Have a couple cooking questions....

[maslex]

1--I plan on making sweet/sour meatballs for a picnic that's coming up. I've never made them but I plan on making them in my crock pot so they're easier to transport to the picnic and easy enough to keep warm. I have always wanted to try the ones using grape jelly/chili sauce. My questions are these...how many bags of frozen meatballs would I need to fill the crockpot (standard size crock pot) and how many jars of jelly/chili sauce do I need to make enough "gravy"

2--I need some suggestions on meatloaf. My DH & I both love meatloaf but he never really enjoys the "texture" of the meatloaf that I make. He recently went to a restaurant in PA and LOVED the texture of their meatloaf. I have recently got a copy of their recipe so I plan on making it for dinner tonight. He tells me in order to get a smooth texture instead of a "rough, lumpy" texture LOL, I need to mix, mix, mix. I've done that before and it still comes out the same. I've also not mixed it so much and still comes out the same. I don't know what to do in order for the texture to come out nice & firm & tight, instead of crumbly, ya know what I mean?

 

[Crystal0608]

1 jar of each with a big bag of meatballs will make plenty of sauce.

Try unsweetened applesauce, it gives ground beef a fluffier texture that I like.

 

[lovesmurfs]

1--I plan on making sweet/sour meatballs for a picnic that's coming up. I've never made them but I plan on making them in my crock pot so they're easier to transport to the picnic and easy enough to keep warm. I have always wanted to try the ones using grape jelly/chili sauce. My questions are these...how many bags of frozen meatballs would I need to fill the crockpot (standard size crock pot) and how many jars of jelly/chili sauce do I need to make enough "gravy"

2--I need some suggestions on meatloaf. My DH & I both love meatloaf but he never really enjoys the "texture" of the meatloaf that I make. He recently went to a restaurant in PA and LOVED the texture of their meatloaf. I have recently got a copy of their recipe so I plan on making it for dinner tonight. He tells me in order to get a smooth texture instead of a "rough, lumpy" texture LOL, I need to mix, mix, mix. I've done that before and it still comes out the same. I've also not mixed it so much and still comes out the same. I don't know what to do in order for the texture to come out nice & firm & tight, instead of crumbly, ya know what I mean?

Here's an article about making meatloaf:

http://www.sptimes.com/2002/06/05/Taste/The_method_to_this_me.shtml

 

[Christine]

I always thought that the more you mixed meatloaf, the tougher it becomes.

I always like to handle my meatloaf lightly.

It could be that the restaurant uses a very fine ground beef. Usually stuff from the grocery store is not that finely ground. I go to a food prep place once a month to make some meals and I noticed that their ground beef is VERY finely ground. Maybe that's the difference.

 

[maslex]

I always thought that the more you mixed meatloaf, the tougher it becomes.

I always like to handle my meatloaf lightly.

It could be that the restaurant uses a very fine ground beef. Usually stuff from the grocery store is not that finely ground. I go to a food prep place once a month to make some meals and I noticed that their ground beef is VERY finely ground. Maybe that's the difference.

OOHHH, never thought of that. I have my grandmothers meat grinder from WAY BACK IN THE DAY. I wonder if I threw it through there it'll come out finer. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[lynxstch]

they were doing samples of it at our Walmart Supercenter this past holiday season..1 fairly good size bag (I think it was 3 lbs?), 1 can jellied cranberry sauce, 1 bottle chili sauce..mix together and add to meatballs..cook on low for 6-8 hours..we have used this many times since, for shrimp, chicken tenders, etc...hubby likes to add about 1/2 tsp of dry mustard to it also!

 

[Trish Bessette]

I usually get one large bag of frozen meatballs and use 3 bottles of chili sauce to the largest bottle of grape jelly you can find.

YUM!!!

 

[Heidict]

I have never tried to make the meatballs with the chili sauce. We have always used one jar of grape jelly to one bottle of bbq sauce with about 3lbs of frozen meatballs. Yummy. Haven't had those in a while.

On the meatloaf front, I found that taking a couple of slices of bread, tearing them up and soaking them in 1/4 cup of so of milk really makes the meatloaf seem a bit more "silky". I dump all the milk and bread, after soaking, into the meat and mix in with all the other stuff.

What do you normally put in your meatloaf? Maybe there is an ingredient that is missing that might help?

 

[sbell111]

Meatballs:

1 bag of frozen meatballs
1 can of jellied cranberry sauce
1 bottle of spicy BBQ sauce
1/2 jar of orange marmelade

yum.