Basic Meatballs
6 lbs lean ground beef
1 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
1 cup fine or panko bread crumbs
2 cups warm water
4 eggs
4 tbsp dried Italian seasoning
3 tsp salt
2 tsp onion powder
2 tsp ground black pepper
4 cloves garlic, minced
1. Preheat oven to 400.
2. Gently whisk eggs into water. Stir in bread crumbs, Italian seasoning, salt, onion powder and black pepper.
3. Place ground beef in a large bowl. Add garlic, Parmesan and bread crumb mixture. Mix well. Shape mixture into 1.5" meatballs. Place in an ungreased baking dish. (I use one 10x15" glass baking dish and one 9x13" glass baking dish and work in two batches.) Drizzle a little bit of water into the bottom of the dish to prevent it from cracking. Place unused meat mixture in the refrigerator until ready to make the second batch.
4. Bake uncovered 20-25 minutes, stirring once about halfway through cooking time, until no longer pink in center.
5. Remove meatballs to another dish to cool and repeat the process with the remaining meat mixture.
6. Cool completely before packaging to freeze.
7. To reheat from freezer, put one jar of tomato sauce for every 12 meatballs in a saucepan or pot (depending on the number being reheated), cover and simmer over medium-low heat until meatballs are hot in the center.
Makes approximately 9 dozen meatballs.
