For the past week, I've had an ear infection.

Not a "Oh, hot-pack-it and use some warm oil" kind of ear infection. The "Day 2 of antibiotics, high fever, and so much swelling jaw is trying to come unhinged" kind of ear infection.

It was ugly.

But in the course of that, I would still get HUNGRY. The trouble was finding something I could eat.

The first night it was hard to chew, there was pork loin thawed. My husband cut it up fine, and mixed it with mayo (like you would tuna) with some grated cheese & seasonings. Tasty, but even the little bit of chewing I had to do was hard. (Nothing I've ever done to pork loin has made it "succulent".)

That night, he pulled the ground beef.

Meatballs.

Spiced up, with egg, and some cheese in them... Basically, I never even had to chew, just swallow.


Now, I'm just kind of fixated. In the past, I used to love to mix up 10 lbs or so at a go. (Get the "base" made, and then sub-divide by style/flavor.)

I think I may binge-make some meatballs in the near future. It was necessity that had me eating them this week, but I love having a bunch ready-to-go. Bite-size, really easy to customize portions for more hungry/less hungry/just need a snack to get through this THING coming up.

Have you considered broth to drink?? Perhaps kep bullion cubes in the pantry for next time. Hopefully not a next time. My mother gave me scrambled eggs when I had such an ear infection. Didnt feel like eating though, just sleeping.

Meatballs sound yummy!

broth is a life saver, mix with a little olive or coconut oil there you go .
if you dont care taste just melt butter mix with water drink salty. all you need for food.

I LOVE this advice, Uber!

And, of course, hoemade broth is best.

Lit, I'm hoping oyu are feeling better (if you're planning a big meatball cookout, then I will guess you are!

Ear aches SUCK!!! I have one once, like oyu've described, plus there was a shockingly scary distortion when I would talk- it sounded like I was DEEP in a metal barrel- completely metalic- robotic- NOT my voice! ... eventually, it went away with antibiotics.

Thank science for modern medicine!!!

...ok... now I need to go make meat balls!

jams

Haven't had a chance to make the meatballs yet. (Need to go shopping for the meat!)

Hoping to, by the end of the week.


Yeah, the ear was bad. By the end, I was on 3 different kinds of antibiotics at the same time.

This sucker was so bad I was sent to the ER for a CT scan to make sure it wasn't in the mastoid bone.

All from something that flared up out of nowhere, no cold, nothun. I'm about 95% better, now. The infection is gone, there's just some lingering damage to the eustachian tube.

Been playing a lot of "catch up" -- stuff like trying to get laundry and shopping done -- while trying to "keep up" with the rest of the world. Need to do my grocery run in the next couple of days... There WILL be a chub of ground beef. There WILL be ground pork... And I know where to get chicken and turkey, too.

(All you folks pushing broth... you have GOT to try multi-meat bone broth. Start with, say, a chicken carcass... boil it out for broth, freeze. Then take the frozen broth, and use it to boil out bone-broth from, say... turkey. (Add more water if you need to, but use all the original broth you froze.) Then lamb. Then goat. Then pork. Then....

OMFG, multi-meat broth is the best! Anyway, I know it's not the same, but I think meatballs taste better when they have more meats in them.)

It's gonna take pretty much a day. Start with the base: Meats, some eggs for binder... powdered parmesan instead of breadcrumbs.

Then the batches:

"Standard"

(Basically, Italian seasonings, some more parma, maybe some mozzerella)


Sesame
(Maybe a shot or two of soy sauce. Some sesame oil. Generous helpings of sesame SEEDS)

"Hot-wing"
Blue-cheese, buffalo-wing sauce...


"Taco-style"
taco seasoning*, Mexican cheese blend


You get the idea. Pretty much any flavor-profile you can come up with, you can use to make meatballs.

It's time-consuming, only because you have to make the little balls, and I like to do a LOT at once. But once you've got them stashed in the freezer, it's really a thing of beauty. Grab one for a quick snack. Toss 'em on top of a salad. Pack several for lunch... serve as appetizers.... You can add so many things, and get such different flavors, from the same base, and with the same, assembly-line cooking method...
















* Taco seasoning: gredients
1 tbsp Chili Powder.
1 tsp ground cumin.
1 tsp salt.
1/2 tsp paprika.
1/4 tsp garlic powder.
1/4 tsp onion powder.
1/4 tsp dried oregano.
1/4 tsp black pepper.

