Meatball Sandwiches

I had a hankering for meatball sandwiches. I had not cooked meatballs by boiling them in tomato sauce before. So I figured this would be a good opportunity to give it a try. 

Tomato sauce was on sale at the grocery store. While I have made tomato sauce in the past, it is quite an undertaking. So I settled on store bought sauce. At any rate, whenever I get store bought sauce, I soup it up. 

So, I put two jars of store bought sauce in a large pot. I added a can of diced tomatoes. I then added one half of an onion, diced, one half of a green pepper, diced, and one clove of garlic, sliced thinly. I also added Italian herbs (this was a blend I bought at Aldi's), pepper and salt. I heated it at low to bring to a boil. 

I didn't measure out the meatballs. I used about a pound and a half of ground beef. I added half a cup of bread crumbs. Then Italian spices, paprika, cumin, salt and pepper. I mixed it all together along with an egg. The egg is used as a binding agent. 

When the sauce was at a boil, I added the meatballs, and cooked for about 25 minutes. 

I took a roll, sliced down the top length-wise. Then I removed some of the inner bread. Once the meatballs were down, I carefully spooned the meatballs into the bread. 

My one son does not like cheese. For him, this was the end. 

For everyone else, I preheated the toaster oven to 350, and turned it to broil. I placed 2 slices of provolone cheese on top, and sprinkled Italian spices on top. 

I heated in the toaster oven until the cheese was melted, and voila. We had meatball sandwiches. 

Macaroni and Cheese and Salsa

I had the guys over for an evening. I was going to make chicken wings, and thought about what I could serve with them. At first I thought mac & cheese, then I thought why not spice it up a bit. 

Ingredients:

1 pound pasta

1 stick of butter

1/2 cup flour

1/2 onion

1 clove garlic

1 jalapeño pepper

Juice of 1 lime

1 cup salsa

2 cups milk

1 cup parmesan cheese

2 cups shredded cheese, Mexican blend

Salt

Pepper

Italian seasoning

Chili pepper spice

Dice the onion. Slice the garlic into tiny pieces. Dice the jalapeño. 

Preheat oven to 350. 

Boil the pasta. Drain. 

In a large pot, make a roux. Melt the butter. Mix with the flour. Add salt, pepper, onion and garlic. Save the jalapeño for a little later. Add the milk slowly. Add the cheese slowly. Add the salsa. Add the lime juice. At the end, add the Italian spices and jalapeño.  Add chili pepper spice to taste. 

Add the pasta. Mix. Put in a large pan. Sprinkle more graded cheese on top. 

Heat in the oven for about half an hour. 

It's an alternative to the regular mac & cheese with heat!