Deserving of the Spotlight

 So, awhile back, I found a wonderful recipe for spaghetti and meatballs. You can find that here.

Then, I found a pretty similar recipe for spaghetti and meatballs and I thought, "What the hey. I'll give this one a try too." Well, I think this one is even better than the other. I could eat this for a week straight. Soooo good.

I was going to tack this recipe onto the other post I had made in March with the first spaghetti and meatballs recipe...but then I decided that this deserved a post of its own. Yum!

Spaghetti with Italian Meatballs

Ingredients:

3/4 cup chopped onion
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1 can (28 ounces) Italian crushed tomatoes, undrained (or one 28 oz. can whole peeled tomatoes, coarsely blended and 1 tsp Italian seasoning)
1 can (6 ounces) tomato paste
1 cup water
1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

Meatballs:

4 slices white bread, torn
1/2 cup water
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 garlic clove, minced
1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 pound lean ground beef (90% lean)
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 package (16 ounces) spaghetti

Directions:

In a large saucepan, cook onion in oil until tender. Add garlic; cook 1 minute longer. Stir in the tomatoes, tomato paste, water, oregano, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, soak bread in water for 5 minutes. Squeeze out excess liquid. In a large bowl, combine the eggs, cheese, garlic, basil, parsley, salt, and bread. Crumble beef over mixture and mix well. Shape into 1-inch balls.

In a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray, brown meatballs in batches in oil over medium heat.

Add meatballs to sauce; return to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes or until meatballs are no longer pink.

Cook spaghetti according to package directions; drain. Serve with meatballs and sauce.

Yield: 10 servings.

Source: Taste of Home recipe. You can find it here.

Nutrition information: 3 meatballs and 1/2 cup sauce with 2/3 cup spaghetti equals 368 calories, 9 g fat, 73 mg cholesterol, 661 mg sodium, 50 g carbohydrate, 3 g fiber, 20 g protein.

Notes: As mentioned above (in parentheses in the ingredients), I didn't have a can of Italian crushed tomatoes, so I improvised. I like things extra saucy so, I actually used 1 (28 oz) can whole peeled tomatoes, coarsely blended, and 1 (15 oz) can petite diced tomatoes. I then added 1 tsp. Italian seasoning. Holy cow, this was just fantastic.

I also followed the other recipe's method of baking the meatballs instead of browning them in batches on the stove top (here are the directions from the other recipe: Place meatballs on a rack in a shallow baking pan. Bake, uncovered, at 400 degrees F. for 20 minutes or until no longer pink; drain.).