Spaghetti and Meatballs

So, yeah. It is Friday night, not Wednesday, but what can you do. It is a two-fer this week since I'm combining my Good Wife Wednesday with my Kid-Friendly Friday. I had planned to make the Spaghetti and Meatballs from the Betty Crocker Picture Cookbook on Wednesday, but didn't get to it til Thursday. Then I still didn't post, but it qualified as a very kid friendly meal, so I'm just lumping it all together. Aidan had fun helping scoop out the meatballs and it made him more willing to try eating them. Aside from that, the sauce was a good way to get some veggies in, and the next time I try to make this I would probably try sneaking in some carrots too.

I haven't always been much of a fan of meatballs with my spaghetti and generally just prefer the meat in the sauce. While that is still true, I did really enjoy this recipe. The meatballs were mild and tender. They had really good flavor without anything being too overpowering. Also, the sauce turned out really nice and tasted great. Now, I'm not going to tell you that this is the best recipe ever, but it is a pretty darn good jumping off point. It is simple and easy to make. Nothing too fancy or difficult at all and it certainly beats the heck out of buying some mystery meat frozen meatball version.

The recipe makes quite a bit so unless you are feeding 8+ people then plan on having some leftover meatballs in sauce. Since the sauce is nice and thick though I plan to make some of these rolls and have them as meatball subs, so really, you get a bonus meal idea.

Make sure to use good quality ingredients when you are making this because the flavors of your ingredients will really make a difference (ie, use gross bread crumbs, or worse, crummy parmesan and it won't taste as good). I ran out of bread crumbs and actually used about half the amount in ground up Ritz crackers. For the parmesan it is always best if you can buy a block and grated it yourself right before you are going to use it. I like to put a few small chunks in a spice grinder to "grate" it into an almost powder like consistency. You can use any leftovers to sprinkle on top of your pasta.

Spaghetti and Meatballs
Mix and form into 1 1/2 inch balls...
3/4 lb ground beef (I used all beef)
1/4 lb ground pork
1 cup fine dry bread crumbs (I used a mixture of dry bread crumbs and Ritz cracker crumbs)
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 Tbsp. minced parsley (I used flat-leaf Italian parsley)
2 small cloves garlic, cut fine
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper

Heat 4 Tbsp of extra-virgin olive oil in a large frying pan. Add the meatballs and 1 cup minced onion. Allow the meatballs to brown on all sides, gently turning them or shaking the pan a little to move them around.

Sprinkle the browned meatballs with 2 Tbsp of flour, then add the following and simmer the entire mixture for about 1 hour...
5 cups cooked tomatoes (I used crushed)
6 Tbsp minced parsley
6 Tbsp minced green pepper (I used red)
2 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
3 tsp sugar
2 small bay leaves, crumbled
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

Serve hot over hot drained boiled spaghetti noodles. Sprinkle with grated cheese.

Kid Friendly Friday #1: Mr. Crunch Sandwich

In an effort to keep track of ideas for things to feed the crazy five-year old monster (and yes, monster is a term of endearment in our house) I live with (and an effort to be more creative in feeding him) I am instigating Kid-Friendly Friday's. It is pretty much to keep me in line.

I need more ideas of easy to make, easy to eat, Aidan friendly meals that, hopefully, are somewhat healthy. I'm not saying these are going to be earth-shattering ideas or that they will be super duper nutritious. But, it will help me keep track of what he likes and what works.

Since Aidan's main source of food is still currently pretty much pancakes all the time, well, things could pretty much only go up from here.

For my first attempt I made something I am hereby dubbing a "Mr. Crunch Sandwich." Why? Well, to protect the innocent in this attempt and not have anyone accuse me of butchering any sacred cooking traditions I am not calling this what the idea was inspired from. The long and short of it is this is a grilled cheese and ham sandwich, dipped like french toast in a simple mixture of egg with a little salt, pepper and milk and fried in a little butter until hot, melty and a little crispy on the outside.

The Kiddo rated this one as five stars - which for him is the tops! We served along side some cold, crisp apple slices. We will be doing this one again I can tell.

Mr. Crunch Sandwich
Makes 1 sandwich

2 slices of sandwich bread of your choice, I had white on hand
1 slice American cheese (not my favorite choice, but this is what the kiddo likes)
1 slice black forest ham
1 teaspoon butter
1 large egg
1 Tablespoon non-fat milk
salt and pepper to taste

In a small, shallow bowl, beat the egg with the salt, pepper and milk to combine well.

Heat a grill pan to about 350 degrees (moderately high heat). Briefly heat the slice of ham to heat it well. Butter each slice of bread on the 'inside' of the sandwich and layer with the cheese and ham. Put the bread slices together and briefly dunk the sandwich on both sides in the egg mixture. Lightly butter the grill/griddle pan surface and place the egg-dipped sandwich in the buttered area. Cook until well browned and golden. Flip the sandwich and repeat the browning process on the other side, pressing the sandwich as flat as you can with the back of the spatula and browning the sandwich well.

Slice and serve.

Side ideas: Apple slices, carrots and ranch dressing, red seedless grapes, tomato soup, honey mustard sauce.