Baked Meatballs

As frozen meatballs become more and more made with fillers, I find I just don't like them anymore.  So, I created my own recipe for frozen meatballs.  This is not a fast recipe (it takes about 2 hours from start to freezer), but I make several batches at once and then have frozen meatballs ready for use during the week.

Ingredients:
4 lbs. lean ground beef
3 eggs
1 cup grated parmesan cheese (real shredded cheese, not the stuff in the green can)
1 cup panko bread crumbs (could substitute other bread crumbs)
3 Tbl Worcestershire Sauce
7 to 10 minced garlic cloves (I use more - about 4 Tbl minced garlic)
2 Tbl Cream Style Horseradish
Salt & pepper to taste

 Cooking Info:
Mix ground beef, eggs, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, horseradish, and salt and pepper by hand.

Add grated parmesan and panko bread crumbs and mix by hand until well mixed.

Form meatballs by hand.  It's messy and takes a while, but you must really squish the meat.  So much so that it squeezes out of your hands.  Do this a couple of times and then form the meatballs.  If you don't do this, the meatball will fall apart during baking.  I form fairly small meatballs (similar to most frozen meatballs) but you can make them whatever size you'd like.  Once formed, place them in multiple 9X13 pans.  The pans must have sides on them.  I learned that less on the hard way - do NOT use baking sheets or you'll have a huge mess on your hands.

Bake meatballs at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.

Remove meatballs from the oven.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper and place meatballs on the parchment.  Then place the baking sheets in a freezer until the meatballs are individually frozen.  In our deep freeze, this takes at most 2 hours.

Once the meatballs are frozen, remove from the freezer, place in bags, and vacuum seal.  This recipe makes 3 batches of meatballs for my family (and we'll have leftovers for the kids for lunch the next day).  This makes approximately 108 to 110 meatballs.

We usually make these in the crock pot with either BBQ sauce and grape jelly, or cream of mushroom soup.  We server over rice.