In the Kitchen with Gram...Thanksgiving in a Bite! (Meatballs!)

With the holidays just around the corner (wait...did I just say that?! It's not even Halloween yet...but have you been to any local retailer? Kohl's? Macy's? WalMart? CHRISTMAS IS EVERYWHERE.) Gram and I thought it would be very apropos to bring this "Gram Original" recipe to you!

"Thanksgiving in a Bite" are meatballs (we used the Swedish Meatballs recipe as a guide...and if you haven't made those yet, you are SERIOUSLY missing out!) that incorporate all of the flavors of Thanksgiving...in one little bite! Seriously, so good.

Okay, so start with your ground turkey and ground pork...(raw meat just looks so appetizing, no? Or not. Grody.)

Add onion and egg:

And process a bunch of celery:

Make the stuffing into crumbs, and add it in:

Now, get that "Gram handful" out and ready!  Salt!

Pepper!

Sage! (Or maybe...Poultry Seasoning! Or Thyme! I can't tell the difference! Why am I using exclamation points all over heck! Please send help!)

Thyme! (Or maybe...Sage! Or...okay, I'll stop...)

Poultry seasoning!

Now, time to put all squeamishness aside and DIG IN! Use your hands to mix the squooshy raw meat mixture together.

And mix.

Approximately RIGHT HERE I would put a photo of us using a small scooper from Pampered Chef to form our meat balls...IF I WAS A GOOD BLOGGER, but apparently I'm subpar, so I neglected to take a photo of that. 

Just pretend for me, m'kay? ;)

Anyway, two options to cook your meat-a-balls, one is to fry them in a pan (add a bit of butter):

The other (read: easier) way is to put them in a HOT oven for 10 minutes or so, to get them nice and brown. I like to do the cookie sheet way, then transfer them to a pan to get a bit more color and to get some good drippings going for the gravy.

Speaking of drippings...add a smidge of butter to them,

A packet of turkey gravy,

And the cream of chicken soup...if you feel more creative at making your own gravy, have at it sistah! (Or brotha...can't discriminate.)

I also like to sprinkle in a bit of the seasonings I used in the meatballs to jazz up the gravy.

Serve the meatballs over mashed potatoes (not picture) and along side some of Gram's amazing Cranberry Sauce and you've got yourself one heckuva yummy meal!

Gram's "Thanksgiving in a Bite" Meatballs

Printable Recipe

Meatballs:

3# ground turkey

1# ground pork

1 large onion, process to fine in food processor

4 ribs celery, process to fine in food processor

1 (6 oz) box stuffing mix, processed to crumbs

3 beaten eggs

4 tsp. poultry seasoning

1 tsp. sage

1 tsp. thyme

salt and pepper to taste (2 "Gram handfuls")

Gravy:

Drippings

1 envelope Turkey gravy mix

3-4 cans cream of chicken soup

A pinch of each of the seasonings listed above

Combine all ingredients in large bowl, form into small balls (the small scoop from Pampered Chef works great!), and fry (use a bit of butter) or brown in oven at 450*F. (Hint: Fry a couple of meatballs to taste if season is right, add more if needed!) Mix 3 cans of cream of chicken soup into drippings and add one package of turkey gravy mix and seasonings, spoon over meatballs, serve on top of mashed potatoes with Gram's Cranberry Sauce alongside!

Yum.