On Top Of Old Smokey...

Meatballs. Yes Meatballs. What a boring first freezer meal to try eh? Well, Tim was on call Sat Night and frankly, when he is not home for dinner, Momma ain't doin' nuttin' fancy. In fact, it's usually a hot dog for B and cold cereal for me and D. So this is quite the step up. 

  Actually, I was pretty confidant that meatballs would be a great freezer meal. Up until our move to Rochester, we bought the huge bag of frozen meatballs at Costco. Those are amazing. Totally worth the $10/bag. Sadly, Rochester doesn't have Costco, just Sam's club and their meat balls are not the same. Nor are they good. Anyway, we love meatballs, there is just so many things you can do with them. I'll share my favorite recipe at the end. I had however, never actually made meatballs from scratch. 

 They came out of the freezer like this. Some of the balls were stuck together, even though I flash froze them. Next time maybe I'll have to leave them in a little longer.

 Once thawed put them in a baking dish and bake 30 mins @350*. They came apart fine for cooking.

 I have to admit, I was surprised to pull out this. Holy greasy nasty mess! Like I said I have never made Meat balls before. Is this how they always come out of the oven? So I put them on a paper towel to soak up the extra oil. This time I just threw them in with some pasta and red sauce from a jar. Like I said not too fancy. But here is what they look like in action-

 After all the cooking, here is all the dirty dishes. This includes the dishes we ate on. Not to bad since we usually fill both sides of the sink. I will say though that I had extra pans for the pasta, the sauce, and I sautéed some fresh mushrooms to add to the sauce {so yum}. As I was doing all this it occurred to me that perhaps I could have made the pasta and sauce on baking day and froze that too. Have any of you ever froze cooked pasta? Not sure how it would work.  Something to think about for next time!

The verdict-
Taste- I liked them OK. Costco's are better. D loved them, B ate them {which is saying a lot for him) and Tim said they were fine.
Ease of the meal- pretty easy still some clean up. Plus I had to mop because B dropped pasta on the floor.
Would I make again?- Yes

Ok and my favorite recipe with meatballs is-

Meatball Subs
Get hoggie buns and spread a thin layer of mayo. Then put 3-4 cooked meat balls down the center of your bun. Top with marinara sauce and cheese. Bake open faced in a 350* oven until cheese is melted and bun is slightly toasted. 

Easy! Enjoy!