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This post is sponsored by 44 Farms. All opinions are mine alone.
#44Farms  

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Cranberry Chili Meatballs:
Recipes Every Girl Should Know

Cranberry Chili Meatballs, our third dish in the “Recipes Every Girl Should Know” series, heats up the holidays with a sweet and spicy glaze! It’s the perfect holiday appetizer for office potlucks or house parties. These holiday meatballs are crazy good, bite-sized morsels that will leave your friends and family begging for more!

For this post, I partnered with 44 Farms. They recently opened their first retail store at 1509 South Highway 36, Cameron, Texas 76520. This caught my attention because several of my favorite Houston restaurants source their beef from 44 Farms and I knew their ground beef would make perfect meatballs!  Luckily, you can purchase 44 Farms beef online or at their new retail store.

Although I used 44 Farms Angus Ground Beef, any ground meat like beef, lamb, or pork will work. The Cranberry Chili Meatballs do take a bit longer than my normal recipe posts but I guarantee making the meatballs and cranberry sauce from scratch makes a huge difference. That’s why I created a step by step photo recipe tutorial to help guide you through the meatball making process. It’s super easy and once you master it, you’ll never buy frozen precooked meatballs again!

So let’s go meatballs and show your friends and family your mad cooking skills!

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Cranberry Chili Meatballs

PREP TIME: 30 mins
COOK TIME: 30 mins
TOTAL TIME: 60 mins

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Author: Taste and See Life

Recipe type: Appetizer

Cuisine: American

Serves: 50 small meatballs

Classic Meatballs

INGREDIENTS

• 2 pounds 44 Farms Angus Ground Beef
• 1 cup breadcrumbs
• 1/4 cup white onion (small diced)
• 1/4 cup celery (small diced)
• 2 tablespoons garlic (minced)
• 2 tablespoons parsley (chopped)
• 1 tablespoon ketchup
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 1 egg (beaten)
• 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese
• 2 teaspoons HEB steak seasoning
• 2 slices of bacon (optional)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Cook bacon medium heat in frying pan.
2. Sauté onions and celery in bacon until translucent, about 3 minutes. Add garlic and stir for one minute. Remove from the heat, cool to room temperature and puree.
3. Combine breadcrumbs, parsley, steak seasoning, ketchup and blend in a large bowl, set aside.
4. Beat milk and egg together and add to large mixing bowl with breadcrumb mixture.
5. Add ground beef and sautéed vegetables to the large bowl of remaining ingredients.
6. Combine until thoroughly combined.
7. Roll into bite-sized balls and refrigerate at least 1 hour (or overnight).
8. Preheat oven to 350 and brown meatballs in bacon drippings.
9. Place lightly browned meatballs on parchment paper lined cookie pan and finish cooking the meatball in the oven at 350° for 10 minutes.
10. Remove meatballs to a warm dish.

Notes:

I modified 44 Farms’ meatball recipe for this post.  I used Progresso Italian breadcrumbs instead of white bread, added a tablespoon of ketchup, and used bacon drippings to sauté my veggies and brown my meatballs. If pork is not in your diet, substitute the bacon with 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil.

I advise making the meatballs a day or two ahead of time. Also, this recipe makes about 50 small meatballs. After the holidays, make the classic meatball recipe in bulk and freeze the meatballs. Use them during the week for quick family dinners like spaghetti and meatballs, meatball stroganoff, or Italian meatball soup!

Cranberry Chili Glaze

PREP TIME: 10 mins
COOK TIME: 20 mins
TOTAL TIME: 30 mins

INGREDIENTS

• 1 bag fresh cranberries
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 lemon, shaved skin for zest
• 2 tablespoons of water
• 2 teaspoons ginger powder or grated fresh ginger
• 2 tablespoons orange balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1/4 cup dark brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1-1/2 tablespoons cider vinegar
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon finely grated shallot, from one shallot
• 1 small clove garlic, minced
• 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
• pinch of salt
• 2 tablespoons Huy Fong garlic chili sauce (to your taste)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Wash cranberries and save 50 – 60 for garnish.
2. In a large saucepan, add cranberries, sugar, water, lemon zest and orange balsamic vinegar. Cook over low heat and stir until sugar dissolves.
3. After 10 minutes, cook to medium heat and stir until cranberries open.
4. Take cranberry sauce off heat and set aside.
5. In a separate saucepan, mix ketchup, brown sugar, apple cider vinegar, water, Worcestershire sauce, shallot, and garlic. Bring to a simmer and add half of the cranberry sauce to the pan. Stir in garlic chili sauce, salt, and pepper to your taste.
6. Glaze cooked meatballs with cranberry chili sauce and garnish with chopped parsley.
7. Serve hot.

Notes:

If time is an issue, you can use a can of whole cranberry sauce and start recipe from step 5.

Taste & See Life friends, you simply must try these Cranberry Chili Meatballs! They are super easy to make and so good! I cut bamboo skewers in half and decorated them with raw cranberries and tied pieces of twine to give plain cocktail picks a festive holiday look.

Thank you, 44 Farms for sponsoring the ground beef for the post. I can definitely taste the quality of your beef.  Congratulations your new retail store! I hope to visit one day soon. Taste and See Life friends, be sure to give 44 Farms beef a try the next time you are at one of these Houston restaurants!

PS, don’t forget to check out the other “Recipes Every Girl Should Know” posts for your next social gathering!

• Easy Quiche Lorraine
• Easy Chocolate Brownies
• Easy Fall Brunch

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