Meatball recipe

Wow, that was some storm that just zipped through our area. First good lightning and thunder I've heard all summer. It rained pretty good also.

Not much of a critter report today. One deer which almost got to up close and personnal with the front of the bus, 7 geese flying over, 2 ducks on Dora Lake, a bunch of crows and one herd of cows, nice looking cows and the calves were very good sized, they looked very fat and sassy.

Well, there was some excitement here on Saturday night. My dog Belle was close to having a batch of puppies. We had prepared a nice place in the basement for her with a board surround and carpet. I had taken her down there many times. Anyway, the guys were hunting and as she was close to pupping I had put her in the house. I came in to go to bed and she didn't meet me at the door so I started looking for her. She wasn't in the basement or any of the main rooms so I walk into my bedroom to find that she had pulled the clean clothes out of the clothes basket and made a bed and had 3 puppies. This was at 10 at night. By 4 in the morning she had 10 puppies, 9 which were living. So on Sunday, we took her to the basement and carried the puppies down there and the kids came to check about a half hour later and she had moved all the puppies back up to the bedroom. Sooo I guess until they get their eyes open I have company in the bedroom. I did move up the surround and carpet and put them in there. She wasn't very happy about it and moved a couple puppies out but I've just kept putting her and the puppies back in. As soon as these puppies are weaned it is a trip to the vet for her. No more puppies. I was going to put up a sign that said:

Free Puppies
Mother: Registered Black Lab/ Good Hunter
Father: Tramp/Good for nothing

But my granddaughter was worried about the puppies so she called a friend of her Dad's that wanted one puppy and said she was afraid Gram was going to get rid of the puppies and he told his wife and she sent out emails to all she knew and all of the puppies are spoken for. There is quite a different lot of puppies. Most are little black lab looking puppies but there is one that is all brown, and one that has brown on the belly and back legs, and a brown one with a black stripe down his back and black ears kind of looks camo will blend in good for hunting. One of the black ones sleeps with his tongue out just like the Mom did when she was a pup.

First day of school went good except I have a different bus this year and lots of new buttons etc to figure out what they do. This bus is alot quieter than the last one.

As the weather gets cooler I start to think about cooking comfort foods but I'm busy so sometimes cooking is a pain so here is my recipe for meatballs. Make them up ahead and take out of freezer and use for any recipe that calls for meatballs. Much better than the boughten variety in my opinion.

Make-ahead meatballs

4 eggs
2 cups dry bread crumbs
1/2 cup finely chopped onion (I use about a cup, but I like onions)
1 Tablespoon salt
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon garlic powder (or to your taste)
1/2 teaspoon pepper
4 pounds lean ground beef

In a large bowl, beat eggs. Add next five ingredients. Add beef, mix well. Shape into 1 inch balls, makes about 12 dozen. Place meatballs on parchment paper in jelly roll pans. Bake at 400 degrees for 10 - 15 minutes or until no longer pink, turning often, drain and cool. Place about 30 meatballs each into freezer containers. Meatballs may be frozen for up to 3 months. Yield: 5 batches (about 30 meatballs to batch). These are good in spaghetti sauce, with gravy over them, in barbecue sauce or however you like meatballs.

Hope you enjoy.

Julie