Sweet N Sour Chicken Meatballs

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A winner will be drawn from all those who share this recipe on Thurs. Nov 13th.

(I'm not afraid to ship it, if necessary!)

Happy Fall Y'all, although it is feeling a bit more like winter around here in southern Wisconsin. 

We will manage, we're tough like that! 

At least this time of year there is no shortage of comfort food and 

today I'm sharing with you a dish which has achieved a rare accomplishment 

in the All Things Libby world. 

I've made it twice.

And, not just twice in my lifetime, or twice in a season…twice in ONE week!  

If that doesn't speak volumes about these Sweet N Sour Chicken Meatballs, 

I'm not sure what will.  

The first time I made them was for the Packer/Bear game on Sunday night 

when we were celebrating together with friends,

 not only did they FLY out of the slow cooker (perfect for a gathering), 

the guys kept asking for more and comparing how many they each got.  

Since Landon was sick and Jerry stayed home with him, 

neither of those guys got to take part of this awesomeness, 

that is quite possibly meatball perfection.  

Two of the things that I absolutely love about these meatballs is 

that they are made up of lean ground chicken and they are held together by oatmeal, 

which provides an awesome texture AND that means they are gluten free!  

While making home made meatballs may seem a bit too tedious, 

it really only took me about 15 minutes to mix 'em up and roll 'em out.  

And, if you haven't gathered by now…they are so worth it!  

So, into my trusty mixing bowl, add 2# of lean ground chicken

(Don't even both dealing with any less…even nearly 4 dozen are scarfed down in no time!)

1 cup oatmeal

1 medium onion, chopped

2 eggs

2 tsp salt

I have to recommend that you just dig right in and mix this up with your hands. 

Nothing else does as good of a job and 

you are going to have to get your hands dirty anyway. 

Place the formed meatballs onto a foil lined, sprayed pan. 

Pop them into the oven for 15-20 minutes at 400 F. 

I love the fact that they don't shrink very much 

since they are so lean to begin with and don't have a whole bunch of fat baking out. 

Then, the meatballs were placed in the slow cooker. 

Even when we had them at home, like last night, 

I still prefer the slow cooker so that they sauce can reduce and bake into the meatballs a bit. 

The sauce starts out with about 1/2 cup of French dressing and 

1/2 cup of BBQ Sauce. 

Then 1 can of pineapple and 1 tsp of garlic powder

are added to finish it off. 

How easy is that!?!?!

Pour it over the meatballs, give it a gentle stir and let 'em ride. 

You know the drill…

on high for 4-6 hours

on low for 8-10 hours

Top 'em off with some sesame seeds and green onions for the finishing touch. 

RECIPE:

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Bake Time: 20 minutes + slow cooker

Ingredients:

2# of lean ground chicken

1 cup oatmeal

1 medium onion, chopped

2 eggs

2 tsp salt

Cooking Spray

1/2 cup of French dressing 

1/2 cup of BBQ Sauce

1 can of pineapple

1 tsp of garlic powder

Sesame Seeds

Green onions - sliced

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 F. 

Mix together the chicken, oatmeal, onion, eggs and salt until thoroughly combined. 

Roll out into about 48 meatballs. 

Place onto a foil lined baking pan and top with a thin layer of cooking spray. 

Bake for 15-20 minutes. 

Place into slow cooker. 

Mix up sauce by pouring together dressing, BBQ sauce, pineapple and garlic powder. 

Pour sauce over meatballs and set the slow cooker according to the time until serving. 

Make-Your-Own Sweet and Sour Chicken

How is your first week of fall going?

Pretty exciting week around here...after quite the wild and winding road called life, my big brother is finally getting married.

Couldn't be happier for him and his bride, their family and farm.  We can wait to celebrate with everyone!

But before we pack up and head out, I have a few more recipes that I want to share with everyone.

As you have probably guessed by now, I'd much rather feed my family at home than pay someone to do it for me.

So, in an effort to keep up with their ever-changing favorites, I attempted my first ever sweet and sour chicken...which was a success, if I do say so myself!

Perhaps a little tedious, but I still prefer that over eating out, 

at least on MOST occasions.

For starters, I took a package of chicken tenders, nearly 2# which was about 12 tenders, 

cut them up into bite size pieces,

 doused them with 1/2 cup of corn starch and tossed to coat.

Easy enough!

Next, I whipped up 3 eggs to serve as my batter or wash before par-frying (partial or pre-frying) 

in 1/4 cup of canola oil, for starters, more was added as necessary.

Before moving on, make sure that your oven is preheating at 325 F.

Just using a toothpick, the chicken was dipped in the egg and then placed in the pan.  

Frying for 2-3 minutes per side, until nicely browned, giving great texture.

Until both sides are browned. 

Then, they are placed in a 9x13 baking pan to hang out for a bit before finishing off in the oven.

Now, for the sweet and sour sauce, combine

1/2 cup sugar, 1/4 cup ketchup, 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar, 1 tbsp soy sauce 

and 1 tsp garlic powder.

Whisk together until smooth.  

When all of the chicken was browned, 

1 chopped green pepper, 1 can of pineapple chunks and the sauce

were added to the chicken.

Top with sauce and pop into the oven for 20 minutes.  

Flip, turn, or stir and give them another 20 minutes of oven time.

Just serve over rice

and 

enjoy all of the flavors and textures of this Asian inspired dish!

RECIPE: Serves 6. 

Ingredients:

1 Package of chicken tenders (roughly 2#)

1/2 cup of corn starch

3 eggs

1/4 cup of canola oil

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup ketchup

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

1 tbsp soy sauce 

1 tsp garlic powder

1 chopped green pepper

1 can of pineapple chunks

Garnish with:

Parsley

Green Onion 

Sesame Seeds

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325F. 

Cut up chicken tenders into bite sized pieces. 

Coat with corn starch. 

Preheat oil in sautee pan. 

Whisk up eggs. 

Using a toothpick, dip chicken into eggs and then add straight to pan for par-frying, 2-3 minutes on each side. 

When both sides are browned, place in 9x13 pan. 

Mix up sauce with sugar, ketchup, apple cider vinegar, soy sauce and garlic. 

After all chicken is coated and browned, add pineapple, green pepper and sauce. 

Bake for 40 minutes, stirring after 20.