Pineapple Meatballs

Pineapple Meatballs
recipe and image from My Kitchen Cafe

INGREDIENTS:
Meatballs:
2 lbs ground beef
2 large eggs
½ cup dry breadcrumbs
1 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
1 ½ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
¼ teaspoon garlic powder

Sauce:
1 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1 ¾ cups pineapple juice (reserved from pineapple tidbits)
¼ cup white vinegar
1 ½ tablespoon soy sauce
1 ½ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 (14 oz) can pineapple tidbits

DIRECTIONS:

1. Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees. Make the meatballs by combining all meatball ingredients in a large bowl. Mix well and shape into about 1” meatballs.

2. Brown Meatballs in a non-stick frying pan and drain on paper towels (or if you want to save time brown in the oven on a cookie sheet while you’re making the sauce).

3. Make the sauce by combining cornstarch and brown sugar in a sauce pan. Then add 1 ¾ cup pineapple juice and blend until the mixture is smooth. Add vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce and stir. Simmer uncovered on medium low until thickened (about 8 minutes - mine only took about 4 minutes to thicken).

4. In a casserole dish pour sauce over meatballs and add pineapple tidbits. Lightly mix meatballs until they are coated with the sauce. Bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes or until fully cooked.

*These meatballs were actually absolutely wonderful- definitely my favorite meatballs I have made. And to think only a few short months ago I thought I would never put the word "favorite" and "meatball" in the same sentence. The flavor was great and I loved the cooked pineapple with them. We served the meatballs over rice and had asian-style green beans too.