Baked Italian Meatballs

Ingredients: 

• 1 lb Italian sausage
• 2 lbs lean ground beef
• 2 tsp minced garlic {4 cloves}
• ⅓ cup fresh basil – finely chopped
• 2 eggs
• ½ cup Italian-style breadcrumbs
• ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
• ¼ cup milk
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp black pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Lightly grease a baking sheet.
2. Mix together all ingredients by hand. Roll into 1½-inch balls, place on baking sheet and bake for 12-15 minutes (until insides are no longer pink).
3. Turn oven to broil and cook for an additional 3-4 minutes to brown and crisp the outside of the meatballs. Serve over pasta with marinara or Alfredo sauce. Yum!

This recipe yields about 50 meatballs -- which is way too many for my family of three, so I always freeze half of the meatballs for a later meal (which still leaves plenty cooked for dinner and for my husband's lunches that week!). 

To Freeze:

1. Place meatballs on baking sheet and pop into the freezer for 20 minutes. 
2. Remove from freezer and place all meatballs in freezer bag and put back in the freezer -- freeze for up to 3 months.
3. When ready to bake, remove from freezer and thaw on greased baking sheet. Follow baking directions above once thawed.