Lick Your Fingers Sweet & Sour Meatballs

This is going to sound really odd but the elementary school I went to made the best sweet and sour meatballs. I can hear 90% of you saying at this moment, "ewee school food!". But I am telling you, they were the best. I waited all week for meatball day! My school is the reason I love sweet and sour meatballs. This recipe is so fast and easy, and anyone who tastes it will swear they were cooking all day. The meat stays soft and tender and the sauce is the perfect balance between sweet, sour and savory. I made this dish from start to finish in probably 30 minutes. So it's a great option for when you don't have a lot of time to whip up dinner. And I call them Lick Your Fingers because after the meatballs were gone, there was just sauce in the pot. And my husband and I literally dipped our fingers in the sauce and licked. It was just so good.

I'm kind of adding a second recipe here, but it's not really a recipe. It's just a quick tip. As a side to the meatballs I made grilled asparagus. Except I don't have a grill. I used my panini maker for the fastest grilled asparagus ever and they had fancy grill marks on them and were so juicy and delicious. I simply drizzled them with olive oil, salt and pepper and threw them on the panini grill with the lid down! It took about 5 minutes. :)

OK back to the meat balls. I don't know how big you make your meat balls but 2 lbs of beef made 20 balls for me. So here is the recipe.

Lick Your Fingers Sweet & Sour Meatballs
Makes 20 meatballs.

For the meatballs:
2 lbs ground beef
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1 egg
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tbsp paprika

For the sauce:
2 cups packed brown sugar (light or dark is fine, I always mix my brown sugars and use that)
1 cup soy sauce
2 generous tablespoons ketchup
2 tbsp white vinegar
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp. paprika
1 heaping tablespoon corn starch
2 1/2 cups water

In a bowl combine the ground beef with the egg, bread crumbs, salt, pepper and paprika. Mix well to combine, set aside.

In a pot combine all the ingredients for the sauce and heat over a medium flame, covered, until boiling. Lower to a simmer and begin forming the meatballs and put them into the pot. Cook uncovered on low for 20-25 minutes or until meatballs are cooked through. The longer you cook the meatballs the harder they will become. So I advise to turn off the heat as soon as they are cooked through.