Easy-Peasy Meatball Tips

One of my favorite meals is BBQ meatballs and mashed potatoes.  I do believe I'm salivating as I type that.  Yum.  Meatballs can be a real hassle to prepare, so I'm sharing a few tips that I've picked up to make the process totally snappy.

1. Try doubling your recipe and freezing half for a later date.  Twice as much food, same amount of prep!  You can freeze before or after you bake them.  Also doubles as a great meatloaf recipe.
2. If the recipe calls for day-old bread cubes or crushed saltines, it's much faster to substitute oatmeal or bread crumbs.  If you don't have bread crumbs or oatmeal on hand, just throw some bread in a food processor, and pulse it a bit.
3. Put bread bags or sandwich bags on your hands while you're mixing up the meat.  I despise digging raw meat out from under my fingernails.
4. This is applicable across the board with eggs, but crack them in a separate bowl, so you don't have to go fishing for that microscopic shell shard that embedded itself in that lovely raw meat.
5. Substitute different spices for varied flavors--Italian seasoning for spaghetti and meatballs, chili powder for BBQ meatballs, a smidge of nutmeg and allspice for Swedish...
6. Use a melon baller or mini ice cream scoop to form the balls, OR
7. Lay a sheet of long wax paper on the counter, spread out the meat with a greased rolling pin, and use a pizza wheel to cut the meat into similar-sized squares.  Then roll them into balls.  Much faster than individually eyeballing and rolling.
8. Layer your cooking pans with aluminum foil, so your clean-up is a breeze. 
9. 2 parts ketchup to 1 part brown sugar makes a simple BBQ base that you can jazz up a million different ways.
10. Meatballs are excellent bedded on just about any starch, including but not limited to rice (any), buttered egg noodles, mashed potatoes and pasta. 

It works for me!