Yum Yum: Meatballs and Spaghetti Sauce

I love to cook.  I enjoy looking through my cooking magazines and finding new recipes that look great and trying them out.  However, working full time and having a family - who has the time?  Recently, cooking has become more stressful than enjoyable.  I decided to go through my recipes and pick out the staples that everyone in the family likes.  I have 2 categories, ones for week nights and ones for weekends where I can make double batches and put them in the freezer or have leftovers.

I'll start to share these every week.  Typing these will have  dual purpose - a good blog post and typing them up so they could be printed on 5x7 note cards to have them feel more organized.

Spaghetti and meatballs does not have a lot of hands on time but it does take a while to cook.  They are a great freezer food.

Herbed Meatballs

• About 1.25 lb ground turkey
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup bread crumbs
• 2 Tbsp Italian seasonings
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper

1. Mix all ingredients and form into 1"-ish size meatballs.
2. Put on baking sheet with space between them and cook them at 350 for about 20 minutes.  Until they are browned but not completely firm.
3. Either add to spaghetti sauce or freeze individually.

Spaghetti Sauce

• 3/4 cup chopped onion
• 5 cloves minced garlic
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 (28 ounce) cans whole peeled tomatoes
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon white sugar
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano

1. In a large saucepan over medium heat, saute onion and garlic in olive oil until onion is translucent.
2. Stir in tomatoes, salt, sugar, and bay leaf.  Cover, reduce heat to low and simmer 90 minutes. 
3. Stir in tomato paste, basil, 1/2 teaspoon pepper and meatballs and simmer 30 minutes more.