Swedish Meatballs and Noodles

After three weeks of placing our life in boxes, my husband and I have finally moved into a new place--with a beautiful new kitchen! So of course, I needed a homemade meal to break in the new place and settled on one of my favorites from childhood: Swedish meatballs and noodles. I'd say this recipe is most similar in taste to the Stouffer's boxed dinner...but it's also thicker, fresher, meatier, and more flavorful (and actually fairly healthy--just watch your portion size)! The recipe was inspired by a combination of a random card I found in a recipe box, some stroganoff ingredients, and my own imaginings. Here are the ingredients (note that I ended up swiping paprika for parsley at the last minute at the end of the recipe):

For the meatballs:

3/4 pd. of lean ground beef

3/4 to 1 cup of breadcrumbs

2 egg whites

1/4 chopped yellow onion

1/2 tsp allspice

1/3 tsp salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

1/2 cup beef broth (prepared or made from bouillon)

For sauce:

1 can cream of mushroom soup (healthy fat/sodium version)

1 packet Lipton onion soup mix

1/2 cup sour cream (I used light)

And finally, a bag of egg noodles (brand of your choice--I used whole wheat ones for the health benefits)

To begin, preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Combine all ingredients for your meatballs in a bowl except for the beef broth (i.e. ground beef, onion, egg whites, spices, breadcrumbs). When finished, form 1 inch balls of meat out of the mixture (ice cream scoopers help to keep your meatballs a uniform size for even cooking). Warm a skillet, put in a few tsp of oil to prevent sticking, and brown the meatballs over medium-high heat. When browned, transfer the meatballs to a baking dish, pour the beef broth on top, cover with aluminum foil, and bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes. This will help them to complete the cooking process, and they will be finished when they are no longer pink on the inside.

While the meatballs cook, prepare your sauce and noodles. To prepare the sauce, combine the mushroom soup and packet of dry onion soup mix in a large skillet on the stove (over medium heat). Depending on how thick you like your sauce, you can add a little milk to thin your sauce out, but be sure to add it a tsp at a time to keep it from getting too runny. Cook your egg noodles in a large pot according to the package's directions.

When the meatballs are close to being finished, take your sauce mixture off the stove and stir in the sour cream until thoroughly blended (you do not want to do this over the heat in case the sour cream curdles).

To serve, place a heap of egg noodles on a plate, add a few meatballs, cover with sauce, and sprinkle with parsley! And there you have it: tasty, healthy, and simple--enjoy!