Guilt Free Spaghetti and Meatballs

I have been hesitant to make meatballs for this blog because I know someone that can make the best ones ever. My husband is good at looking at what we have in the kitchen and just throwing things together. One day we wanted meatballs and he just threw in spices that we had with some bread crumbs and eggs. They were juicy and spicy! So yummy. For some reason we didn't write down what he threw into the mixture, so I was left to either make up my own or just try a brand new recipe. I found this recipe in one of my many cookbooks and I decided to give it a go. The one part I was interested in was the bread chunks. I am familier with meatballs recipes that include bread crumbs, but this recipe was calling for chunks of moist whole wheat bread. That was a little odd to me, but hey I'm up to trying new things. The only thing I would have done different was to remove the crusts before soaking the bread in the water. There were large chunks of crust that I ended up removing while I was mixing in the beef (which took a good amount of time), so it would have been a lot easier if I had just removed them before soaking. 

Another thing I was looking forward to with this recipe was the sauce. I really enjoyed this sauce when it was all done. So flavorful and it really has that homemade touch, it's worth the extra time to make your own. I will definitely pull this sauce out for so many other recipes!

When I try new recipes it really is a lot of trial and error. There was only one thing I would change with this recipe, but now that I know I will be happy to make these for someone awesome when he comes home and compare them to his version.  

Spaghetti and Meatballs
from tasteofhome Guilt Free Cooking

Ingredients:
Sauce:
3/4 cup chopped onion
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 can (28 oz) Italian crushed tomatoes, undrained
1 can (6 oz) tomato paste
1 cup water
1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
Meatballs:
4 slices white bread, torn into pieces
1/2 cup water
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 garlic clove, minced
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 pound lean ground beef
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 package (16 oz) spaghetti

Directions:

1. In a large saucepan coated with cooking spray, cook onion and garlic in oil until tender. Stir in the tomatoes, tomato paste, water, oregano, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 30 minutes. 
2. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, soak bread in water for 5 minutes. Squeeze out excess liquid. In a large bowl, combine the eggs, Parmesan cheese, garlic, basil, parsley, salt and bread. Crumble beef over mixture and mix well. Shape into 1-in. balls.
3. In a large nonstick skillet coast with cooking spray, brown meatballs in a batches in oil over medium heat. Add meatballs to sauce; uncovered, for 30 minutes or until meatballs are no longer pink.
4. Cook spaghetti according to package directions; drain. Serve spaghetti with meatballs and sauce. 

Serves 10

Nutrition: Calories 368; Fat 9g; Cholesterol 73mg; Carb 50g; Protein 20g; Fiber 3g