This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Barilla®.
It makes me feel good that the little things I do, like simply buying pasta sauce for my family can help other families in need. I mentioned Barilla®’s partnership with Feeding America, but now they are offering a great program where Barilla® will donate $0.05 to Feeding America’s National Produce Program when you purchase Barilla®’s sauce between 4/1/2014 to 5/31/2014 (minimum donation of $150,000). That’s 1 pound of fresh produce to Feeding America to support those in need, up to 4.2 million pounds. A simple purchase that can do big things.
Spaghetti is one of my family’s favorite go to quick meals. I normally serve it on the nights we do bath time. Because my kids are the sauce on your forehead type. They swim in their plates. We love Barilla® sauce because of all the vegetables that pack into a jar. It’s all natural and has the fresh taste of vine-ripe tomatoes, extra virgin olive oil and amazing herbs. It’s the kind of sauce you don’t have to add anything to. I normally make these amazing meatballs with our spaghetti dinners. They are a huge hit. I don’t eat pork so I make these meatballs out of ground beef or ground turkey.
I’ll share with my my recent meatball discovery, but only because I’m so kind and I believe everyone deserves great meatballs.
Wanna know the secret to the best meatballs? There are two, the first is using milk in the mixture. It makes the meatballs super moist and helps to evenly distribute the other ingredients into the meat.
The other, is only browning the outside of the meatballs and then dropping them into simmering sauce to finish cooking. I can’t tell you how many meatballs I’ve burned in the past not doing this.
My father told me he doesn’t even brown his meatballs before they go into to sauce but I’m weird about raw meat so I feel like it needs to be “sealed” in before hitting the sauce.
Once the meat is browned I drop it into my simmering pot of Barilla® sauce to finish cooking.
Super simple right?
The Best Meatball Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 lb ground beef
- 4 to 5 cloves of garlic
- 1 large egg
- 1/3 cup of milk
- 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
- 1/4 pepper
- 1/4 cup italian breadcrumbs to make it gluten free you can use crushed gluten free Rice Krispies and italian seasoning
- 1 tablespoon dried parsley
- 1/2 cup parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Bring pasta sauce to a simmer in a big pot.
- Heat a large skillet on medium heat with 3 tablespoons of olive oil
- In a large bowl mix together all ingredients until well blended.
- Roll into 1 inch balls.
- Place as many balls as you can fit without them touching into the pan.
- Rotate the meatballs using tongs every 2 minutes or so until they are only slightly browned.
- Place the meatballs into the simmering pasta sauce, cover.
- Repeat with the remaining meat mixture until all of your meatballs are finished.
Admittedly, I burn meatballs very often too. I tend to want them cooked all the way through before going into the sauce.
And, we give back via our church and then select another charity every month to give to.
YES! This is what I thought too, life changing meatball lesson!
do you add the 3 T oil to the meatballs and then cook in 3 T oil? we give back though volunteering. I run a preservation group in my town and my husband is the chairman of our planning and zoning board.
The olive oil is simply for browning the meatballs.
Let’s say I’m a newbie chef. 🙂
Can I replace permesan cheese with the other knd of cheese?
I have replaced the parmesan with shredded cheese before, and sometimes forgotten it and they were still great.
My wife and I have a small clothing store. At the end of every season we donate a majority of our leftover merchandise. We also do donations throughout the year with shelters and other such organizations who need clothing.
I donate money to charities
dlatany at gmail dot com
I like to bake them in the oven on parchment paper. They cook up nicely. 45-50 minutes at 350 degrees I think. Will make them soon. BTW, in your recipe I don’t have the meat measurements. Great pictures though.
Am trying to do this , its very yummy .
You made my weekend lol .
Thank you so much