Easy Meatballs

Kevin's girlfriend helped me cook dinner the other night.

Got your attention?

Yes, Giada de Laurentiis is my husband's dream girl.  He thinks it's funny to flip through the channels and land on The Food Network and if her show is on, leave it there and watch it.  Like he truly has an interest in how to make a caprese salad or marinara sauce or any number of Italian specialties.

Whatever.  He has his eye candy.  I have mine.  (Helooo, Matthew McConaughey and Kirk Hirbstreit!)

Giada's private label pasta sauce, sold only at Target, is really delicious.  I've only tried the Tomato Basil flavor.  The price is relatively reasonable as well when you compare to some of the other famous-name pasta sauces that are now on the market.  I know for a fact that Emeril Lagasse and Mario Batalli both have sauces with their names and faces on the label.  They are nearly as pretty as Giada.

I prefer homemade pasta sauce, but when time is short, I like to know I have a couple of jars on the shelf that I can use when the need arises.  Or, in the case of when I make homemade meatballs, it's nice to know I don't have to spend as much time in the kitchen making meatballs and pasta sauce.

Easy Meatballs

Here's What You Need:

1 pound ground beef

1/2 cup bread crumbs

1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning

1/4 cup very finely diced onion

1 egg

1/3 cup Parmesan cheese

salt/pepper to taste

Here's What You Do:

I forget where I got this recipe.  I've been making these for 3 or 4 years.  I think I copied the recipe down from a blog that I used to follow and it was on a blog that the blogger followed and I was in a moment where I just clicked from one blog to the next, to the next, and suddenly I was lost in Blog Land, didn't know where I was and didn't know how to get back.  So I just clicked the X and it all went away.  But I copied the recipe down first! 

It's Yummy. 

It's Easy. 

Enough said.

Mix all of the ingredients together, but not for too long.  You will have tough meatballs.  Not appetizing.  Shape the meatballs in to equally sized portions.  I use one of my cookie dough scoops to make these and it's perfect.  I usually get about one dozen meatballs using my medium scoop.  You can either brown these in a skillet over medium heat or line them up on a cookie sheet and bake them at 375 degrees for 15 minutes.  I usually just bake them.  I really can't stand the mess of grease splattering on the stove-top.

Meanwhile, heat up your pasta sauce and cook your spaghetti.  When the meatballs are done, toss them into the pasta sauce and "Wah-Lah!", dinner is served.