Enchilada Meatballs

 This is a really unique, and fun recipe that I got from allrecipes, my favoritest website in the whole world, after lolcats of course. It's meatballs with a Mexican flair, great for parties or just a fun dinner.
 My version, of course, is gluten free and everything is made from scratch. I made the cornbread, and enchilada sauce from scratch. Cornbread is the coolest part of this recipe. The cornbread is the bread crumbs! Genius!
 You can eat this as a snack, appetizer, or dinner- just jazz it up with taco fixings and make meatball tacos in corn tortillas. Those meatball tacos were tasty. This time around I didn't put any cheese in my mixture and the meatballs fell apart really easily. The taste was spot on, but they weren't very pretty.
 So, the first thing you want to do is make the cornbread, adding some taco seasoning in with it. They say a packet, but I make my own taco seasoning, so about two tablespoons worth. This taco seasoning is fabulous. The cornbread recipe I use is here.

Before baking

After baking. And looking great I must say

 Let your cornbread cool. Then make bread crumbs. It's super easy, just look...

yep I used my mixer to make bread crumbs, pure genius

 Cornbread is a more crumbly type of bread so you can just put it in your mixer and let it go to town.
 While the cornbread was baking I made the enchilada sauce. I doubled that recipe for the meatballs. You'll want extra to pour over the meatballs.

this is what it looks like before reducing

 Now that you have your breadcrumbs and enchilada sauce, you can finally make your meatballs! Just combine the enchilada sauce, slightly cooled of course, and breadcrumbs with your mixer. Then add the ground meat, and cheese if you're feeling cheesy. I let my mixer do all the work, maybe that's why my meatballs fell apart, but I'd rather my mixer get yucky than my hands.

Oh yes I did, no yucky hands for me

 Then you want to form the meat mixture into balls. I like to use my ice cream scoop for this. It makes them each the same exact size and it's really fast.

and of course this scoop broke right after this picture. fail

 After you bake the meatballs, you can put them in another pan and pour your extra enchilada sauce on them. Or if you're like me and don't want to dirty another pan, you can put them in your enchilada sauce that's still in the pot, hoping your meatballs won't fall apart stirring them. Good luck and have fun!

another attempt at being artsy

Ingredients

• 2 cups crumbled cornbread
• 20 enchilada sauce, divided
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons taco seasoning
• 1 1/2 pounds ground beef
• 1 cup shredded Mexican cheese blend, divided (optional-see note)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, combine the cornbread, 10 oz of the enchilada sauce, half of the cheese if using, salt, and taco seasonging. Crumble the beef into the mixture, and blend well. Shape meat into 1 inch balls, and place on a 10x15 inch jellyroll pan, or any cookie sheet with sides to catch the grease.
3. Bake for 18 to 22 minutes in the preheated oven, until the meat is cooked through.
4. While the meatballs are cooking, warm remaining enchilada sauce in a saucepan. Remove the meatballs from the pan using a slotted spoon, and place in a serving dish. Pour the heated sauce over them, and sprinkle the rest of the cheese on top. Provide toothpicks for serving.

Red Enchilada Sauce

 I love enchiladas. What I hate? That stupid red enchilada sauce you get from a can. It just tastes bad to me. And of course I have to make sure there's no bad stuff in it like gluten or MSG. In addition, my boyfriend can't tolerate bell peppers, so we have to be on the look out for those as well. You know what? I'm tired of reading all these labels just to be mad at the gross sauce anyway. So, I am going to make my own. This has become a mantra for me.
 This recipe is pretty easy. Just saute garlic, and shallot; add spices; add tomato sauce, salsa, and chicken broth. Then huzzah! A yummy enchilada sauce. It may not be entirely authentic, but it's darn good.

spicey!

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon minced shallot
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 2 1/2 teaspoons chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon dried parsley
• 1/4 cup salsa, blended smooth in a blender
• 1 (6 ounce) can tomato sauce
• 1 1/2 cups chicken broth

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic and shallot and saute for 1 to 2 minutes. Add the oregano, chili powder, basil, ground black pepper, salt, cumin, parsley, salsa and tomato sauce.
2. Mix together and then stir in the chicken broth. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes.

The Best Taco Seasoning

 This is the best taco seasoning I've ever had. And it's so much better for you than store bought. It lasts months stored in a covered container, so you can't go wrong. If you don't want to use the cornstarch, you can sub any other starch. Or if you don't need thickening in your dish just omit the starch all together. Sometimes I like to go a little crazy and use marjoram instead of oregano, I find it has a milder taste.

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch

Directions

1. In a small bowl, mix together chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne pepper, oregano, paprika, cumin, salt, pepper, and cornstarch. Store in an airtight container.