Bbq Meatballs With Pepper And Cheese Animal Cut-Outs - cooking recipe

Ingredients

2 slices bread, crusts removed, torn into pieces
1/2 cup whole milk
1 egg, beaten
1 tablespoon dried parsley
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon dried Italian herb seasoning
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1 pound ground beef
1/4 cup grated sweet onion
1 cup barbecue sauce, plus additional for serving
Animal Cut-Outs:
1 green bell pepper
1 orange bell pepper
1 red bell pepper
4 (1/4-inch) slices Colby-Monterey Jack cheese
4 (1/4-inch) slices mild Cheddar cheese
Animal vegetable cutters
25 4-inch toothpicks

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Soak pieces of torn bread in the milk in a bowl for 5 minutes. Gently squeeze out milk. Add beaten egg to the soaked bread and mix well.
Mix garlic powder, onion powder, parsley, salt, Italian herb seasoning, sugar, and Parmesan cheese together in a small bowl. Add to bread-egg mixture.
Place ground beef in a mixing bowl. Add seasoning mixture and onions; mix together with a fork. If mixture is too dry, add up to a tablespoon of milk. Roll into 25 meatballs and arrange on rimmed baking sheet.
Bake in preheated oven until browned and cooked through, about 18 minutes.
Drain meatballs on a paper towel. Remove grease from the baking sheet. Transfer meatballs back to the baking sheet. Drizzle 1 cup BBQ sauce over meatballs.
Return sheet to oven and bake 12 more minutes.
Use a small animal vegetable cutter to make animals out of green, orange, and red peppers. Cut animals out of Colby Jack and mild Cheddar cheese.
Drain meatballs on a paper towel and add more BBQ sauce if desired. Add cheese animal cut-out and then animal pepper cut-out to the toothpicks. Work quickly to add toothpick to each meatball.