The Pioneer Woman Cooks - Comfort Meatballs

Meatballs:  1 1/2 pounds ground beef
3/4 cup quick oats
1cup milk
3 tbsp very finely minced onion
1 1/2 tsp salt
Plenty of ground black pepper
4 tbsp canola oil
1/2 cup flour

Sauce:  1 cup ketchup
2 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp distilled white vinegar
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
4 to 6 tbsp minced onion
dash of Tabasco

In a bowl combine the ground beef and oats.  Pour in the milk, then add the diced onion and salt.  Add the black pepper then stir to combine.  Roll the mixture into tablespoon sized balls and refrigerate them for 30 to 45 minutes to firm.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Heat the canola oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Dredge the meatballs in the flour, brown the meatballs in batches until light brown.  As they brown, place them into a rectangular baking dish.  Stir together the sauce ingredients and drizzle the sauce evenly on the meatballs.  Bake for about 45 minutes or until bubbly hot. 

Personally I thought these babies were marvelous!  They didn't taste like an Italian meatball, they were more like a mini meatloaf.  I served them with mashed potatoes and baked kale.  My family thought they were good but they didn't rave about them because they were too close to meatloaf for them (although I think they truly like meatloaf and just don't want to admit it out loud).  These were pretty easy to make except that there was like a three step process where as I'm use to just mixing it up in a bowl, cooking it and your done.  These you had to mix, chill, brown then bake but this was all well worth it.  On a scale of 1-10 I give these meatballs a 9!