri.  I rarely cook during the week.  (Who has the energy?) So I try and get busy cooking stuff up on the weekends.

When the weather gets cooler, I find that I'm more willing to cook things that take time in the oven.  Soups, roasts...stuff like that.  We haven't had meatloaf here since last winter.  And we LOVE meatloaf.

"You want loaf or balls?"  I hollered at SM as he was walking out the door.

"What?  Loaf?  He said laughing.  "Balls?  What are you going to make balls out of?" 

"You know...Meatballs that are actually "meatloaf balls."  I said.  "Mini meatloafs."

If I make a loaf, SM and I always fight over the end pieces.  There's just something about that crusty end that we both love.  If I make them into little balls, then each and every piece is kinda crusty all around.  Plus I drizzle a bit of ketchup on the top.  When it bakes it forms a gooey little blob.  (I know, we're weird, but we love em.)

Anyhoo...Since I had the day to myself, I figured I'd better get busy. 

I like to use a triple combination of pork sausage, ground turkey and ground beef for meatloaf.  I also like to make BIG batches so I can freeze most of them up and just pull them out as needed.  (I do that a lot since I'm married to "Mr Buffet".  SM likes variety so you can find enchiladas, mac and cheese, cookies and cakes in my freezer.  You want it?  You got it.  Stick it in the microwave and it's dinner.)

I'm using a couple of pounds of each meat today.  Did I mention a big bowl?  Add in 2 eggs, half a bottle of ketchup, and at least a 1/2 cup of Worcester Sauce.  (I use more cause I like the flavor and the zing it gives.) 

I'm gluten free so I use rice instead of bread crumbs but either will work.  Sprinkle in 2 pouches of Liptons Beefy Onion and squish it all together.  (I always pull all the cold stuff out and let it sit on the counter for a good 30 minutes so I don't freeze my hands off.)

I love them when they're bite sized, kind of like a popper, but you could really make them any size you want.  I cook the little ones at 375 for about a 1/2 hour.  Adjust the time as needed.

LOTS of grease.  But grease means flavor!  Just drain out the grease and wipe the foil off between batches.

I did half of them with just ketchup.  The other half I placed a little square of green pepper on them then the dabbeled the ketchup on top.  I think you could mix it up with bacon, Bar-B-Q sauce...Just about anything works.

After the plate cools to room temperature, I stick the whole thing in the freezer then seperate them and put them in baggies.  Simple but time consuming.  A perfect fit for a rainy afternoon.

Start to finish this huge batch of meat took several hours to cook up and created about 100 meatballs (not counting the ones that were sacrificed to the cook for taste testing @;)   Now I've got "lotsa little meatsa ballsa's" that will last us for quite some time.