Waikiki Meatballs

The thing I look for in a good dinner is the time; how fast will it cook, and how easy will it be for me to prepare it. I don't like to spend a lot of time in the kitchen making dinner. It's just not me. I'd rather be doing a million other things instead.

I've discovered it's not cooking in general that I dislike, it's all about the time requirement, and what it's taking away from. If it's just me and Zech here at the house, I love to bake cookies with him, or banana bread, or other fun things. It's a great way of bonding.

With all that being said, I love making this dinner because it's so easy, it's fast, and it's very inexpensive. I can have the entire meal prepared, cooked, and on the table within 30 minutes.

If you enjoying cooking, you'll probably want to make your own meatballs for this dish. I won't even share the recipe I have for meatballs because I never use it. I am all about saving time, and not getting my hands dirty. I'm kind of weird like that, but if a meal requires me to touch the slimy, sticky food, I probably won't make it. I do make exceptions for my husband and kids when I want to make them something special, but for the most part, I like to keep my hands clean.

I purchase a bag of home-style meatballs in the freezer section at Wal-Mart for $5. That bag will make two meals for my family, and the meatballs are delicious. The kids love to have meatball sandwiches too, similar to Subway. All you do is heat your meatballs with some pasta sauce, and grab some hot dog buns to eat them in. Throw a little mozzarella cheese on top, and you have a very simple meal that's a big winner with kids.

Waikiki Meatballs

2 tbs. cornstarch
1 can pineapple drained(reserve syrup)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup vinegar
1 tbs. soy sauce
1/3 cup chopped green pepper

Mix cornstarch and sugar. Stir in pineapple juice, vinegar, and soy sauce until smooth. Pour into skillet; cook over medium heat stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and boils. Add meatballs, pineapple, and green pepper. Heat thoroughly. Serve hot over white rice.

This is a recipe my mom made often when I was a kid. I still love it to this day. The last time we ate it for dinner, Zechariah said the prayer. It went something like this, "Dear Jesus, thank you for Mario's meatballs and soup, for Yeddar's meatballs and soup, for my meatballs and soup, for Mommy's meatballs and soup, and for Daddy's rice. Amen." Titus normally dishes everyone's food up for them, and had decided before finishing serving himself we should say the prayer. As soon as "amen" was said, he added his meatballs and soup, to which Zech had to say an entirely new prayer...