My family and I are a pretty tight knit clan. We try to do things together as much as possible and are always in contact via phone/text/social media- although now that my brothers and I are grown up and aren’t all living under the same roof anymore- it sometimes makes it trickier to get together as often as we’d like- especially when we want to spend time with our mom.

Well, my mother concocted the 2-week dinner rule to avoid us becoming a family who only ever sees each other on holidays or at weddings/funerals. Every two weeks, without fail- we pick weeknight to meet at her house after we all get out of our respective jobs and she cooks for us like she did when we were kids (although the menu is a little more advanced than boxed macaroni & cheese or pizza these days.)

At our most recent meet-up- my mom made one of her specialty recipes, passed down to her by my grandmother and my great-grandmother- which I promptly stole to try making on my own.

If you don’t eat meat and/or don’t like mushrooms- this might not be the recipe for you- but I have a slow cooker and a handwritten note from my mom on how NOT to mess these up- so I was feeling pretty confident I could make her proud!

WHAT YOU’LL NEED:

• 1 lb. ground beef
• 1 can cream of mushroom soup (or cream of celery soup- depending on the type of flavor you want!)
• 1/2 cup of water
• 3/4 cup of breadcrumbs
• 1 slightly beaten egg
• Parsley flakes
• 1/4 cup of minced onion
• Salt (to taste)

OKAY, HERE’S WHAT YOU DO:

1. Combine 1/2 cup of water to your can of soup to thin the consistency.

2. Combine the ground beef with 1/4 cup of the cream of mushroom/celery soup.

3. Add the slightly beaten egg, the breadcrumbs, minced onion, parsley flakes and salt to your mixture.

4. Roll the beef into balls.

5. Brown slightly, and add remaining soup.

6. Cover the meatballs and let them simmer for approximately 20-30 minutes.

7. Serve and enjoy!

Listen, my mom might be one of the greatest cooks on the East Coast- but I think I did a pretty good job with these! They looked and tasted just like her version, and didn’t take long at all to prepare and cook up.

I served my version the way my mom usually does, too- with egg noodles and mixed vegetables. Not pictured? The basket of buttered biscuits she usually sets out for all of us to dig into whenever she cooks for us. I’ll remember it next time for sure!

And with all this talk about my mom’s cooking- I think now is as good a time as any to wish all the moms out there a Happy Mother’s Day this weekend! Whether you’re a seasoned veteran like my mom or this is your first Mother’s Day with a new baby- you’re awesome and I hope each and every single one of you have a great day (with lots of sweets!)

xx