Sweet and Sour Meatballs

Ingredients: 

(meatballs)

1 Tbsp beaten egg

1/4 cup seasoned bread crumbs

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground ginger

Dash of pepper

1 lb lean ground beef

Ingredients:

(sweet and sour sauce)

1 can (16oz) pineapple chunks, undrained

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup cider vinegar

2 Tbsp reduced-sodium soy sauce

1 cup sliced fresh carrot

1 medium green pepper, julienned

3 tsp cornstarch

2 Tbsp cold water

Hot cooked rice

In a medium bowl, combine the first 5 ingredients. Crumble beef over mixture and mix well. Shape into 1-in. balls. In a large skillet, cook meatballs over medium heat until browned on all sides and meat thermometer reads 160 degrees; drain.

Drain pineapple, reserving juice; set pineapple aside. Add water to juice to measure 1 cup. Stir in the brown sugar, vinegar and soy sauce; pour over meatballs. Add carrot. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 5-8 minutes or until carrot is crisp-tender. Stir in green pepper and pineapple; cover and simmer 5 minutes longer or until pepper is crisp-tender.

Combine cornstarch and water until smooth; stir into the meatball mixture. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Serve over rice.

4 servings

*Note to self (or any other readers of this blog): I normally use frozen meatballs from Ikea because it's so much faster and it makes this a really quick meal to throw together - I just heat the meatballs in the skillet while I'm chopping vegetables. However, the last time I made it I didn't have enough. I did have ground beef, so I tried the meatball recipe included here. It's ok, but I've had better.  I'll have to do some checking and see if I can find a better one.

*I found this recipe in Taste of Home's Cooking for 2. If you're looking for a great recipe magazine try this one; I really like it - we've found so many good ones from it and I just double the recipe for our family.