Meatballs with Mashed Potatoes and Gravy

Ever get tired of the same old thing for dinner? Do you feel like you're just eating junk all the time and not really anything healthy? Sometimes you just need a good home cooked meal, but you don't have a ton of time to make a really good meal.

 Well I just found a quick convenient way of making meatballs without the hassle of pan frying them and they taste wonderful.These baby's you just mix up, place on a baking sheet and bake in the oven for 15 minutes. No grease splatter all over. No unevenly cooked meatballs. Nothing but perfection.

 I simply mixed up the meatballs and threw them in the oven while I peeled my potatoes and got them cooking. Once the potatoes were cooking I got the gravy ready. The gravy was also a snap to make and the meal was so yummy! My husband had even come into the kitchen to see what I was making and when it would be ready because it smell so good.

Now I can't take all the credit for these recipes. I found the meatball and gravy recipe on Goodcheapeats.com while checking out Pinterest. I modified the meatball recipe for a family serving. The regular recipe is for making meatballs and freezing them for other uses later, which I just might do in the future.

When I made the gravy I used chicken broth just because I didn't have any beef broth. I'm going to try using beef broth the next time I make it and maybe even add some mushrooms. I would also double the gravy recipe the next time. My family and I love gravy and there just wasn't enough to really douse our meatballs and mashed potatoes. I guess it was so good we really wanted more.

As far as the mash potatoes goes, I just peeled and quartered about 8 potatoes and boiled them until done. When you quarter them they don't take very long to cook. Once they were done I added butter and milk and mashed them. Nothing special, but they tasted great with the gravy.

So give these recipes a try. I'm going to bet you'll find them to be yummy too.

Meatballs
1 lb of ground beef
3/4 C bread crumbs
1 egg
1/3 C of onion, chopped
1 clove of garlic
3 t dried parsley
1 1/2 t dried basil
1/4 t salt

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Don't over mix. Form into meatballs and place on a baking sheet, preferably with sides. Bake for 15 minutes in a 350 oven or until meatballs are cooked through.

Gravy
1/4 C butter
1/4 C Chopped onion
1/4 C flour
2 C beef or chicken broth
1/4 t pepper
1 t dried thyme or dill weed

In a large fry pan, melt butter. Saute onion until clear. Whisk in flour and cook until bubbly. Whisk in broth. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until thickened. Stir in seasonings. Add meatballs and cook long enough to warm meatballs through. Serve with mashed potatoes.