Tasty Spaghetti and Meatballs

When I was at Cub last week I got a free pound of ground beef, which I never buy. So here is the question, what can you do with ground beef?

I decided to make meatballs, which turned out wonderful.

Here is my recipe for the meatballs and spaghetti sauce I cooked.

For meatballs:

1 lb of ground beef (you can also do 1/2 ground beef 1/2 veal, or 1/3 of ground beef, veal and pork)

1/2 onion, grated

2/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese (I used mozzarella cheese and it works fine)

1/3 cup of bread crumbs

1 large egg

1 tablespoon of garlic powder

1 tablespoon of parsley

1 tablespoon basil

2 tablespoons of ketchup

1 teaspoon of kosher salt

1 teaspoon of pepper

For Sauce:

1 bell pepper (yellow or red), chopped

2 tomatoes, pureed

1 onion, chopped

3 garlic cloves, chopped

1 cup of spaghetti sauce of your choice

1 teaspoon of nutmeg

1 teaspoon of crushed red pepper

salt and pepper to taste

For the meatballs:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Combine ingredients in a bowl. Shape the meat into 1-1/2 inch diameter meatballs and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 15 minutes, until cooked through.

For the sauce:

Place a small amount of olive oil in a saute pan and add onion. Cook until tender and add bell pepper. Cook until tender. Add spaghetti sauce, tomato puree, nutmeg, crushed red pepper and garlic. Bring it up to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for five minutes.

While sauce is simmering cook a pasta of your choice, drain and add to the sauce. Stir well.

Serve with bread sticks.