Swedish meatballs

It's getting colder here, with lows in the 40s and 50s...We may have to turn on the heat tonight.  It's a bit sad for me to think that 40s and 50s is cold, but I actually am cold in the morning on the way to the gym.  I think I need to move out of this climate before the change in my cold tolerance becomes permanent.

Cold weather usually (to me) means snow and comfort food, but here in SC it just means comfort food and fewer bugs.  All h*ll breaks loose when it does actually snow.  In the mood for something that went well with mashed potatoes - the ultimate comfort food in my book - I found this recipe for Swedish meatballs.  It seemed fairly straightforward without a lot of odd ingredients.  In fact, I had everything on hand except the ground beef (I didn't add the ground pork since I don't really like it) and the potatoes.  It was simple but took a bit of time - mince and cook bacon and onions, mix all the meatball ingredients by hand, use a 1 tablespoon cookie scooper to measure out the balls, use hands to roll smooth, fry, make sauce, simmer all together.  I think if you follow the instructions exactly it makes about 70-80 little meatballs.  I would make these again and freeze 1/2 the meatballs before (or maybe after) browning.  Best yet, the recipe was great!  It was another keeper and an "if I had a restaurant I'd serve this" sort of meal.

The finished meatballs were small, which was a perfect size.  And they were very tender - handle the raw meat carefully and just mix enough to avoid big lumps of ingredients.  Don't mix it to a paste.  Serve with mashed potatoes or noodles or even toothpicks as an appetizer.  I was generous with the sour cream (read: I used way more than 2 tablespoons!).

Mmmmm...meatballs cooking.

And this is neither here nor there, but I also made my favorite (in the whole wide world) recipe for cranberry sauce.  The recipe came from my friend Katie (grad school friend) who got it from her friend who got it from her grandmother.  So, it's grandma-approved.  I'll never go back to canned again.  This is so easy and the orange together with the cranberry cannot be adequately described by mere words.  So make it yourself (or hie on down here for Thanksgiving) and see.

Katie's Friend's Grandma's Cranberry Sauce (recipe is easily doubled or even quadrupled, in fact, the original is 4x this one)

1 - 12 oz. bag fresh cranberries
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated white sugar
grated rind from 1 orange
1/4 cup fresh squeezed orange juice (grate rind before squeezing)
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

Pick over and wash cranberries and place in a saucepan with all of the other ingredients.  Bring to a boil, stir, cover and boil until the cranberries burst*.  Remove from heat, transfer to a heat-proof container and allow to cool.

*I like mine 'well-burst', but if you like more intact berries, cook less.  I usually cook for 6-7 minutes, the original recipe says 4-5 minutes.