semi-homemade spaghetti and meatballs

Let me start by saying this was a two day recipe because my Thursday nights are usually busy with yoga so I didn't want dinner to be served at 9 pm. I opted to make the meatballs on Wednesday evening after work. The recipe for the meatballs is below, but I don't have a picture of just the meatballs once they were made. This recipe was pretty easy to follow and required minimal cleanup. 

On to Thursday evening! The sauce is semi-homemade (hence to title of the post). I don't have a recipe for the sauce since I kind of wing-it and so some taste testing throughout. The base for the sauce is a can of Prego original spaghetti sauce from the grocery store. I pour the jar into the saucepan an then add a clove of garlic, 1/2 pound of ground beef (cooked) some fresh ground parsley, and some Italian seasoning. I will also add some salt and pepper depending on how the tasting goes while cooking. While the sauce is simmering together with the previous nights meatballs, I throw some spaghetti noodles in a pot of boiling water and that's it. Seriously. The recipe is not hard its just a tad time consuming. Once the noodles are finished I drain them and add them to the meatballs and sauce. 

Italian Style Meatballs:

Ingredients:

½ lb. ground beef

½ lb. Italian sausage

½ cup bread crumbs

1 tsp minced garlic

2 eggs

2 tsp finely chopped parsley

½ cup Parmesan cheese

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

Directions:

1. Heat the oven to 350˚

2. In a medium size bowl add each of your ingredients into the bowl and mix well after each addition 

3. Make slightly larger than golf ball sized meatballs and place them into a muffin tin that has been coasted with non-stick cooking spray.

4. Place in the oven and cook for 40 minutes, flipping them halfway through

porcupines in a skilllet

This was such an easy recipe for nights that you don't have much time to cook. It's a one skillet dish which also makes for easy cleanup. It can easily feed 4 people or more with some leftovers to spare. 

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground beef

1 pkg. dry onion soup mix

1 ½ cup hot water

¾ cup uncooked rice

1 (16oz.) can tomatoes

1 cup shredded cheese

1 small can mushrooms – optional

Directions:

1. In a large skillet, crumble beef and brown

2. Drain and stir in onion soup mix, water, tomatoes, and (optional mushrooms)

3. Add rice and stir

4. Cover and cook on low heat for 25 minutes or until rice is tender

5. Sprinkle with cheese, melt and serve

brown sugar glazed pork chops

So I am THE WORST at pinning recipes to my Pinterest board, and then just letting them sit there. I never actually attempt to make them even though the headline-that caught my eye to begin with-says fast and easy or six simple steps. I know we all have this bad habit on Pinterest with at least one board.

I finally decided to put some recipes to the test. First up was Brown Sugar Glazed Pork Chops. These were SUPER easy-no joke- and they turned out delicious. I am always a big fan of dinners that are still good as left overs that I can take for lunch the following days, and this meal delivered. The pork was really juicy and had a nice balance of spicy, yet sweet from the brown sugar.

I would definitely make this again and this is easily a recommendation for a quick easy meal that anyone would love.

Ingredients:

4 pork chops

¼ cup brown sugar

½ tsp cayenne powder

½ tsp garlic powder

½ tsp paprika

½ tsp salt

½ tsp pepper

Directions:       

1. Preheat oven to 350˚

2. In bowl, combine the brown sugar and spices

3. Remove pork chops from package and rub spice mix on both sides of the meat

4. Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in skillet over medium/high heat. Add pork chops. Cook for about 5 minutes on each side, or until it is nicely browned

5. If your skillet is oven safe transfer the pork chops directly to the oven. If your skillet is not oven safe you must transfer the pork chops to a foil lined baking sheet. Once in the oven, let the pork chops cook for about 5 minutes, or until cooked thoroughly

6. Remove and serve