Spaghetti & Meatballs

Basic spaghetti and meatballs--yummy comfort food. I remember my mom spending hours making spaghetti sauce. I'm not sure she saw the cans of ready-made stuff at the store? I think she must have tried some one time and didn't like it? I don't remember any pre-made sauce coming into our house--ever!

After I got married and started cooking things on my own, I decided to try making some spaghetti. I was surprised at how easy boiling the spaghetti was and heating up a can of sauce! If I wanted to get fancy, I would cook some ground beef and add it to the sauce or make meatballs. It didn't take hours at all and it was so easy.

As I learned more about cooking and getting better at it, I now make a semi-homemade version of spaghetti sauce that is great! With us being empty nesters, we don't use all that sauce on the first day, but it freezes well and it's amazing how many uses spaghetti sauce has.

This last time, I made a lot of spaghetti, my big batch of sauce and a lot of meatballs so I would have lots of leftovers.

Pamm's Spaghetti Sauce
1 can or jar of your favorite commercial spaghetti sauce
1 large can crushed tomatoes
1 to 2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 to 2 tablespoons minced onion
to taste: garlic powder, onion powder, and celery salt
optional: 1/2 to 1 pound cooked ground beef

Combine all ingredients in a pot or it just fits in my 1 1/2 quart mini crock pot. I let it simmer for for up to an hour on the stove or 1 to 2 hours on low in the crock pot.

Meanwhile, cook your pasta according package directions and/or make meatballs to add to your meal.


Pamm's Meatballs

2 pounds ground beef
1 sleeve saltines, crushed
1 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 envelope onion soup mix

Mix all ingredients (your hands work best for this). I used my cookie scoop to make uniform balls. I like them small, Hubby likes them big. I made small ones this time. Bake at 375 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes.

When everything was all done, we had a grand spaghetti and meatballs meal.

With the leftover spaghetti, I made Spaghetti Eggs.

I packaged up the meatballs in meal-sized baggies and put them in the freezer. They make great lunches for me, tossing them in my mini-crock pot in the morning, and they're thawed and heated through by lunch time. The meatballs also make great add-ins to lots of other meals.

I put the leftover spaghetti sauce in a few Ziploc containers and put in my freezer. I will use it for homemade pizza, spaghetti bake, or to add into meatloaf.

• This post is being linked to:
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• Food On Fridays at Ann Kroeker’s
• Family Recipe Fridays at Vanderbilt Wife
• Recipe Swap at The Grocery Cart Challenge
• Friday Feasts at Mom Trends
• Foodie Friday at Designs By Gollum
• Freezer Food Friday at What A Crock!
• Ultimate Recipe Swap at Life As A Mom
• Healthy Helpings at tHe KrAzy kItChEn