My friend Julie asked for comfort food recipes, so I posted this in the comments for her.  Then I thought I might as well throw it on here, too — and I’m just sorry I don’t have a photo to go with it.  If you need comfort food this winter, this should do the trick!  I’d love to hear your favorites if you want to share.

My favorite comfort food is porcupine meatballs, which isn’t as scary as it sounds. You make the meatballs with uncooked rice, and as they simmer the rice cooks and swells, and you end up with “spiny” meatballs. My Grandma made these for my Dad, and they’re still a family favorite.

Porcupine Meatballs

1 pound hamburger
1/2 cup uncooked white rice
4 T onion
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp celery salt
1/4 tsp garlic salt

Mix together well, form into balls about the size of a golf ball and brown in a large skillet. (Brown in a little oil or use a non-stick pan.)

Then add a large can of tomato sauce, a cup of water and 2 T Worcestershire sauce and simmer, covered, for an hour or more.

My Dad insists these be served with mashed potatoes because he loves to use the reduced sauce as a kind of gravy.