Sausage Meatballs

[kit]

Want to try something a little different? How about Sausage Meatballs?

Take 1 pound of bulk Italian Sausage (either store-bought or homemade) and mix in 1/2 cup of Italian bread crumbs and 1 egg.

Roll into 1 or 1-1/2 ounce balls and brown them in olive oil, turning often to brown all around.

Put the browned balls on a plate between 2 pieces of paper towel and microwave for about a minute or until they're just firm (to cook the inside).

They can be used to flavor homemade spaghetti sauce, sliced and used in a sandwich with cooked peppers and onions, or for any other use you like.

They freeze well. Just throw them in a freezer bag and use them whenever you want, in any quantity you need.

[Clipper]

Sounds great Kit. Freezing the sausage balls in a ziploc would allow for easy use too. If ya want a sandwich, all you would have to do is pop a few of them out and use them. I love Italian sausage and will definitely tell Kathy about this recipe. She already makes sausage balls from our loose bulk sausage. Making the balls ahead makes perfect sense for ease of use. Thanks for the tip.

[kit]

Rolling the bulk sausage into balls works okay, but adding the crumbs and egg to the mixture makes the balls tender and easy to cut with a fork. The flavor is a little different, too. Either way is fine for me because like Clipper, I love homemade Italian sausage any way it's prepared, except I haven't mastered the technique of snorting it up my nose yet.

[Clipper]

Ya have to start out with frozen peas first, then graduate to grapes, and finally if you practice, your nostrils will eventually stretch enough to shove a sausage meatball up there.

Be careful. I am not sure that there is a rehab facility in your area that accepts people that snort sausage meatballs. It could become a serious addiction and with no help available, you could end up spending all your money on sausage ingredients and be unable to pay your utilities, etc, hahaha.

[kit]

Ya know, Clipper, the more I think about it, the more I think chewing the meatballs and enjoying the taste would be better than snorting them. Besides, I'd have to thaw the peas first and that takes too long.

[Clipper]

I agree Kit. I would much rather chew them and enjoy the flavor rather than shove them up my nose and get nothing more than a quick waft of the scent and a greasy nose. LOL.

[kit]

And... there's already a rubber hose stuck up my nose from years ago when Horshak suggested I put it there ;o)

[Clipper]

Up your nose is most likely a fine alternative to the other locations he could have suggested you shove that hose, lol.

[kit]

True enough about the 'shove it' Clipper, but I already have a gastroenterologist who does that to me every 5 years. Just saw him 2 weeks ago as a matter of fact (but that's probably more information than you really wanted to know).

[Clipper]

Hahaha! Been there and done that! I was really worried the first time I had to drink that solution. My mom told me when I was younger that I was so full of Sh*t that if they gave me an enema they could bury me in a matchbox. I told Kathy that if they brought her a matchbox at the end of my test, to just take me to NY State and bury me in my grave in Clarks Mills Cemetery, LOL.

[chris]

Thanks Kit sounds like a winner.

[Clipper]

Kit
We had spaghetti and "sausage balls" the other night when we had neighbors over for supper. They were great. Kathy may a large batch using about 2 lbs or more of home made sausage, and we have probably a dozen or so small meatballs left for sandwiches and such. She made them about the size of golf balls. She froze the left over sausage balls on a cookie sheet and then bagged them. It was an experiment to see if we liked them, and we loved them. She says she will make a large batch when she has time, simply to keep in the freezer for quick and convenient use.

Thanks for a great recipe Kit.

(She also makes her home made bread to accompany her spaghetti, and I just ate the last of the bread this morning for breakfast. Home made bread toasted, buttered, and drizzled with sour wood honey, went great with my coffee. Yum!)

[kit]

Clipper... you had me at Kathy's 'homemade bread.' I want your home address because I'll be driving down for a visit. I should be staying at your house for... oh... say... 3 weeks or so. I can just smell that bread now. M-m-m-m!

Kidding aside, I used to take the time to make my own bread, and now I wonder why I stopped. It's not that difficult physically, and is a wonderful opportunity to share one's spirituality with the yeast that makes it all happen. This is important (to me, anyway).

Glad your Sausage Meatballs were a success.

[Clipper]

Her baking goes in spurts. She will make bread on a regular basis for a few weeks and then we sort of lose the interest in it for a while and eat store bought Italian bread or "home style" bread. The one thing I don't eat any more is just plain white sandwich bread.

Today's special little treat was cherry turnovers made with packaged pie filling, pastry sheets, and drizzled with powdered sugar/butter glaze. It's a wonder I am not even heavier than I am. We BOTH get great enjoyment out of eating good food, and the good Lord has blessed her with culinary talents beyond your wildest imagination.

She says she learned to cook and bake from her mom and her grandmother. They baked their own goods out of need, as they were cheaper to make than to buy in the store. Her pies and cakes are to die for.

I have a doctor's appointment at 2, and then I plan to have another meatball sandwich when I get home. I absolutely love the meatballs, and the convenience is a real plus.

We don't have a guest bedroom Kit, but we DO accommodate visitors in the fifth wheel in the driveway. Sort of like a moveable guest house, lol.

[Clipper]

A fresh batch of sausage is on the horizon. Shopped for groceries yesterday at both Kroger and Sam's Club. Sam's had pork butts on sale for $1.78 per pound. Two large pork butts came to a little over 15 lbs. That will be divided into a 10 lb. batch of Italian hot sausage, and a 5 lb batch of breakfast sausage.

Out of the 10 lbs of Italian sausage, the plan is to make 5 lbs of it into sausage balls and the rest into patties for the grill..

We love the sausage ball recipe Kit. Thanks again for sharing it with us. It will be interesting to see if Kathy likes making the balls with the crumbs and eggs and browning them before freezing rather than simply rolling the meat into a ball and freezing it raw.