Foodie Friday - Swedish Meatballs

Colder temperatures and snow finally found their way to Iowa a month ago which means one thing - COMFORT FOOD!

I was going through my cookbooks trying to find something that would warm us up with the change in weather.  I realized I couldn't find my recipe for Swedish Meatballs.  When I was growing up my Mom made Swedish meatballs.  If you are from SC, it was Mrs. Anderson's recipe  - they lived kiddy-corner from us on our block.  (How's that for small town talk?)   I've lost that recipe, although may look 1 more place for it, but found this one that reminds me a lot of  Mrs. Anderson's and Mom's recipe.   And for the lazy in me, this one is a bit easier from what I can recall. 

Easy Swedish Meatballs

 Meatballs:

 2 pounds hamburger
1 egg
1/4 c. ketchup
2 T. Worchestershire sauce
1 T. soy sauce
garlic (I used 1/2 to 1 tsp of Tastefully Simple's Garlic Garlic)
2 tsp. salt (I omitted this due to the sodium in the soup)
1 tsp. pepper

Combine the above ingredients -  I used my mixer to do this.  Do not over mix!  Roll into balls and place on cookie sheet. 

I got about 45 pingpong ball-sized meatballs from the recipe. Bake for 45 minutes at 350 degrees or until browned. Remove from oven.  I transferred to a 13-inch enamel roaster.  My mom cooked with enamel roasters all the time when I was growing up and to me nothing says comfort food and cooks food more beautifully than a good ole' roaster! Of course, I'm sure my Mom had a lot to do with those results!

Now for the sauce:

1 can Cream of Mushroom soup
1 can Cream of Chicken Soup
1 c. sour cream
1 tsp. Worchestershire sauce
1/4 c. milk

Combine the sauce ingredients and poor over the meatballs.  (Sorry - for some reason this picture turned out a bit fuzzy, but you get the idea :)  )

Bake another 45 minutes in the oven at 350 degrees.  Sauce will be bubbling when done. 

We had them over mashed potatoes with a side of green bean casserole and fresh bread. But you can also serve over noodles, bread, etc. 

The original recipe for this was found on about.com.Southern Food.   I made it a bit different than the original recipe.  Here's what I modified:

*Original recipe calls for 1-1/2 lb ground beef and 1/4 pound Jimmy Dean sausage (I used all beef and just rounded it up to 2 pounds).

*Original recipe calls for 1 T. dry mustard which I omitted (I'm not a mustard fan so don't have the stuff on hand).

*Original sauce recipe calls for 2 cans of Cream of Mushroom (I like a little mushroom, but prefer a chicken/mushroom soup mixture.

*Original sauce recipe calls for a dash of Tabasco which I left out. 

You could easily make this the day before, refrigerate overnight,  and put in the oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour (til bubbly) the next day.  It might take just a bit longer in the oven to get it to the bubbly stage after coming from the fridge.

Happy fooding and Happy Friday!