Don't buy pre-made, they add carbs

I made meatballs over the weekend and I added hemp heart seeds to the mix.. it absorbed the fat and made the meatballs more firmer..
I don’t normally do that, but I saw them in the fridge and thought..
What the hell.
They were delicious..

You are the Meatball Goddess!

Love me some meatballs!!!

Do you cook them and then freeze??

Has anybody ever made them with crushed pork rinds? I wonder if it would help bind the meat or does it stay together well enough with egg and cheese.
Do you oven bake them or cook them in a skillet to put a crust on them.
Or maybe a combination of that would be good. I have two cast iron skillets, both large. Maybe it would be good to sear them off on the stove, then finish in the oven to cook through to the center of the MB.

Love me some meat balls also! in a rush I buy a 3LB bag or beef meat balls from SAMs and bake them. they are good also.

Store bought meatballs always have added sugars, soy fillers (to boost the protein content and stretch the meat) and starch.
You're much better off buying 100% pure meat.

I use the cheap, powdered parmesan (in the round green can) for "binding", and it works well enough for me! But try pork rinds -- I bet they'd be delicious!


I have zero luck with pan-fried. (I lack that skill.) So I bake them, and then freeze in labeled bags -- about enough in each bag to last the whole family for one full meal. (This means that I'll have multiple bags of each flavor.)

In hot weather, cooked frozen meatballs are great "lunch bag" food...

This is really one of my favorite things... And yup, I've added hemp seeds, flax seeds, and whatever other nutrient-dense goodness I wanted to eat...

Psyllium husk powder is also a good binding agent.
The other day I made a batch of of German liver dumplings, half of which is waiting in the freezer for when I need a quick lunch. They are 3/5 pork, 2/5 liver, onion, spices, etc., and unlike conventional meatballs they are first cooked in simmering water. Then, when ready to eat, I brown them in a pan with butter or bacon grease. Not to everyone's taste, but I am quite fond of them, with sauteed onions, and/or Sauerkraut. Also good floating in broth.

Verbina, Is the pork and liver ground together to make the meatballs? Do you then boil them and they stay together?
Sorry but it sounds interesting and I'd love to try it. It sounds like a pate' ball.

Yes, ground together with the onion. And simmered, NOT boiled; that way they hold together. Otherwise it would be a funky sort of soup :-)

Recipe: (Liver dumplings are a specialty of Bavaria, in southern Germany, and usually contain bread. I found this recipe on a German Low Carb site, and find it quite similar to what I remember from Germany. Because of the lack of bread they end up being smaller than the bread versions (hold together better), more like meatballs, but I don't find that to be a drawback) (Sorry, I only have the quantities measured in grams, but the internet will translate, if you don't have a scale)

500g ground pork
350g ground liver (pork or beef)
2 large eggs (I have left these out by mistake, and it didn't really matter)
One small to medium onion
Spices: Marjoram, Nutmeg, Pepper, & Salt
My addition, because I want to, and it's good for me - 1 Tbls gelatine
(Optional - If not quite sure that the whole lot will hold together, add a Tbls of Psyllium husk at the same time as the gelatine; leave the mass for a few minutes so that the gelatine & psyllium have a chance to expand)
-- I get about 24 dumplings from this recipe --

Grind the liver to a puree in a food processor. Add the ground pork, chopped onion, and spices, and pulse to mix thoroughly. Use rather more spice (though maybe not salt) than you might think appropriate, as some will be lost to the cooking water. Sprinkle the gelatine over, and pulse to mix in, and rehydrate. The mixture will be sticky, so don't try forming them by hand.

Heat a pot of water to a simmer. Add a few bay leaves if you have them. You want the water to be at just below a simmer while cooking the dumplings; you should just be able to detect some movement in the water, no bubbles. Using 2 tablespoons form egg shaped "balls" from the meat mixture, and set them in the water (lower the spoon in the water, and the mass will glide off). After a few minutes the individual dumplings will rise to the top of the water, and then you can take them out. In the meantime keep adding new ones. They are still a bit pink in the middle at this point, but I finish cooking them in a pan later.

I either freeze them at this point, after cooling, or finish cooking in a pan. In Bavaria you might get them served in a broth: Leberknödel Suppe. Or with Sauerkraut. Or with caramelized onions. I fry them up in a pan with butter or bacon grease, to brown them, and reheat them, and add some Sauerkraut at the end, if I have it, but only to heat a bit so that the probiotics aren't entirely killed, or make some sauteed cabbage to go with them.