Karen's Spaghetti & Meatballs

By KimberlyB

Ingredients

• Meatball:
• 3-4 slices bread, torn in small pieces
• 1 1/2 lbs ground chuck
• 2-3 eggs
• 1/4-1/3 cups milk
• salt & pepper
• oatmeal, if needed
• Sauce:
• 1/2 lb bacon (chopped)
• 3/4-1 cup onion, chopped
• 5 cloves garlic, chipped
• 3 15 oz cans tomato sauce
• 3 6 oz cans tomato paste
• 4-5 bay leaves
• 1 tsp basil
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1/2 cup water
• salt & pepper

Preparation

Step 1

Meatballs:
Soak bread with milk. Add rest of ingredients, using oatmeal if mixture is too soggy. Oatmeal can replace bread, if necessary. Bake meatballs in a preheated oven of 400' for 15-20 minutes.

Sauce:
In a 5 qt dutch oven pan, saute bacon. Add onion and garlic and cook till very tender. Add other sauce ingredients and stir. Add cooked meatballs. Cook 4-5 hours at very low heat ( almost simmering), stirring gently occasionally.

This is best made ahead and reheated to serve. Freezes well but takes a long time to thaw. Always stir gently so meatballs don't break apart. If you like mushrooms add them toward the end of the cooking time.

When I double the recipe, I don't put in all the meatballs because I like lots of sauce. I generally count 2-3 meatballs per person.

I hope you enjoy this as much as we have. Enjoy.