spaghetti and meatballs

Spaghetti and meatballs for dinner AND dessert.  Your kids will love this! This was a huge hit for mine on April fools. I made regular spaghetti and spaghetti cupcakes.  I fooled them good. They really thought it looked like real spaghetti not cupcakes! It's always fun to keep your kids on their toes.

What I love about both of these recipes is that they are so delicious and so easy. If you want to go meatless, don't make the meatballs and you have a easy spaghetti dinner in 30 minutes. I got the cupcake recipe from one of my favorite books, "Hello, Cupcake!", a book full of the cutest cupcakes that anyone can make! I know that your kids will love this idea, surprise them tonight with spaghetti and meatballs two ways! The link for the book is here.  

After dinner my kids made us watch "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs", don't say I didn't warn you! I hope you have a fun family night with these recipes. Happy cooking and baking!

Spaghetti and Meatball Cupcakes

Ingredients:

10 vanilla cupcakes baked in white paper liners

1 can vanilla frosting

Tan food coloring

11 hazelnut chocolates (Ferrero Rocher), unwrapped

3/4 cup low sugar strawberry preserves (low sugar has the best color)

2 tablespoons grated white chocolate

Directions:

Tint the vanilla frosting with the tan food coloring and spread a thin layer on each cupcake. Arrange the cupcakes on a serving platter so that they are touching.

Spoon the remaining frosting into a ziplock bag or use a pastry bag with a wilton 6 round pastry tip. Pipe the frosting all over the cupcakes to make the spaghetti, piling it high and allowing some of the spaghetti to hang over the edges.

Place the hazelnut chocolates and the strawberry preserves in a medium bowl and toss to coat. Spoon some of the preserves on top of the cupcakes. Place 1 hazelnut chocolate on each cupcake and 1 on the platter. Top the cupcakes with the remaining preserves. Sprinkle with the grated white chocolate.

Spaghetti and Meatballs

INGREDIENTS:

SAUCE:

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons butter

1 onion, finely diced

4 cloves garlic

2 cans tomato sauce

salt and pepper to taste

2 tsp sugar

1 tsp Italian seasoning

dash of freshly grated nutmeg

1 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese

fresh basil, julienned

1 box spaghetti

MEATBALLS:

1 pound ground Italian sausage

small handful of panko bread crumbs

1/4 tsp Italian seasoning

salt and pepper to taste

2 cloves garlic

INSTRUCTIONS:

Cook pasta according to package directions. Make sure to add a little salt to the pot while boiling the pasta.

In a medium bowl mix together the sausage, bread crumbs, garlic and seasonings. Form into golf ball sized balls.

Add the olive oil to a pan over medium-high heat. Add the meatballs and cook until golden brown. Remove from heat and keep the drippings.

Add the butter, onions, salt, pepper and Italian seasoning to the pan drippings and saute until soft. About 7 minutes. Add garlic and saute for a minute or so more. Pour in the tomato sauce and sugar. Stir and cook over low heat for 25-30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Remove from heat and stir in the cream. Add cheese and a little more salt if needed. Stir in the pasta and julienned basil. Serve immediately.