It's birthday week here, yesterday we celebrated my lovely mother in law's and today it's my two eldest daughters (Irish twins).  My Kitchen Aid mixer is practically going up in smoke with an overload of birthday cakes.  I must say I'm a bit of a sentimentalist and tend to go a tad overboard with the celebrations, candles, balloons, cakes and wrapping paper, but birthdays are special don't you think? Especially when they're your children's! 

Meatballs, garlic bread and salad were requested yesterday, followed by chocolate birthday cake and ice cream.  Nothing fancy but these seriously hit the spot.

I  hope you enjoy these as much as we did.

Here's what you will need:

For the meatballs:
1 1/2lbs of lean ground beef
3/4 lbs of ground pork
1 egg
1 tablespoon of water
1 tablespoon of Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon of dried breadcrumbs
chopped fresh herbs (parsley or oregano are wonderful)
salt and pepper

For the sauce:
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
Here's the major CHEAT, I used 2, 24oz jars of our favorite tomato sauce
salt and pepper
fresh chopped herbs

2, 14.5oz packages of Barilla Plus Spaghetti

In a large bowl gently mix all the ingredients for the meatballs until combined. 

Roll into good sized meatballs.

 

Heat the olive oil in a large saute pan and brown the meatballs, you will have to do this in a couple of batches. 

Remove the browned meatballs to a plate and cover.

Pour off any excess fat in the pan, add chopped onion and saute gently for 4-5 minutes until soft and beginning to caramelize, add the garlic and saute for a further 2 minutes.

Add the tomato sauce and stir to combine all ingredients. 

Add the meatballs back in to the pan, bring to a simmer add the chopped herbs and cover until completely cooked through.

Meanwhile cook the pasta according to the directions on the packet.  Drain and pour into a HUGE bowl.

Pour over the meatballs and sauce, sprinkle with more chopped herbs and serve with a salad, garlic bread and LOTS of Parmesan.

Happy Birthday!