Sketti & 'Balls

Buppy really likes spaghetti. Me? I’m not much of a pasta person, although I do enjoy spaghetti sauce on toast or an English muffin [weird, I know]. I used to actually eat it cold with toast in college [even weirder, I know]. And while it seems like a hot time of year to dive in and make some sketti & ‘balls, I did it. I think I’ve only made this for Buppy one other time since I’ve known him, and that was with turkey [which was ok by him] and kale [not so ok by him]. What can I say, I was trying to add some more veggies into our diets. Didn’t really fly with him or the kids though.

Last Monday, since I had the day off, I figured I’d make homemade meatballs and jazz up some jarred sauce. It worked out well if I do say so myself, and the kids and Buppy totally devoured this. Had I not been trying to take care of him and the kids at the same time [because of his back problems], I might have been ambitious enough to make my own sauce from scratch. This, however, was a delicious stand-in.Sketti & 'Balls
Recipe by Bugaboo

Meatballs
1 lb. ground pork sausage
1 c. dried breadcrumbs
1 Tbsp. grated Parmesan cheese
¼ tsp. ground black pepper
1/8 tsp. garlic powder
1 egg, beaten
½ tsp. Italian seasoning

Sauce
1 tsp. olive oil
4-5 lg. mushrooms, chopped
½ lg. onion, chopped
1 Tbsp. minced jarred garlic
½ tsp. Italian seasoning
1 [26 oz.] jar spaghetti sauce [whatever brand & variety you like best]

In a large bowl, combine breadcrumbs, cheese, pepper, garlic, egg and Italian seasoning; mix well. Crumble pork over the mixture and mix again to make sure all ingredients combine completely. Roll mixture into meatballs of desired size; I made mine about 1”.

To fry the meatballs, heat a non-stick skillet over med. heat. Add meatballs to the pan but do not crowd; I had to do mine in 2 batches. These cooked for approximately 5 minutes on each side or so; we like ours a little brown on the outside, but remember they’ll finish cooking in the sauce after being fried. Once one batch is done, remove to a plate covered with a paper towel to absorb some of the grease and set to the side until needed. Repeat with the 2nd batch once it’s finished frying.

To make the sauce, I first sautéed the mushrooms, onion, Italian seasoning and garlic in the teaspoon of olive oil in a large pot over med. heat. After approximately 10-15 minutes [once the veggies have become tender], I added the jarred spaghetti sauce. At this point, I added in all my meatballs as well so that everything could simmer together and the flavors could blend; I let this simmer for about an hour or so.

I made angel hair pasta to go along with this, although you can use whatever variety of pasta you like or happen to have on hand. Or throw it on a sub roll with some cheese for a meatball sub. I’ll tell you now, I could have easily used only ½ or ¾ of the meatballs this recipe produced for the amount of sauce I had; there’s much less sauce than normal, but since Buppy and I enjoy meatballs, it’s all good. With a sprinkle of fresh Parmesan cheese, this is a great spaghetti and meatball dinner! Enjoy!