crowded kitchen: turkey meatballs with gravy

Not too long ago I made beef meatballs and served them on mashed potatoes. I'm certain it was after reading part of the Pioneer Woman's cookbook (Oh, I love her.) The point of the story is that it didn't go over well with my family. Was it the mashed potatoes? (Too much of a midwest thing?) Or was it the meatballs? (I'm not all that great at them yet.) Either way...fail.

Taking the leap a second time with a failed dinner is not for the faint of heart in my house. But I'm kind of crazy like that and I found another recipe from Better Homes & Garden for meatballs made in the slow cooker with a turkey gravy. Though, instead of mashed potatoes, I cooked wide egg noodles and doubled to gravy to make sure there was plenty of sauce to spare. Success!

My slow cooker is kind of a problem child and "high" really means "burn the crap out of your food," while "low" really means "high with a side of extra high," and "warm" means "your best option."

I hope yours behaves better.

Happy eating!

Slow Cooker Turkey Meatballs with Gravy

meatballs:

1 to 1.5 pounds ground turkey
3/4 cup bread crumbs
1/2 chopped onion (fine)
dash garlic salt or season salt
dash pepper
2 eggs (optional--I didn't have eggs that day and it worked out fine. But eggs are nice if you have them!)

gravy (I doubled this to make sure we had enough):
 packet of turkey gravy
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 cup water

directions:

combine meatball ingredients in large bowl and assemble into 1-inch balls. pan fry them to brown all sides. drain. place meatballs into pre-heated slow cooker.

in medium bowl combine gravy ingredients. pour over meatballs. cook on high for 4-5 hours (slow 6-8 hours) or until done. serve over pasta, mashed potatoes, or in your favorite sandwich vehicle.