Meatballs El Rancho

The Recipe:

1 lb. ground beef
1/4 cup Penzey's Taco Seasoning Mix OR 1 packet Taco seasoning
2 cans Campbell's Beef gravy
1 Tbsp. minced dried onions
1 can LeSeur baby carrots, well drained
3 slices American cheese, cut on a diagonal
Egg noodles

Mix taco seasoning into ground beef and shape into small meatballs. Heat skillet over med-high heat; brown meatballs on all sides. (Depending on the amount of fat in your ground beef, this shouldn't be a problem to not add oil, but if you want to, lightly oil the skillet first.) Drain any fat. Add the cans of gravy and the minced dried onions. Bring up to a boil and reduce to a simmer; cook maybe 10 minutes so the meatballs are cooked through.

While you're doing this is a good time to bring the water for the noodles up to a boil. Once you've added your noodles, you've got 6-8 minutes, and it's time to move back to the meatballs.

Add the drained carrots to the gravy. Stir, then push the meatballs out toward the outside of the skillet. Put the cheese on top of the gravy around the outside, cover and let melt on the lowest possible heat while your noodles finish. Serve over noodles.

Makes dinner for 4.

The Story:

This is even less healthy than the Candied Corned Beef, if that's possible. We make it very, very rarely. Between the saturated fat and the salt, don't eat this very often but enjoy it when you do. I guess you could make yourself feel better by having a big ol' salad with it, if you must.

Meatballs El Rancho is as kid-friendly as a meal gets. My kids routinely ask for it for their birthday dinners. It's such comfort food and is one of the few happy food memories I have of growing up.

This one is an old family recipe completely corrupted from an old 1960's pamphlet for new wives. The pamplet even says "Yesterday a bride, today a homemaker!" My parents were able to take this recipe and remove all of the fresh vegetables from it, thus rendering it easier and less healthy. But, boy, is it tasty.