Venison and Bacon Meatballs

So coming up with dinner sometimes can be a challenge for me. I will have the meat but I want something different to try, something not so "everyday". Last night I had the ground venison meat, but I didn't want spaghetti or meat loaf or homemade hamburger helper.. I wanted to try something new. I brain stormed.. I had a bout half a pound of bacon that needed to be used up, onion and potato. I decided to make meatballs and create my own BBQ sauce... this should be interesting.

I started with 1.5 lbs of ground venison and 1/4 pound bacon slicing the slices very thin. Added half and onion, mixed well by hand.

Added 1 egg, bread crumbs (Italian bread crumbs) garlic, pepper, red pepper and salt. Again mixed well by hand.

Next cooked then in a frying pan until fully cooked (cause of the bacon these needed to be cooked all the way through, raw bacon.. umm... not so much goodness)... After they were cooked I placed them in an oven safe dish, covered with my BBQ sauce and placed in a 350 degree oven for 15 minutes (or until the sauce is bubbling).

The Sauce:
I put in a sauce pan: Ketchup, mustard, white vinegar, western style dressing, brown sugar, garlic, salt, pepper, paprika, horseradish and a blend or dried peppers from my step-mothers garden. brought to a boil stirring often. Now if I was going to save this for a later BBQ even I would let it cool then bottle it up. but since I was using it right away I poured the hot liquid over the meatballs.


The Recipe:

BBQ Meatballs:

1 1/2 lbs ground venison
1/4 pound bacon slices, sliced very thin almost like ground meat
1/2 a small onion
1 large egg
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1 1/2 tsp garlic
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp red pepper

mix ground venison, bacon and onion by hand. Add in egg, bread crumbs and seasoning. Mix well by hand working all the ingredients in together. Heat frying pan to medium. Do not add extra oil to pan, the meat balls with the bacon added in will create grease and they don't stick very much to the pan. Make the balls in to about 1 to 1 1/2 inch balls place them in the pan cooking on one side until browned then flip over and cook til the second side is browned. Place in over safe casserole dish, cover with BBQ sauce. Place in preheated oven (325 degrees) for about 15 minutes or until the sauce is bubbling. Serve.

BBQ Sauce:

1 cup ketchup
2 tbs mustard
2 tbs Western style dressing (found in the dressing section at the store)
1/4 cup white vinegar, adjust to your taste (can also use apple cider vinegar)
2 tbs horseradish
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tbs salt
1 1/2 tsp pepper
1 tbs garlic
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp dried hot peppers

Mix ketchup, mustard, dressing, vinegar and horseradish in a sauce pan. Add in brown sugars stir well. Add in all other spices. Place on stove med-high heat. Stirring often until the sauce comes to a boil. Remove from heat. Use right away or let it cool and store in an air tight container in the fridge!

By: Tina's "creative" mind

TA-DA!!!!

The finished masterpiece! Which include Roasted Bacon Potatoes and Garlic Cheese Biscuit, the retried version of this!

No go a bake/cook a masterpiece and let us know if you try this with comments, suggestions or just plain yummies!!

<3 T