Norwegian not Swedish Meatballs - Hillshire Farm #GourmetCreations #CBias

Norwegian meatballs are a family tradition in our house.  As far back as I can remember we'd have the meatballs at Thanksgiving dinners and Christmas Eve dinners.  It's taken me a long time to master making fantastic meatballs the way my mother did.  I'm always looking for ways to increase the flavor of them because I can't seem to duplicate them exactly the way my mom made them.  

I recently participated in a shop for Hillshire Farm Gourmet Creations sausages and I immediately knew the bacon and beef smoked sausages might be exactly what I had been looking for to perfect the recipe.  We were celebrating my husband's birthday and this is one of his favorite dinners so I knew this was the perfect time to test out the new recipe.  After dinner tonight it was clear that both kids and my husband agree that the meatballs I made tonight were beyond amazing.  The strong flavor of bacon and smoky flavor came through and added the taste I was looking for in the family recipe.

Now I'm about to share a secret family recipe with you.  No kidding.  It is sacred in our household.  Follow along through each step of the shopping and cooking with pictures and other tips on the Google + album here.  Have a question on how to cook a certain part?  Comment below this post with it and I'll answer!

Norwegian (NO not Swedish!) Meatballs

Ingredients:

1 cup Bread Crumbs

1 cup Milk

2 tsp each Ginger, Mace, Nutmeg, Salt and Pepper

4 pounds ground beef

2 packages of Hillshire Farm Gourmet Creations Beef and Bacon Sausage

Butter

Flour

Milk

Beef Bouillon

Directions:

Mix Bread Crumbs, Milk, Ginger, Mace, Nutmeg, Salt and Pepper in large bowl.  Grind sausage and meat until smooth.  Mix in to large bowl with bread and milk mixture.  Mix well (you'll most likely need to use your hands).  Roll in to meatballs and cook in pan.  Rotate each meatball twice to ensure cooked all the way through.  

Once you have cooked all the meatballs, use the left over "drippings" in the pan to make the gravy.  Add flour to absorb all of the oil.  Mix in milk to bind them together.   Add more milk leaving over low heat and allowing to thicken.  Add beef bouillon to taste.  

And enjoy!  Remember - they are Norwegian Meatballs (don't you dare call them Swedish Meatballs!).

(actual picture of my dog begging for meatballs - notice he is licking his lips!)

Our family enjoyed it so much tonight that the dog was begging for some!  I made plenty so there I used some of the extra to prep the lunches for the kids in small containers.  The meatballs also freeze really well and are frequently even better the next day after soaking in the gravy overnight.

Think this sounds delicious?  Yes, it sure was.  Please post a comment here if you try them out - I'd love to hear about it!

*This shop has been compensated as a part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias.  All of the product and shopping opinions above and on the Google + story are completely my own.  And the recipe above is based on a family recipe.