Crock Pot Turkey & Cranberry Meatballs

It seems like I can’t seem to have a traditional Thanksgiving anymore. Last year it was decided that we wouldn’t be doing the cooking, and instead we went out to a nice restaurant to enjoy the day footloose and fancy-free. This year? We’ll be (hopefully) tailgating at the UT game here in Austin. Sounds like a blast, right? Right?!

At first, I was anything but excited when this prospect came across my ears, but after some careful research and lots of thought on it… I soon became pretty excited about it! After all, this will be my first UT game and I’ve lived here for a good three years now. Plus, my brother is in his last year of college as a Longhorn – which makes the fact that I haven’t been to a game yet even more shameful.

So what does all this mean? Game day versions of my usual Turkey Day meal!

One of the original plans that came to mind were these wonderful appetizer meatballs that my mom had made before for a party. They were pretty delicious and extremely easy to do. She used frozen remade meatballs, cranberry sauce and chili sauce; tossed in a crock pot for a few hours.

Me? Well, I’m not all about prepackaged stuff, so I decided to, at very least, make my own meatballs.

I basically took my standard meatball recipe and adjusted the seasonings to suit something a bit more traditional for thanksgiving. Thyme, rosemary… you get it. And of course, I had to use turkey because this is all about Turkey Day!

I gotta say, these meatballs turned out great. They were sweet, tangy, and perfectly fit for a Thanksgiving style tailgate. But, you don’t have to just make these around Turkey day. They would be just as amazing served up on any game day spread or even just for dinner.

You can’t have game day without some meatballs.

Crock Pot Turkey & Cranberry Meatballs
TheSkinnyFork.com

The Skinny:
Servings: 10 • Size: 2 Meatballs • Calories: 230.7 • Fat: 5.4 g • Carb: 33.2 g • Fiber: 0.8 g • Protein: 13.1 g • Sugar: 23.6 g • Sodium: 722.4 mg

Ingredients:
Meatballs:
1 1/4 Lbs. Lean Ground Turkey
1/4 C. Bread Crumbs
1/4 C. Grated Parmesan Cheese
1/4 C. White Onion, Chopped
1 Large Egg White
1 Tsp. Dried Parsley
1 Tsp. Dried Seasoning Blend (I used thyme, rosemary and oregano.)
2-3 Garlic Cloves, Minced
Salt & Pepper to Taste

Sauce:
1 (12 Oz.) Can Cranberry Sauce
12 Oz. Jar Chili Sauce

Directions:

Mix all of the meatball ingredients together in a large bowl until combined.

Roll about 2 tbsp. of the meat mixture into a ball and place into the crock pot.

Continue rolling your meatballs and placing them into the crock pot until you’ve used up all the meat.

I generally get about 20 meatballs out of mine.

In a small bowl, whisk together the cranberry sauce and chili sauce until well blended.

Pour the cranberry sauce mixture over the meatballs and close the crock pot lid.

Set to cook on high for 4-6 hours or on high for 6-8 hours.

I carefull stirred mine around a bit in between the cooking.

Once done, serve right away and enjoy!

I actually had mine for dinner tonight with a side of steamed green beans.

CLASSIC THANKSGIVING DINNER & DESSERT RECIPES~ THE COMPLETE MEAL!

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We’ve had Thanksgiving recipes all week here at Butter With A Side of Bread. As the grand finale, I have a full meal’s worth of recipes here for you, all cooked with love from top food bloggers. 

Classic Thanksgiving Dinner & Dessert Recipes

from popular food bloggers:

Butter With A Side of Bread

Ashlee Marie

Cooking with Ruthie

Mushroom + Parmesan Pinwheels

These delicious mushroom pinwheels are so easy to make! They’re delicious as a side dish with soup or eaten as a snack or appetizer.

If you follow along on facebook or instagram, you already know that I pretty much spent my entire weekend in the kitchen. I made a ridiculous amount of awesome food, and I’m so excited to share it all with you! I’ll be posting new recipes pretty much every day through Thanksgiving, so be sure to check back frequently.

I don’t know about you, but when I spend a lot of time cooking I get a little tired of food and don’t feel like eating a big meal. These mushroom pinwheels along with a cup of soup turned out to be the perfect dinner. They’d also make a great appetizer to nibble on before Thanksgiving dinner and, since they’re delicious eaten at room temperature, they’re perfect for bringing along to any holiday potlucks. They’re also really, really easy to make. So, pretty much the perfect recipe right?!

Start by sautéing some mushrooms and a pinch of rosemary. I used a combination of crimini and shiitake mushrooms that came in my farmshare this week, but you can use your favorites. One the mushrooms are soft, add a little cooking sherry. This gives them a really great flavor!

Let the mushrooms cool, then roll them up in some Pillsbury crescent dough.That dough is basically my secret weapon around the holidays – it’s so buttery, delicious and super simple. You can use the reduced fat version if you want, but if you ask me nothing compares to the original.

Anyway, spread the mushrooms all over the dough – right up to the edges – and then roll it up nice and tightly.Dust the outside of the roll with grated parmesan and then slice it into eight pieces. For the neatest slices, use a serrated knife and cut with a gentle sawing motion, otherwise you might squish them (like the one on the right in the photo above). They’ll still taste great, but they won’t be as pretty.

Bake for 15 minutes, or until they’re golden brown and the centers are cooked through.

Eat the mushroom pinwheels right away or save them for later, it’s your call! Shawn loved them straight out of the oven, but I preferred them at room temperature. The one thing we did agree on was that we loved them! Despite all of the other goodies that I cooked this weekend, these didn’t last long at all.

Mushroom + Parmesan Pinwheels

White mushrooms and criminis are crowd favorites, but experiment with your favorite varieties! I like a mixture of half crimini and half shiitake.

Author: Lauren Keating

Serves: 8

Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 2 cups finely diced mushrooms
  • 1 teaspoon finely chopped rosemary
  • 2 tablespoons cooking sherry
  • salt and pepper
  • 1 tube (8oz) Pillsbury® original crescents
  • 1 tablespoon grated parmesan cheese

Preparation

  1. In a small skillet set over medium heat, heat the olive oil. Add the mushrooms and rosemary; cook until mushrooms are soft, about 2 minutes. Add the cooking sherry, a pinch of salt, and a few shakes of pepper. Cook, stirring frequently, until the liquid had cooked off, about 5 minutes. Let cool.
  2. Heat oven to 350ºF.
  3. Unroll crescent dough onto a baking sheet, pinching the seams together to seal them. Spread the mushrooms over the dough to within ¼ inch of the long edges. Starting from a short edge, tightly roll the dough into a log. Cut into 8 rounds (For the neatest slices, use a serrated knife and a gently sawing motion to slice the rolls.) Dust the edges of the pinwheels with parmesan cheese and arrange onto a baking sheet.
  4. Bake 12-15 minutes, or until golden brown and cooked through. Enjoy warm or at room temperature.

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Disclosure: This post was brought to you in partnership with Pillsbury. Thank you for helping support the brands that keep me inspired in the kitchen. Get more great holiday recipes featuring crescent rolls at the Serious Eats Recipe Hub.

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