Grandma's Spaghetti

I am visiting my grandparents for the weekend, which means lots of great company, and of course, lots of great food. At my grandmother's house, Friday night is always spaghetti night. This tradition has been going on for years and years, as long as I can remember. Normally someone in our extended family visits on Fridays for spaghetti night, usually someone closer in proximity to my grandparent's house. Tonight she also had to host my family, and made an extra big batch of spaghetti. On spaghetti nights, there is always spaghetti with my grandmother's simple but tasty spaghetti sauce. There is also plain pasta for those who prefer it. We also have my grandmother's meatballs, and some sausage. Of course, being Italian, there is always a nice crusty loaf of fresh bread, garlic butter, and Parmesan cheese to go around. My grandmother also makes up a plate with ham and cheese, and often there are some vegetables around too. A simple meal, but a tasty tried-and-true tradition. And no  one can forget about dessert. There is always something around, and usually more than one option available. Whether it`s her classic chocolate chip cookies, chocolate cake, squares, or fancy pizelle cookies. Although often we don`t have room for dessert until later on. Since my grandmother always makes a great big batch, we usually have some leftover spaghetti. Some lucky person will get to enjoy this tomorrow!

Sweet & Sour Meatballs

Sweet and Sour Meatballs are one of my mother's signature dishes. She has been making them ever since I can remember, and I have loved eating them ever since I can remember! Although I have eaten meatballs elsewhere, Mom's meatballs have always been the best, and the true definition of "real meatballs" to me. Of course her meatballs would never be complete without the sweet and sour sauce to go with them. Actually, I have never even tried the meatballs without the sauce, it just wouldn't be right. My mom starts out with a basic meatball recipe using ground beef, chopped onion, egg, dry breadcrumbs, and ground black pepper; nothing fancy. She browns them first, then makes up the sweet and sour sauce and bakes the meatballs with the sauce. She always makes a great big batch of them, enough for leftovers. We like to have meatballs with spaghetti and rice of course, but sometimes we also pair them with potatoes. They also make a good meatball sandwich!

I have helped my mother make these meatballs before, usually I mostly handle the sauce, as I don't like touching raw meat. I have even made the sauce on my own before and used it in other recipes. It works well as a basic sweet and sour sauce for some things, but I like it best on my mom's meatballs. I always look forward to meatball night at our house!

Cheese-Crusted Meatball Pie

This delicious recipe came from one of my many cookbooks, Betty Crocker's "Baking For Today". This book includes recipes for everything from breads, to cookies, to main courses, to cakes, to appetizers, to perfect pies. I have made several recipes from this book before, and they all turned out nicely. So for supper, I decided to try Cheese-Crusted Meatball Pie. This dish consists of meatballs, sauce, and a flaky crust made with cheddar cheese on top. It was very good, and fairly easy to make. The secret to the flaky crust is to heat the sauce first, which also allows the pie to heat through on the inside before the crust overbrowns. The crust is a little crumbly and hard to roll out perfectly, so my pie has a very rustic look to it. But that's okay, it still tasted very good. I also had a little bit of crust leftover, so I just slid it on a baking sheet and baked it along side the pie.

Cheese-Crusted Meatball Pie
MEATBALLS
1 pound lean (at least 80%) ground beef
1/4 cup dry bread crumbs
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
1 jar (1 pound 10 ounces) tomato pasta sauce (any variety) 
CHEESE PASTRY
1 cup white all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese (2 ounces)
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon butter or shortening
2 to 3 tablespoons cold water

Heat oven to 425◦F. In medium bowl, mix beef, bread crumbs, onion, salt and milk. Shape mixture into 18 meatballs (I made smaller meatballs and got a lot more). Place meatballs in 15x10x1-inch pan. Bake 15 to 18 minutes or until meat thermometer inserted in center of meatballs reads at least 160◦F and meatballs are no longer pink in center.

Meanwhile: In one quart saucepan, heat pasta sauce to boiling, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to medium-low; keep warm.
Make cheese pastry: In medium bowl, mix flour, salt and cheese. Cut in butter, using pastry blender (or pulling 2 table knives through ingredients in opposite directions), until crumbly. Sprinkle with cold water, 1 tablespoon at a time, mixing with fork until all flour is moistened and dough almost leaves side of bowl (1 to 2 teaspoons more water can be added if necessary). On lightly floured surface, gather dough into a ball; shape into flattened round. Roll into 10-inch square.

Place meatballs in 8-inch square glass baking dish. Top with hot pasta sauce. Cut slits in pastry; place over meatball mixture and tuck under edges. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until pastry is golden brown.

Crocker, Betty. "Cheese-Crusted Meatball Pie." Recipe. Baking For Today, Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley Publishing, 2005. 122.