Cranberry Meatballs

My daughter Heidi made these on Christmas Eve and everyone wanted to know the recipe.  They were fantastic and I thought this would be a great recipe for a New Years Eve party.  She told me that the recipe is for meatloaf and that is what she first made and they loved it so she got to thinking it would be great on her buffet table as meatballs to go along with the ham, cheesy potatoes, pear salad, fruit salad, shrimp cocktail, rolls and on and on with all the other goodies.

If you want to make this recipe as a meatloaf instead of meatballs you simply turn the meat loaf over when finished baking and then it is a Cranberry-Crowned Meatloaf, beautiful, delicious and super easy.  Remember you will have a longer baking time for a meat loaf.

Ingredients:

1 pound ground beef (I used seven percent fat)
1 small onion, finely chopped
1/2 medium green pepper, finely chopped
1 egg, beaten
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. dried parsley flakes
1/4 tsp. dried thyme
1/8 tsp. dried oregano
1 1/2 cups bread crumbs
1/3 cup milk

This is for the bottom of baking dish:
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 can whole-berry cranberry sauce

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine ground meat, onion, pepper, egg and seasonings.  Add bread crumbs and milk, and mix well.

Sprinkle brown sugar on the bottom of a glass baking dish.  Spread whole-berry cranberry sauce over brown  sugar.

Form meat into the size ball you prefer for an hors d'oeuvre.  Place balls on the cranberry sauce.  Bake for around 40-50 minutes.  Makes 24 meatballs.

This recipe comes from Hobby Farms.