Slow Cooker Hawaiian Meatballs

It's here! The 4th annual Diva "Ball" theme! We love us some spherical food. For this month's meal, I am making Hawaiian Meatballs that you can conveniently make in your slow cooker.





Ingredients:

32 oz. package of precooked, frozen meatballs
13.5 oz can of unsweetened pineapple chunks (put juice aside)
1 large green pepper, diced
1 cup of brown sugar
2 Tbl. cornstarch
2/3 cup of white vinegar
2 Tbl. Soy sauce
Rice

Preparation:
Place meatballs in crock pot and top with green pepper and drained pineapple chunks. In a separate bowl, mix reserved pineapple juice, brown sugar, cornstarch, vinegar and soy sauce. Pour sauce over meatballs, pineapple and green peppers. Cook on low for 3-4 hours or until heated through.

Prepare the rice and serve with the meatballs on top.

Does it get any easier??

Florentine Mac 'n Cheese with Chicken Sausage Meatballs

For our ball-themed Diva month, I always like to try to find a recipe that is just a little bit different. Well, I think I found what I was looking for on Food Network's website. This recipe is courtesy of Rachael Ray. You really get a bang for your buck with it, as you can eat it together as one meal or separate it into two (as I will be doing because there is no way Mr. Dessert Diva will eat this together...he likes to keep his food separate!).

Because this recipe is fairly involved (not difficult...just ingredient-heavy), I am just including the link to the recipe here. I hope you enjoy it!

Cream Cheese Sausage Balls - The Big Cheese

Oh how I love the Divas "ball themed" month! For this year's month of balls, I turned to Pintrest for a recipe. This proved to be very helpful and easy! Thank you, Pintrest and all those "pinners" who pinned this recipe for my viewing/tasting pleasure.

1 lb hot sausage, uncooked
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 1/4 cups Bisquick
4 oz cheddar cheese, shredded

Preheat oven to 400F.

Mix all ingredients until well combined.
Roll into 1-inch balls.
Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until brown.

Sausage balls may be frozen uncooked. If baking frozen, add a few minutes to the baking time.

When I first tried these balls, I served with a side of green beans and mashed potatoes!

Fried Mac & Cheee Balls

My December Ball recipe is Fried Mac & Cheese Balls. Yum! (And seriously unhealthy, but that's why I'm cramming them in before the new year :-)

I found this recipe at NoRecipes.com which is a pretty cool site. Anyway, I'm attempting to freeze them pre-frying and then have the divas fry them up on their own. I'm not sure how this process will work but we will give it a try!

Fried Mac & Cheese Balls
makes 8 balls
2 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 tablespoon flour
3/4 cup half and half
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 packed cup leftover mac & cheese (I used Kraft)

1/2 cup flour
1 beaten egg
1 cup panko (you can also use regular bread crumbs)

pecorino or parmesan cheese for serving

Melt the butter in a small saucepan. Add the flour and stir vigorously until the mixture is bubbling. Remove the pan from the heat, then slowly whisk in the half and half until it is fully incorporated and there are no lumps. Return the pan to a medium-low heat stove and use a silicone spatula to continuously scrape the bottom of the pan to keep the sauce from burning. When the sauce is thick and bubbly, remove the pan from the heat and add the mac & cheese. Stir to combine, then taste for salt and adjust as needed. Cool to room temperature, then place the mixture into the fridge to harden.

Once the macaroni mixture has cooled, it will be very firm. Use a spoon to scoop out a 1 1/2″ ball, then roll it between your hands to make it round, pressing down a bit to remove any air pockets. You should be able to make about 8 balls.

Add about 2 inches of oil into a heavy bottomed pot. Turn the heat onto medium high, and watch for the temperature to reach about 320 degrees F. In the mean time, get 3 shallow bowls out, and put the flour in one, the egg in another and the panko in the third. Roll each ball in the flour to coat evenly, then in the egg (make sure it’s well coated with egg or the panko won’t stick). Lastly, drop the balls in the panko and roll around to coat evenly.

Line a wire rack with paper towels to place the balls on once they’re fried. Fry each ball, rolling them around so they brown evenly until they are golden brown and crisp. Transfer the fried mac and cheese balls to a paper towel lined rack and let them drain. Let them cool for a minute before serving, then top with plenty of grated cheese.