Spaghetti Sauce Results & Meatball Recipe

The sauce was a great success! Jamie decided to invite mom and dad to join us for dinner, which worked out well since mom was busy taking down Christmas decorations and had not had time to cook today. Mom and I had the whole wheat pasta and the guys and Elise had regular noodles. Everyone seemed to really enjoy it. Jamie went back for seconds - this is how I can tell if a recipe is worth making again or not. He will always go back for seconds if he likes it. :)

Dad gave me a HUGE compliment by telling me that my sauce tasted nearly identical to Lena's. Lena was a first generation Italian American who was also my mother's best friend. She passed away several years ago. Gosh we miss her and her wonderful, authentic, Italian cooking. If my sauce even remotely resembles hers, then I know it's great.

Here is what I did to make the meatballs:

I sauteed 1 cup of chopped onion (using vegetable oil, but next time I'll use olive oil). Then I combined the onion with 1 pound of ground beef, 1/2 cup of Italian seasoned bread crumbs, 2 tablespoons of oregano, and 2 cloves of minced garlic, 1 egg (beaten), and freshly chopped parsley. I browned the meatballs on the stove top, then I added them in the sauce. This was done around 2-3 hours into simmering the sauce. I let it continue to simmer for another 30 minutes with the meatballs, then I stirred and added the lid to the pot and let it simmer another 30 mintues.

Jamie, who is not much of a meatball person, said he even really liked the meatballs.

After this long, drawn-out process, Elise announced that she did not want to eat spaghetti for dinner. I didn't let her opt out tonight, and so she did eventually eat some.