Description
Zesty porcupine meatballs with bell peppers have from-scratch flavor with shortcuts! Serve over pasta, next to pasta with a simple sauce (I like just olive oil, basil, garlic, and a dash of salt), or with some nice crusty bread.
Ingredients
- 2 pounds lean ground beef
- ⅔ cup uncooked white rice
- ½ cup milk
- 1 beaten egg
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 (14 ounce) jar spaghetti sauce
- 1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes
- 1 ½ cups beef broth
- ½ cup red wine
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- ½ teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
- 2 bay leaves
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 (16 ounce) package frozen pepper and onion stir fry vegetable blend
Instructions
- Thoroughly combine ground beef
- rice
- milk
- egg
- garlic
- basil
- and salt in a bowl. Form the mixture into about 16 1-1/2 inch meatballs.
- Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat
- and brown the meatballs well on all sides
- about 15 minutes.
- Place the spaghetti sauce
- diced tomatoes
- beef broth
- red wine
- basil
- cayenne pepper
- bay leaves
- and 3 minced garlic cloves in slow cooker
- and stir to combine. Put the meatballs into the slow cooker
- and stir gently to cover with sauce. Shake the frozen vegetables over the sauce
- without stirring
- and cook on Low
- covered
- for 6 to 8 hours
- until the meatballs are tender and the vegetables are cooked.
- About an hour before serving
- gently stir the sauce
- being careful not to break the meatballs
- and remove the bay leaves. Cook for 1 more hour to blend the flavors and thicken the sauce.
Prep Time: 15 mins
Cook Time: 6 hrs 15 mins
Total Time: 6 hrs 30 mins
Servings: 6