Best Ever Meatballs in Tomato Sauce

Ingredients

Meatballs

• 1/4 cup uncooked converted long grain rice
• 2 lbs lean ground beef
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 onion, grated
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano leaves
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Tomato Sauce

• 2 onions, finely chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano leaves
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cracked black peppercorns
• 1 piece cinnamon stick (2 inches long)
• 1 (28 ounce) can tomatoes, in juice
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice

Directions

1. 1

   To make meatballs: In a bowl, stir rice into 4 cups boiling water. Set aside for 30 minutes to soak. Drain well. Return rice to bowl. Add remaining ingredients, except oil, and mix well. Form into 16 balls, each about 2 inch in diameter.

2. 2

   In a large nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium high heat. Add meatballs, in batches, and brown on all sides. Transfer to slow cooker. Drain all but 1 Tablespoon fat from pan. (If you used extra lean ground beef, you may have to add oil.).

3. 3

   To make tomato sauce: Reduce heat to medium. Add onions to pan and cook, stirring until softened. Add garlic, oregano, salt, peppercorns and cinnamon stick and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Stir in tomatoes and lemon juice and bring to a boil, breaking up tomatoes with a spoon as they cook.

4. 4

   Pour sauce over meatballs. Cover and cook on HIGH 4 hours or on LOW for 8 hours, until meatballs are no longer pink inside. Discard cinnamon stick.