Oh, Look! I'm Early

Ok, tomorrow the family and I are going to be at and in (in hubby's case) a wedding, so I'm posting early.

Earlier this week, someone on one of my lists asked what to do with meatballs. The wheels in my head started turning so fast that smoke came out of my ears. (At least, that's what the kids said!) I was facing the day with 2 kids and me down with "flu-like" symptoms, and as the H1N1 was barreling through the gym where my daughter goes to gymnastics, it seemed prudent to keep everyone home, and safe(r). I was mentally running down what we had in the cabinets to put together for a dinner that was substantial and delicious. Apparently, I succeeded. So, here you are. As per usual, measurements are approximate, seasonings are "to taste", and variations are offered.

Brat's Meatballs Made 1 dinner meal and 1 lunch meal for 4 people

2 pounds of 1-2oz meatballs (recipe follows)
3 cups cooked rice (Jasmine, YUM)
1 can cream of chicken soup (hey, it's what I had!)
2/3 can milk (yeah, approximate this one)
1/3 cup sour cream
4 oz mozzarella cheese, grated (it's what we had, that needed used up)
salt, pepper, garlic powder to taste

1. Line a 9x13 roasting pan with foil, and spray it with cooking spray (or brush w/ whatever you like to avoid sticking). The foil helps immensely with clean up.
2. Preheat oven to 325.
3. In a small pan, put the soup, milk and sour cream over a low heat to begin warming it up. Mix very well, ensuring an even mix. As it gets warm you can add your cheese, stirring it in. If you made the meatballs today, add the meatball juice, yes it's fat, but it tastes good! Mine wasn't too warm, and I had everything waiting for me. (Steps 3 and 4 can be interchanged.)
4. Put the cooked rice on the bottom of the roasting pan and spread the meatballs evenly across the rice.*
5. Carefully ladle the sauce over the meatballs and rice. You should be able to get some over just about the entire area. If you miss a spot or two, don't worry too much.
6. Put in oven for about 10 - 15 minutes until heated through.
7. Serve! Enjoy!

*You can also break up your meatballs in to smaller bits, I wouldn't want to break them into smaller than 1/4 meatballs, but we like the chunky aspect.

Meatballs
1 pound ground beef
1 pound ground lamb (or use whatever meat you want)
garlic powder, lemon pepper, italian seasoning, salt, pepper to taste (I can't tell you how much, we never measure, and we make this mix 10lbs at a time.)

1. Mix meat with seasonings. If you feel the need to use bread crumbs or eggs as a binder feel free (I think 1 egg for 2 pounds is good), but these cooked up super moist and held together just fine. IF you are working with a small amount of meat (like this), you could press a clove or 2 (or 10) of garlic into the meat as you mix.
2. Make meatballs, approximately 1 - 2 inches across. We like them at about 1 1/2 inches.
3. Line a baking sheet with foil. Place the meatballs on the baking sheet, and put in 300 degree oven for about 25 minutes, or until temperature reaches 140 degrees on a meat thermometer placed into the middle of a meatball.
4. You can now put these away in fridge or freezer (after cooling)or just use them in the above Brat Recipe. I just used them and the juice in the recipe.

Variations
You knew there would be variations, right?
1. Use any Cream of **** soup. You can change up the whole flavor base right there.
2. Use pork, veal, seafood, whatever you want for the meatballs. Try to pair your soup with the meat.
3. Use tomato soup, italian seasonings w/ milk, broth or red wine and just sprinkle your cheese on top. (For those who have family members who don't like cream sauces....)
4. Change your cheese...using a different cheese will change the character as well.

Just remember, I highly encourage you to change up anything in any recipe I put up that doesn't work for you. Working with the base recipes, and utilizing variations gives you a bigger number and differentiation of recipes to serve your family. It might be *like* what you served last week, or 2 weeks ago, but it isn't the same.