Cheese just makes everything better

While I'm all about cooking healthy, I just had to indulge in this recipe I found for mozzarella stuffed meatballs this Saturday. They were amazing, meaty, flavorful, and pretty darn heavy; but the occasion called for them, plus its not everyday I make meatballs (actually, almost never)! 

I didn't do much tweaking to this recipe, but I do wish I had made some sort of marinara sauce to put on top. Instead, I made some of my homemade pesto with pasta. Let's just say carb loading + meat stuffed cheese = extreme lethargy (which makes it very difficult to go out on a Saturday night!) I think the meatballs in marinara, with a veggie side, would make for an excellent wintertime meal. 

So here we go...

Mozzarella Stuffed Meatballs

Fancy, filtered meatballs.

Unfiltered photo, the cheese still looks ooey and gooey!

from Picky Palate

Ingredients: 

• 2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
• 1lb lean ground beef
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup finely chopped white onion
• 1/2 cup Panko bread crumbs
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup milk
• 2 tbs minced garlic
• 1 tbs Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tbs yellow mustard
• 1 tsp hot sauce, like Tabasco
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
• 1/4 tsp garlic salt

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 35o degrees F. and grease 9×13-inch baking dish with oil.

2.  Place beef, egg, onion, bread crumbs, Parmesan, milk, garlic, Worcestershire, mustard, hot sauce, salt, pepper and garlic salt into a large mixing bowl, stirring until just combined.  Take 1/4 cup beef mixture and press into center with your thumb to make room for cheese ball.  Place cheese in middle then with hands enclose the cheese with the beef, making sure the cheese is completely covered.  Place meatballs into prepared baking dish and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until cooked through.

3.  Serve over top your favorite pasta or inside a warm roll for delicious meatball sandwich. Makes about 10-12, one-inch mozzarella meatballs.