As Promised, HOMEMADE Spaghetti and Meatballs

Hey everyone, I meant to post this last week but things got a little bit busy.  I made spaghetti and meatballs for my birthday dinner and had some friends over, which was great, but we left town the next morning and this is my first chance to write since!

I have found that so many people don't bother to make their own spaghetti sauce, which to me is TRAGIC.  Spaghetti (Marinara) sauce is really not hard to make.  You basically add a bunch of ingredients and simmer, and it tastes SO MUCH BETTER than canned sauce.  I got my sauce recipe from a lasagna recipe that I found right after I got married almost 7 years ago, and after a few modifications, it's pretty much a go-to meal for us.  So, here we go.

Just so we're clear, this is your end goal:




Sauce:

This sauce can go two ways - meat-less, if you're making my Parmesan meatballs to go with, or you can add a pound of ground beef or Italian sausage (or a mixture of the two) if you don't have time (or willpower) to make meatballs.

1 lb. ground beef (omit and skip frying step if doing meatballs)
1 medium onion, diced
1Tbsp olive oil
2 (6 oz) cans tomato paste
1 (14 oz) can diced tomatoes
2 C water
3 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp each: oregano, garlic powder, parsley, white sugar, brown sugar
2 tsp each: basil, salt
1/4 tsp black pepper

1) Cook the ground beef in a large, deep skillet (don't use cast iron, the acidity from the tomatoes combined with the metal will give it a weird flavor).  Remove the ground beef and drain the grease, and set aside.
2) In the same (now empty) skillet, cook the onion in the olive oil until translucent and tender, but not brown or carmelized.
3) When the onions are done, add EVERYTHING else (including the ground beef you set aside while you cooked the onion).
4) Simmer for at least 30 minutes, or up to 2 hours.  The longer it simmers, the better it will taste!  Here's a pic, right after I added the herbs.  This batch was meat-free, because I was making meatballs, too.

Parmesan Meatballs:

(sorry, I was in a hurry and failed to photo-document this part...)

1/2 lb. lean ground beef
1/2 lb. hot Italian sausage (I like hot because I like the meatballs to have some kick; if you don't like spicy food, then go with mild sausage).
1 C bread crumbs
1 Tbsp dried parsley
1 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/8 tsp garlic powder (or more if you're like me and enjoy garlic A LOT)
1 beaten egg

1) Mix all ingredients together, being careful not to over-work the meat.
2) Using a disher, or if you don't have one, a spoon, measure and roll the meat into uniform, 1" meatballs.
3) {at this point, you can refrigerate until you're ready to use - in other words, you can make a day ahead}
4) Bake the meatballs in a 350 degree oven, on a rack over a sheet pan, for 15-20 minutes, until the meatballs are cooked most of the way through, then remove from the pan and add to you favorite sauce and simmer for an additional 15 minutes.

NOTE: Alternatively, you can bake the meatballs ahead so they are completely cooked (30 min), and then refrigerate the meatballs and just re-heat with sauce the next day.  Because I was going to be feeding this meal to a crowd right after we got home from work, I put my meatless sauce in a crock pot on low all day (if your crock pot has a keep warm setting, that works great too so it doesn't get burned around the edges), then quickly reheated the meatballs when I got home by cranking the crock pot up to high and throwing them in with the sauce.

This meal was a huge hit with my friends, and I hope you'll love it too.  Let me know what you think in the comments!  Until next time... Enjoy!