Guest Post: Swedish Meatballs with Jessica from A Girl Writing

[meetballs by pommes79]

I hope you've eaten before reading today's guest post, because Jessica from A Girl Writing is going to make you drool a little with her recipe for Swedish meatballs - yummo!  Jessica found me through @gnomeangel who retweeted my call for guest bloggers!  Isn't Twitter a wonderful thing? I'm super happy to have Jessica on the blog, especially because I haven't cooked meatballs before, I think my life may be incomplete until I do!

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Cast of Characters: Ground beef, salt, pepper, beef stock, bread crumbs, EVOO [that's olive oil, for those of you a bit slow on the up take like me!], cream cheese, minced onion, minced italian parsley, egg, and minced garlic.  So I'm a bit of a cheat and hate to mince garlic, it ends up all over and then the sticky fingers.  I'd just rather not deal with it.

[Click on 'Read More' to see the full recipe after the jump!]

Swedish Meatballs
Gina's Weight Watcher Recipes
Servings: 4 • Serving Size: 5 meatballs • Old Points: 4 pt • Points+: 5 pt
Calories: 213.5 • Fat: 10 g • Protein: 25.1 g • Carb: 8.5 g • Fiber: 1 g • Sugar: 2 g
Sodium without adding salt: 346 mg  

1 tsp olive oil
1 small onion, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 celery stalk, minced - I didn't have any. Will be my first time making it without
1/4 cup minced parsley
1 lb 93% lean beef
1 egg
1/4 cup breadcrumbs
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 tsp allspice
2 cups reduced sodium beef stock
2 oz light cream cheese

In a large deep saute pan, heat oil on medium heat, add onions and garlic; sauté until onions are translucent, about 4-5 minutes.  Add celery and parsley and cook until soft, about 3-4 more minutes.  Let cool a few minutes.

In a large bowl combine beef, egg, onion mixture, breadcrumbs, salt, pepper and allspice.  Mix well and form meatballs with your hands 1/8 cup each (fill 1/4 cup then divide the meat in half).

You'll see that my onion/celery/parlsey mixture is a little on the small side, that's because, frankly I hate onions and I make them super super small and just a few or as minimal as I want.

 

This is what my mix looked like after.  A little gross, but trust me it's so delicious!

Add beef stock to the pan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and slowly drop meatballs into the broth.  Cover and cook about 20 minutes.  Remove the meatballs with a slotted spoon and set aside in a serving dish.

Strain the stock, add to blender with cream cheese and pulse until smooth.  Return to pan and simmer a few minutes to thicken, then pour over meatballs.

After making the sauce, pour over the meatballs.  I like to let them soak in a bit and gather up all the flavor of the sauce.  Sometimes we just eat them straight from the pan, and sometimes served with whole wheat egg noodles.

Enjoy!

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Sounds tasty right?  Thanks Jessica!  We'd love to know if you try this recipe out, or if you have your own favourite meatball recipe - tell us in the comments.