Swedish Meatballs

First off, I don't know why these are called "Swedish" - this recipe was given to me by Hubby's mother, whose parents were from Norway!  One Christmas break, she made these and sent them with us as we headed back to the college apartment.  I knew I had to have the recipe as Hubby-to-Be's eyes would glaze over as he ate them.  They are a great way to use up some of the Christmas ham* and go so good with cabbage and black eyed peas!

 Assemble about a pound of leftover ham, a pound or so of ground pork, 2 eggs, a cup or so of dry seasoned bread crumbs, brown sugar, vinegar, and dry mustard.

 I don't own a food processor, so I pulse the ham in a blender in batches.  Works fine!

Mix the finely minced ham with the pork, eggs, bread crumbs.  Have a little milk handy if the mixture is too dry - mainly this depends on how much bread crumbs you have - I only had a cup or so, but you could always use more.

 Form into large meatballs and place in a deep casserole dish.  Then mix your sauce ingredients:

About 1/4 cup each water and vinegar, with 1 cup brown sugar and 1 T. dry mustard.  Pour over the meatballs and place in 375 oven.  Bake for one hour, basting with the sauce every 15 minutes or so.

Meanwhile, you could be baking your sweet potatoes, or braising cabbage, and heating up black eyed peas...or reheating leftover side dishes from Christmas!

The picture does not do them justice.  The sauce gets a deep caramel color and is so good spooned over the ham balls....yuuuum.  They are a family tradition here; one I'm sure will continue as the years go by.  Since I work on Saturday, I will have these babies all ready to be heated up when I get home.  They bring sweet memories of my dear mother in law, and help us ring in the New Year in a deliscious way (:
Well, the decor is up, the house is clean, and I get a night off from cooking, courtesy of hubby and Carraba's!
So, with that...

Happy New Year, everyone!

*Don't forget to use the ham bone as the basis for the best pot of beans your crock pot ever made!

File this away for next New Year's!