Alex's favorite meal at our house always includes Porcupine Meatballs. This is simple enough for kids to help prepare and they get to immerse their hands into the ingredients and play with their food.
The ingredient list is simple:
2 - 3 lbs. ground beef or ground chuck (no more than 85% lean or the meatballs are too dry)
1 cup uncooked instant rice
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 and 1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/4 cups dried chopped onions (fresh finely chopped onions are fine but sautee until tender before adding to the mix)
2 cans tomato soup
Now the fun part begins. Kids love the hands in the food stuff. Break up the ground beef and toss into a large mixing bowl. Add all of the dry ingredients and mix together with your hands until all ingredients are well distributed. Now form into 1 - 2 inch balls. Don't worry about trying to make perfectly round balls but do try to keep them approximately the same size.
Add the meatballs to a non-stick skillet. Do not add oil and keep the meatballs in a single layer. Spread the tomato soup on top of the meatballs until they are covered.
Cook at medium to medium high for approximately 30 minutes. Turn the meatballs when they start to brown on the bottom and add more tomato soup if they appear dry. When done they should be some browning on the meatballs with some sauce remaining in the skillet.
Below is Alex's meal-to-go that we delivered to her uncle's family and to her house.
Tips
Break up the ground beef into pieces and then let it come to near room temperature so your kids fingers don't get too cold when mixing the ingredients.
This recipe is very forgiving - increase or decrease the quantities to suit your preferences and the end product will still be great.
Scalloped potatoes and green beans are favorites accompaniments for these meatballs.