Portobello Red Wine Mini Meatballs

I am partnering with Imagine® Organic Culinary Simmer Sauces today to bring you all this super simple recipe for Portobello Red Wine Mini Meatballs perfect for a busy weeknight...

I have to be real with you all for a moment- I love having a few easy to throw together, quick dinner ideas at my disposal.  Even with the best of intentions and a well planned out meal plan for the week, there are nights when cooking from scratch just goes out the window.

I know you all know what I am talking about... ;)

Those evenings when a day at home with the little ones has been just a little too long.

Those evenings when you come home and the office has managed to wipe out every last bit of self motivation you may have left.

Those evenings when the kids' practice, that work meeting, the traffic has taken just a little longer than you had planned for.

Those types of evenings happen at least a few times a month in this home.

I defrost chicken or ground beef that morning only to come home and realize that I just do not have it in me to make the recipe I had originally planned to use them in.

In fact, this very such thing happened to me when I came home one evening and had ground beef thawed in the fridge. My original plan was to make a pot of chili with it, but I was wiped out. All the chopping, and browning, and simmering just didn't appeal to me at all.  I was just about to cave into the fast food drive-thru when I remembered that I had a pouch of the Portobello Red Wine Imagine® Organic Culinary Simmer Sauce sitting in my pantry! :)

That pack of ground beef quickly became tender mini meatballs smothered in a rich and creamy Portobello Red Wine sauce...

Double Mozzarella Stuffed Meatballs

These tender & flavorful Double Mozzarella Stuffed Meatballs simmer away in your slow cooker all day...

I was provided a product in exchange for recipe development and an honest review, and was not compensated for my review in any other way.

This post may contain affiliate links. Purchasing through them helps support this website.

I believe that every food blogger, every chef, and every home cook has a food nemesis or two. You all know what I am talking about- those dishes and recipes that just never seem to come out right no matter how many times you try it or how many methods you give a go.

You vow that you are finished. You will never, ever waste your time trying to make that dish again. If you want it bad enough, you will just resort to pre-made or take-out.

Because you are done.

Believe it or not, one of my recipe nemeses is homemade meatballs. They either come out too tough or they simply fall apart until they resemble something like more of a meat sauce.

And given my father's very Italian family, one would expect that I would just naturally and genetically rock at making meatballs from scratch. But sadly that is not the truth.

In my defense, most of the women in my father's family passed away when I was much too young to learn their recipes and family secrets. Although, my dad swears that my great grandmother would have never shared her secret recipe anyways... 

I received renewed confidence to try making homemade meatballs once again when my shiny new Ninja 3-in-1 Cooking System arrived on my doorstep.  

Seriously, all. 

This was going to be my one last time, all-in, last ditch go at that them.  If I couldn't make meatballs work with this awesome piece of culinary cookware, then I was just not meant to ever make a decent from scratch meatball in my lifetime.