Mini-Bacon Meatballs

Another recipe I've been wanting to try from my Cuisine at Home magazine is the Mini-Bacon Meatballs. Tonight I whipped up a batch (very easy!) and made a healthier version of a meatball sub for the boys and I. But first, to the meatballs. Before I give the recipe, I will note that the 1 tsp of salt it calls for was not enough for me. If you're going to put these in a marinara sauce for spaghetti or sub sandwiches, 1 tsp of salt should be fine. But if you want to eat these on their own or without a sauce, up the salt quotient. I thought the bacon would be salty enough, but I really needed more salt. Other than that, these were good. Not the best meatballs I've had, but very easy to make, and tasty to boot.

Mini-Bacon Meatballs
Ingredients:
4 strips bacon, diced
1/2 cup onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb ground beef
1/2 cup dry bread crumbs (I used Panko)
4 tbs fresh minced parsley
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
2 eggs, beaten

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Coat a baking sheet with nonstick spray. (I put a rack in my baking pan so the grease would drip off the meatballs.)

2. Cook bacon in a skillet over medium-high heat until starting to crisp, about 4 minutes; remove and set aside on a paper-towel lined plate. Pour off all but 1 tbs drippings from skillet.

3. Saute onion in same skillet over medium heat until softened, about 3 minutes. Add garlic to skillet; cook 1 minute.

4. Combine beef, cooked bacon, onion mixture, bread crumbs, parsley, paprika, salt and pepper in large bowl. Stir to combine. Add beaten eggs.

5. Form mixture into 1-inch meatballs and place on pan. Bake meatballs until fully cooked, about 10 minutes. **I browned mine a bit under the broiler (about 4 minutes) after the 10 minute bake in the oven.**

Makes about 40 meatballs.



To make our sub sandwiches, I took a whole wheat pita pocket, warmed it up, slit it open, took one slice of provolone cheese and put it in the warm pita, topped it with 5 meatballs that I had re-warmed in Progresso mushroom spaghetti sauce, and some of the sauce. I topped it with a little fresh Parmesan cheese. DELICIOUS and only around 450 calories!!!