Spaghetti and Meatballs

The leftover chicken from last night made a great sandwich for lunch today. I spread some Cilantro Mayonnaise on the bread just to give the sandwich a little more zing - it complemented the spices in the chicken really well. Just a little something extra like a flavored mayo can really make a difference in a sandwich.

Then for dinner tonight I made spaghetti with meatballs. I know you can buy ready made meatballs, but I'm trying to come up with a recipe that makes it worth making them yourself. The meatballs tonight were pretty good, although I may add a few more spices to them next time. They really were not hard at all to make, and when you make them yourself you can control what goes in them and keep the fat content down - better quality meat and less "parts". I cooked the meatballs and sauce in the crock pot so that there is no danger of scorching the sauce. If you cook it on the stovetop, be very careful to cook it at a low temperature and stir often.

Cilantro Mayonnaise:
Blend together 1/3C mayonnaise, 1/3C cilantro leaves, 1/2T lime juice, 1/2tsp soy sauce, and a small clove of garlic. I put the above ingredients in a small bowl and used my wand blender to blend them up - fast and easy.

Meatballs:
Mix together 1 1/2lb ground beef, 3/4C uncooked oatmeal, 1/2tsp salt, 1/4tsp pepper, 2T finely chopped onions, 1 egg, and 1/2C milk. Shape into meatballs and brown in a small amount of olive oil. Drain on paper towels.

Spaghetti Sauce:
Combine 4-15oz cans tomato sauce, 1-12oz can of tomato paste, 4tsp basil, 4tsp oregano, 1 tsp onion powder and 1tsp garlic powder (or more if you like garlic). Put half of sauce in crock pot topped by the meatballs. Drain any remaining grease from the pan and add a little red wine (or chicken broth if you prefer) to the pan and scrape all the pieces of meat left behind on the pan. This is called deglazing the pan. All those little pieces have great flavors left behind in them. Add the contents of the saute pan to the remaining sauce and pour the sauce over the meatballs in the crock pot. Cook on high for at least 2 hours. Serve over spaghetti noodles.