Made By Melissa

I had saved the recipe for the meatballs from Amber’s Blog when she first made them last year, but honestly forgotten all about them until they made a come-back on the What’s Cooking? board recently. I thought that they would pair perfectly with Chelley’s homemade spaghetti sauce. Original meatball recipe is from Rachel Ray. I made the meatballs like Amber and baked them in the oven, but added them to the sauce for the last 5 minutes. I also added a can of drained, diced tomatoes to the sauce since I like to have a chunky sauce. We had the meatballs over spaghetti, with a salad and garlic bread. I don’t know what it is about Italian food, but I cannot eat it without garlic bread!

Mozzarella Stuffed Meatballs

• 1/4 cup plain breadcrumbs
• 1/2 cup milk (or water)
• 2 cloves minced garlic
• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 2 tablespoons chopped, fresh, flat-leaf parsley
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp salt
• 4 ounces mozzarella cheese (cut into 20 - 1/2″ cubes)  

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a medium bowl, soak the breadcrumbs in the milk.
Add the beef, garlic, parsley, Parmesan cheese, egg and 1 tsp salt to the soaked breadcrumbs and stir with a fork until combined.
Place about 2 tablespoons of mixture in your hand and press a mozzarella cube into the center. Shape the meat around the cheese, forming a ball. Repeat with remaining mozzarella.
Cook at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes.

Chelley’s Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

• 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large sweet onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 28-oz. can tomato puree
• 1 28-oz. can tomato sauce
• 2.5 teaspoons dried parsley
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• Water from rinsing extra sauce and puree from inside of cans
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 Tablespoons sugar
• 1 14.5-oz can chopped tomatoes, drained

Saute onion and garlic in olive oil over medium-low heat until onion is tender. Add tomato sauce, tomato puree, chopped tomatoes, parsley, basil, water, salt, and sugar.

Stir and lower heat to a slow simmer. This best if it’s left to simmer for at least 2 hours. This made a little to much sauce for the amount of meatballs, so I set aside about 2 cups to freeze.