There’s nothing quite like a pot of homemade tomato sauce and meatballs bubbling away on the stove for a few hours.  With a big pot full of this awesomeness the possibilities are endless. You can put it over spaghetti, you can make a baked rigatoni, but I chose to make meatball subs because it’s one of my husband’s favorites. I figure with a new baby coming soon he can use a little extra attention now because I will be otherwise occupied in the months to come. My almost 3-year old is also a big meatball fan so this is a win-win.

I browsed a lot of different recipes because I wanted something that wasn’t overcomplicated. I came across a brilliant concept: you can cook raw meatballs right in your sauce!!! HOLY MOLY! I have always shied away from making meatballs and sauce because I find it quite tedious to brown all the meatballs. I have also been guilty of just buying frozen meatballs as well. Now apparently this concept is kind of controversial in the hardcore meatball making circles. But hey, like I said….I’m all about quick and easy so you can tell which side I come down on.

So for this recipe first thing you will do is get your sauce simmering on the oven and then move on to making the meatballs and then once you’ve plopped all those bad boys (raw!!!) down in the sauce you will let it simmer for three hours and make your house smell like heaven.

My inspiration for this recipe came from these links but I changed a few things in my own version:

http://www.food.com/recipe/authentic-italian-tomato-sauce-92096

http://www.food.com/recipe/authentic-italian-meatballs-92095

Easy Homemade Meatballs and Sauce

For the sauce:

1/4 cup olive oil

3 cloves garlic

1 yellow onion, diced

2 (28 oz) cans tomato puree

1 (28 oz) can peeled whole tomatoes

1 tablespoon Italian seasoning

6 whole cloves

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

2 tablespoons sugar

Directions:

1. Saute onion and garlic in olive oil a large pot for about 3 minutes until softened and fragrant

2.  Add all of the rest of the ingredients to the pot crushing the whole tomatoes through your fingers to break them up into smaller pieces.

3. turn your heat down so that the sauce is simmering but not boiling.

For the Meatballs:

Ingredients:

1 lb meatloaf mix (this is mix of beef, veal and pork you can find at almost any grocery store next to the other ground meats that is very tasty but ground beef or turkey would also work here)

1 egg

1/4 cup buttermilk (you can also use milk)

1/2 cup breadcrumbs

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. Mix all ingredients in a large bowl by hand.

2. Roll meatballs in your palm about the size of a golf ball

3. Drop raw meatballs into the sauce

4. Simmer for about 3 hours

Once you have made your tomato sauce and meatballs, enjoy it any way you like!! I’d love to hear how you like yours. This is also a great recipe to make and freeze for later.

ENJOY!