porcupines

this was one of my favorite dinners when I was kid and I would always volunteer to make dinner when these were on the menu...I had to eat a few while they were cooking...can you imagine how many meatballs I had to make for a family of 12 kids?  now, I cannot even imagine...

I looked up the history of porcupines on google and most sites report that the recipe came about during the great depression...the thought being that adding rice to ground beef it would make the beef go farther and the rice would puff up during cooking...the name porcupine came about as the uncooked rice sticking out of the meatball resembles a porcupine...one time my kids convinced the neighbor boy that they were really eating porcupine meat...LOL...

here is what I do...

to approximately 2 1/2 pounds of good ground beef, I add about 1 cup of uncooked Minute rice, and then I add tons of seasonings (garlic salt, pepper, and onion powder...)  I shape them into meatballs and fry them in a sauce pan...once browned I add 1 tall can of tomato soup and about 1/3 cup of water...let come to a slow boil and turn off heat...my kids like to add some grated cheese to the top...

tonight paired with:

parmesan noodles
green beans
biscuits...

totally a family favorite...