Food: Bacon Meatballs with Barbecue Sauce

The Super Bowl was tonight, which of course meant craving Super Bowl food. I wanted to make something that would be delicious, but not quite as bad for me as all the other food we were planning on serving up. Plus, I needed something that could double as a couple lunches for the week ahead. I settled on meatballs, and ended up combing a couple of recipes to make bacon meatballs and a tangy barbecue sauce. The recipe I used is an adaption and combination of these two: PaleOMG's Bacon Meatballs and The Pioneer Woman's BBQ Comfort Meatballs. The Bacon Meatballs are paired with a Mango Honey Mustard Sauce that sounds awesome...but I'm allergic to mustard, so had to figure something else out. Here's what I ended up with:

Bacon Meatballs (recipe adapted from PaleOMG, cooking method from Pioneer Woman...this version is not paleo)

1 pound of ground sirloin

4 slices of bacon, diced

1/2 sweet onion, diced

1 egg, whisked

1/4 cup flour (divided)

2 teaspoons chili powder

Oil or cooking fat

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Throw the diced bacon into a skillet and start to brown.
3. Once the bacon starts rendering enough fat for the onion to not stick, add the onions to the skillet. Stir the bacon and onion around until the bacon is cooked and the onions are soft. Remove and drain on a paper towel.
4. In a bowl, combine the ground sirloin, bacon, onions, egg, spices, and a couple Tablespoons of the flour. Mix it all up with your hands.
5. Scoop out meatballs and roll into balls (I used a small cookie scoop to make sure they were all the same size). Roll each meatball in remaining flour to coat.
6. Get the oil or cooking fat of your choice hot (or just use the bacon grease if there's enough) and add the meatballs to the skillet. Cook enough to sear each one. 
7. Once the meatballs have reached the brown-ness of your liking, remove to a parchment covered baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until done.

Barbecue Sauce (adapted from Pioneer Woman)

2 cups of ketchup

2 Tablespoons of sugar

5 Tablespoons of distilled white vinegar

4 Tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce

4 Tablespoons of minced onion

1.5 Tablespoons of grape jelly

1. While meatballs are cooking, combine all sauce ingredients in a sauce pan. 
2. Cook on medium low heat, stirring frequently, until mixture comes to a boil.

Once the meatballs are cooked, you can either pour the sauce over them or serve on the side as a dipping sauce, depending on your preference.

Since it was Super Bowl Sunday and I knew we'd be grazing, I dumped the meatballs and sauce in the crockpot after cooking to keep it warm.

This recipe received raves from everyone!