Meatballs Make It All Better

I am a true believer in the thought that cooking for someone in a time of need is a great way to show that you care. My friend's son recently had tubes put in, and I knew that I wanted to do something to make the day as easy as possible for her. My son has had tubes twice, and I remembered how drained I was after the surgery. What could be better after a long, trying day than a fresh bowl of spaghetti and meatballs (or a Meatball Parmesan sub). Thankfully her son is doing just fine after his surgery, and hopefully his mommy and daddy have nice full bellies!

Easy Italian Meatballs

Ingredients
Sauce
Makes 20 Servings
PointsPlus value per serving: 1
1 28oz cans crushed tomatoes
2 14oz cans stewed tomatoes
1/2 can tomato paste
1 bunch fresh basil
1 Tbs fresh rosemary
1 onion, chopped
salt/pepper

Directions
Dump first 5 ingredients into a blender and pulse until smooth. Saute onion in a very large pot and add tomato mixture. Bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to low. Remember you are going to cook your meatballs in this sauce, so make sure your pot is very big!

Ingredients
Meatballs
Makes 20 meatballs
PointsPlus value per meatball: 2
18oz 90% lean ground beef
1/4 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
1 Tbs Parmesan cheese
1 whole egg plus 1 egg white
2 Tbs cup water
1 tsp garlic powder
salt/pepper

Directions
-Mix the bread crumbs with the Parmesan cheese. Stir in eggs and water. You should have a really mushy mixture. If it clumps together, add a little more water.
-Add garlic powder, salt and pepper. Mix well.
-Add in the ground beef. Mix until just blended (you should not have any clumps of bread mixture, but you do not want to over-mix). This is best done with your hands.
-Wet your hands and roll small balls of the meat into golf-ball sized meatballs. You should get 20 meatballs.
-Drop meatballs into simmering sauce. DO NOT COVER. Make sure the heat is on low.
-Stir every 10-15 minutes, scooping up from the bottom to make sure that the meatballs are not sticking.
-Let meatballs cook for 1 hour.

**Make ahead:
-To freeze meatballs, scoop them out of the sauce with a spoon and drain them on the side of the pot so they are pretty much sauce-free.
-Lay them out on a cookie sheet sprayed with PAM.
-Place entire cookie sheet in the freezer for 2 hours. Remove and transfer meatballs into a ziplock back. Return to freezer and use meatballs as needed.
-You can also freeze the sauce in ziplock freezer bags for delicious pasta sauce. Lay them flat in the freezer to save space.

Healthy Meals to Nourish Your Mind.