Spaghetti and Meatballs Recipe

As of yesterday, this little ole blog here has been around for five years!  I still remember the first blogs I ever read- where I learned what blogging was.  There have been times that I've wanted to shut it all down but I am so glad I haven't.  I have met some of my very best friends through blogging, met my boyfriend of two years through blogging (in a roundabout way), and thankfully, my photography has improved a bit.  Here's to another five years!

Sunday night I made one of my favorite comfort foods, spaghetti, and meatballs.  I have never really cared for spaghetti.  Every time my mom made spaghetti growing up (read: opened a can of Hunt's) I would just eat the noodles with butter and salt and I still love them that way.  I haven't ever been able to make a good marinara so I would rarely make spaghetti and I would never think about serving it to someone else.  Until a few months ago!

(Let it be known that the best bowl of pasta with marinara I've ever had was a little hole in the wall restaurant in Little Italy in Boston.  It was amazing.)

I don't know if I've shared Tessa's blog with you before but I cannot get enough of her.  Her home is beautiful- if you imagine the perfect cozy Christmas home, that's her home.  She always looks effortlessly pretty and she shares simple and just plain good recipes.  She is the one who turned me on to Ina's spicy turkey meatballs.  I love this recipe.

I made spaghetti and meatballs Sunday night because I'll be cooking for one for the next few nights.  I followed the recipe exactly (well, I cut it in HALF) and ended up with about 50 small meatballs.

I didn't make them 2", I instead used my 2 teaspoon cookie scoop to roughly measure them as I rolled them.  I had to cut the baking time down to about 15-20 minutes.  I also found that if you give the baking sheet a good shake every few minutes, it prevents a crispy bottom.  You can tell I didn't shake the first tray- no big deal but they do turn out a little prettier if you shake it.

If you can make good marinara, more power to you! I cannot so I stuck with a jar of Rao's and a jar of Dave's Gourmet (my favorite marinara from World Market).

Make this! Add it to your list of go-to's! I promise you'll love it.

The rest of the week I won't be making anything too fancy.

Monday- leftover spaghetti and meatballs.

Since it's going to be dinner for one on Tuesday and Wednesday, turkey taco salad it is!  Brown ground turkey, add taco seasoning, eat on a bed of romaine lettuce with black beans, yellow corn, diced tomatoes, avocado, black olives, and diced onion.  I don't usually put any dressing on it- just a little hot sauce.  Plenty of leftovers for Wednesday. 

Because I'll have leftover turkey from Tuesday, stuffed peppers are on the menu for Thursday.  Without taco seasoning obviously.  Stuffed peppers are simple- brown ground turkey and diced onion.  Clean out bell peppers, cut in half, and blanch in boiling water.  To the turkey add 2-3 cups cooked rice, 1 can of diced tomatoes, salt, pepper, garlic salt, and a few shakes of Worcestershire sauce (am I going to have to google that spelling for the rest of my life?).   Lay peppers out in a glass baking dish and season with salt and pepper.  Stuff peppers with rice mixture and top with tomato sauce.  Bake approximately 20 minutes at 350.  Easy!