German Meatballs

My mother in law made these once for Sunday dinner. Kuma, my brother in law and his girlfriend were all a little freaked out by them at first. But sometimes it's better to just say "Shut up and try it." to quote a lady I used to work with.

This is such a keeper recipe. Easy to make. You can even freeze the meatballs before baking them in the sauce for a quicker dinner. You can make this with your choice of ground meat and since it's baked for an hour you don't need to worry about cooking the meatballs the whole way through when you fry them. This also works nicely for dinner parties and potlucks.

German Meatballs

Meatballs:

1 pound ground turkey, pork, beef or a blend It's up to you.

1 cup cracker meal or crushed crackers

2 eggs

1/2 tsp caraway seeds

1/2 tsp freshly ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp chili powder

1 small onion minced

oil for frying

Sauce:

1 16 oz. can whole cranberry sauce

1 16.oz can sauerkraut

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 tsp. chili powder

Preheat oven to 350°F. In a medium bowl mix together all the ingrdients for the meatballs except the oil. To test the seasoning of the meat heat a small amount of oil in a frying pan and fry a small patty. Adjust seasoning is necessary.

In a large frying pan heat oil and cook meatballs until they are just browned on the outside. Don't worry about cooking them all the way through, since they will bake after.

In a medium saucepan over medium high heat, add all the sauce ingredients and combine until throughly combined and the brown sugar is dissolved.

Place meat balls in a single layer in a 9x13 glass baking dish. Top with sauce and bake for one hour at 350°F uncovered. Serve over egg noodles, spaetzle or potato pancakes.

Serves 4