Valentine's Foods - Heart-Shaped Meatballs

Meatballs are not just for spaghetti.  They are also a delicious appetizer served with the sauce of your choice. For a delicious Valentine's treat, try these meatballs made by forming them in a heart-shaped cookie cutter.

When making these, I decided to use my regular meatball recipe and make a triple batch, so I could make these heart-shaped meatballs as well as regular meatballs to freeze for quick, easy meals in the future.  First I made the meatball mixture by mixing together ground beef, ground sausage, Italian breadcrumbs, egg, onion, and garlic.

Then I used a cookie cutter to form the hearts.

Like I said, I made these early, and also made regular meatballs.  Since I was making these early, I placed each of the meat balls on a wax-paper lined baking sheet and put them in the freezer.

Once they were frozen, I moved them into a gallon-size Ziploc freezer bag, labeling the bag with the date and cooking instructions.

When I wanted to cook them, I put them on a baking sheet directly from the freezer and baked them in a 400 degree oven for about 30 minutes.

If not freezing, form your meatballs and place them on a baking sheet and bake in a 400 degree oven for 20-30 minutes or until browned and cooked through.

Heart-Shaped Meatballs

Ingredients:

1 lb ground beef

1 lb ground sausage

½ cup Italian breadcrumbs

1 egg

½ onion, chopped

1 Tbsp. minced garlic

Steps:

1.  Mix together ground beef, ground sausage, breadcrumbs, egg, onion, and garlic. 

2.  Form into hearts by pressing meat into cookie cutter. Place on a baking sheet.

3.  Cook for 20-30 minutes at 400 degrees until cooked through. 

TO FREEZE:  Can freeze on wax paper lined baking sheet and store in gallon size bag before cooking and then cooking directly from freezer. (Add about 10 minutes extra cooking time.)