Hello Friends! I am sorry once again for neglecting the site. I have checked the stats and I have views everyday even though I haven't added new information. It may be difficult to post a lot during the upcoming holiday but I plan to try. First, the reason I have been neglecting the site is not because I have abandoned it. My furbaby has been diagnosed with Lymphoma and she is my #1 main concern right now. She has a facebook page so anyone interested can keep up with her progress and treatments, etc. https://www.facebook.com/ElleMaeThePrettyPittiePrincess.
Tonights Dinner is Meatball Stuffed Shells with Marinara. I'm cheating a little and using canned sauce. I normally don't do this but recently bought the Barilla pasta sauce since it was on sale and I was pretty impressed with it and didn't have to add anything so I figure it would be a good shortcut on a dish where the sauce isn't the main component. One of the roomies doesn't like Spaghetti noodles so I decided to try something a little different and stuff the Meatballs into the Shells since the other Roomie doesn't like the texture of Ricotta cheese.
Meatballs
1 1/2 - 2 lbs Ground beef
1 serving spoon full of Mayonaise
1/2 cup Parmesan
1/2 cup Italian breadcrumbs
1 tsp Oregano
pinch thyme
1/4 tsp ground sage
2 cloves garlic, minced
Using a large serving fork break apart the meat before adding other ingredients. Once meat is broken up pretty well then add all ingredients and mix with the fork until it just comes together. Using the fork instead of your hand helps you to not over work the meat and melt the fat with the heat from your hands. Loosely pack together Egg shaped Meatballs about the size of the shells you will be stuffing. The Meatballs will shrink, how much depends on the fat ratio of the meat you are using. I used full on fatty ground beef this time around so I'm expecting them to shrink a lot. I got 14 meatballs out of the mix. Place the meatballs on a baking rack on a cookie sheet. Now let the Meatballs sit uncovered in your fridge for 2 hours. This will help form a skin that will brown a little faster when you bake them. Same concept as letting your Turkey sit uncovered in the fridge the whole night/day before you plan to roast it.
Meatballs
1 1/2 - 2 lbs Ground beef
1 serving spoon full of Mayonaise
1/2 cup Parmesan
1/2 cup Italian breadcrumbs
1 tsp Oregano
pinch thyme
1/4 tsp ground sage
2 cloves garlic, minced
Using a large serving fork break apart the meat before adding other ingredients. Once meat is broken up pretty well then add all ingredients and mix with the fork until it just comes together. Using the fork instead of your hand helps you to not over work the meat and melt the fat with the heat from your hands. Loosely pack together Egg shaped Meatballs about the size of the shells you will be stuffing. The Meatballs will shrink, how much depends on the fat ratio of the meat you are using. I used full on fatty ground beef this time around so I'm expecting them to shrink a lot. I got 14 meatballs out of the mix. Place the meatballs on a baking rack on a cookie sheet. Now let the Meatballs sit uncovered in your fridge for 2 hours. This will help form a skin that will brown a little faster when you bake them. Same concept as letting your Turkey sit uncovered in the fridge the whole night/day before you plan to roast it.
You can see all the flavor in them! After your Meat Eggs have set for at least 2 hours, bake them at 350F for about 30 minutes. You want to get them about 3/4 of the way done so that when you bake them again with the shells they aren't over cooked.
What a pretty Browned MeatEgg! At this point you can stop here, baste them with some ketchup or A1 and you would have a perfectly good mini meatloaf. But we're going to keep going! Below I've put 24oz plain marinara in the bottom of my 13x9 Pyrex baking dish. You can put 3/4 of the jar to save yourself a step later. I spaced and just put it all in the bottom. Duh!
Cook the shells according to the package directions and add them to the sauce, I missed getting a picture of the shells with a little shredded cheddar, but I put a pinch of cheese in the bottom of each shell.
Now stuff the meatballs into the shells. I didn't size up my shells before I made the meatballs so I ran into the problem of my meatballs being a little to big for the shells, but I was able to work them around so that I only had 1 shell breakage issue. The shells I bought were a little smaller than what I thought I had. Trust me, learn from my mistakes :)
Here's where you can Learn from my mistakes again and take the sauce you saved earlier and just spoon it over the shells. I wasn't thinking so I had to roll each shell and meatball in the sauce. Derp!
After Sauce!
Cheese Please! Shred about 4oz sharp cheddar cheese and top the shells. Now we just have to bake the shells at 350F about 30 minutes until the cheese is melted and bubbly and we're sure the meat is cooked through.