Pioneer Woman's Sweet and Sour Meatballs

No not this pioneer woman.

(Photo credit and thanks go to Clara, the only one in the family with a functional camera.)

Ree Drummond, The Pioneer Woman, has reduced me to tears more times than I would like to admit. Tears of hysterical laughter, that is. She cleverly logs her tales of farming, parenting and homeschooling with lots of pictures of their beautiful family ranch. Ree also cooks and takes tons of pictures of the food and cooking process. Her Olive Oil Cakes with Lemon and Thyme are so good. Amy brought some to one of our summer brunches and they were hard to keep out of. That reminds me, I must make those soon...today, if possible.

Jim and I went out last night for some very tasty southern BBQ. In our absence the kids ate Meatballs with Peppers and Pineapple from the blog served over rice. Easy as can be, I made it in a flash. Because it makes quite a bit of food and looks so pretty, it would be a great one to do for company.

Meatballs with Peppers and Pineapple

1¼ pound Ground Beef or turkey

½ Onion, Diced Very Finely

1 whole Egg

½ cups Breadcrumbs

1 teaspoon Kosher Salt

Freshly Ground Black Pepper, To Taste

½ teaspoons Crushed Red Pepper, More To Taste

¼ cups All-purpose Flour

Canola Oil, For Frying

2 whole Green Bell Peppers, Seeded And Diced Roughly

1-½ cup Pineapple Chunks

2 cups Beef Stock

2 Tablespoons Soy Sauce

½ cups Sherry Or White Wine Vinegar

⅓ cups Sugar

1 Tablespoon Cornstarch

Mix meat, egg, onion, breadcrumbs, salt, pepper and crushed pepper flakes. Roll into small balls, dredge in flour and fry in two batches over med-high heat in a large skillet until brown. Set aside. (Ree suggests freezing the balls for 15mins while you make the sauce, I didn't because I didn't have room in my freezer and they still turned out fine. If you have a big/organized freezer go ahead and freeze them.)

Mix together stock, soy sauce, vinegar, sugar and cornstarch in a small bowl.

Drain any fat that is in the pan and then add green peppers and pineapple to the pan. Cook a few minutes. Add stock mixture to the pan and bubble a few minutes. Add meatballs, bubble a little more, stirring gently. Add more red pepper flakes and salt to taste.

Serve over rice.