New Meatball Sauce of AWESOME!

Chris was here last weekend, and for dinner on Monday night before he left, I made meatballs with rice and steamed green beans. Simple, easy, yum. Except that as the meatballs were baking (yes, I said baking, check this recipe), I was thinking about what I could put on the meatballs, since just meatballs and rice alone is a little dry.

And then I had an idea, the lightbulb above my (suddenly cartoonized?) head went on. I used to make this beef stir-fry with broccoli, celery, and carrots. [Ha, notice that this is a baaaaad meal for me these days: stir-fry, broccoli, celery, and carrots. Out of the 4 main parts of the description of that meal, only the non-bolded one is the one I can still eat. *sigh*]

But, back to the topic at hand: my awesome idea stemming from this stir-fry I used to make all the time. The sauce for the stir-fry is a thick brown sauce - really good for beef. And since my meatballs are made out of beef, I figured I'd just adjust the balance of ingredients a little and see what I came up with.

3 words: It was delicious! (Score!)

And so, today's post is short and sweet, but with a killer new meatball sauce! [Sorry kids, no pictures this time.]

Meatball Sauce
used in a meal of meatballs (half-size from linked recipe) & brown rice with steamed green beans and homemade honey-oat bread - mmm!

2.5 Tbsp reduced-sodium soy sauce
<1/2 cup water (but >1/3) [hooray for non-exact measurements!]
1.5 Tbsp brown sugar, packed
1 Tbsp + 1 tsp cornstarch

1. Mix together thoroughly.
2. When meatballs are about 2-3 minutes from being done, put the mixture on very low heat in a small saucepan.
3. Stir constantly until mixture thickens. [If you want it a little thicker, add a pinch more cornstarch perhaps, but a little goes a long way!]
4. Serve hot over top of the meatballs - it will be too thick to drizzle over the rice as well, but the heat and moisture of the rice softens the sauce up a bit.

Enjoy!

[Okay, let's be serious. The reason I like this sauce so much is because I've found a way to incorporate a small amount brown sugar into my cooking again. I have a rather large infatuation with brown sugar when it comes to cooking and baking. No joke!]