I love a chance to make any meal with marinara. Pizza, spaghetti, meatballs and lasagna. Tomatoes are one of the foods that I am not allergic to, thank God. Plus, having a jar of spaghetti sauce in the pantry is a great way to save a meal. Therefore, for dinner tonight, we had Mozzarella Stuffed Meatballs with marinara and pasta.
Disclosure
Published September 22, 2021
Updated March 15, 2022
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Why I made scratch dinners
The other day I bought a pack of fresh mozzarella and was certainly itching to use it! I bought premade meatballs a few weeks ago to use with dinner, as a result, we all had trouble sleeping that night. For example, it was like each of us in our family had drunk a cup of coffee with dinner. There was nothing different with the meal, for example nothing unusual or changed from any other time that I have made meatballs… except for the premade meatballs. Through the power of deduction, Tyler and I decided we would not have those again as much as I like to have a cheat meal every once in a while. With two pounds of beef and a pound of pork sausage, you can make a few dozen meatballs, and they won’t cause you stay up all night!
Cost Breakdown of this Meal
1 egg $0.10
2-pound ground beef $8.76
1-pound ground pork $2.39
Fresh Mozzarella $2.65
1 jar marinara $1.09
1 package Conchiglie shells $1.09
Italian seasonings $0.05
Dried Oregano $0.05
1 cup breadcrumbs $0.50
Total Cost $16.68
That is $2.38 per serving, with Tyler getting a lunch for work the next day!
This recipe made 24 meatballs! In comparison, it cost $4.75 for a package that was 32 ounces with prepackaged meatballs costing $0.15 an ounce.
On the other hand, my homemade meatballs were a grand total of 52 ounces, 3.5 pounds, and cost $11.85 or $0.22 an ounce. That is just a little bit higher cost, a mere $0.07 for homemade with ingredients that you know.
Make your food work for you
Making meatballs from scratch are great because you know, with 100% certainty, what is in your meal. After the resulting up all night escapade from the previous week, the concept of making food from scratch for our family was then solidified. Not only do we save money on our budget, but we have more options than what is available at the store.
If you love having your groceries delivered to your door, then check out Instacart! The app is free, and delivery is unbelievably reasonable. For a free $10.00, click HERE and try it! Living in the midst of a Pandemic, with occasional isolations and illness, restrictions, mask mandates and debates, having groceries that you pick delivered to your door is literally a life saver. Additionally, just make sure to use my code MRISKE18E18E for $10 free!
Below are the ingredients for Meatballs from ALDI, the ones that caused our family to not sleep! Now, we cannot for sure know what the ingredient was, but we do know that homemade for our family is much better. Additionally, Tyler reacts the same with any cured meats like salami, summer sausage, beef jerky’s and more.
$4.75 Bremer Original Meatballs 32 oz
Ingredients
Beef And Pork, Water, Textured Soy Flour, Breadcrumbs (wheat Flour), Salt, Corn Syrup Solids, Dehydrated Onions, Parmesan Cheese (pasteurized Part Skim Milk, Salt, Cheese Cultures, Enzymes), Romano Cheese (cultured Cow’s Milk, Enzymes, Salt), Sodium Phosphate, Natural Flavors.
Warnings
Contains: wheat, soy, milk.
Recipe for Mozzarella Stuffed Meatballs
Ingredients for Mozzarella Stuffed Meatballs
1 egg
2.5 pounds ground beef
1-pound ground sausage
1 cup breadcrumbs
1 tsp each oregano and Italian seasoning
Fresh Mozzarella
Pasta
Marinara
Directions for Stuffed Meatballs
1. Put a 6-Quart pot half full of water on the stove and then turn the heat to medium-high to boil the water.
2. In a large bowl, empty ground beef, ground pork sausage and 1 egg.
3. Measure 1 cup breadcrumbs and then add it to the bowl.
4. Then, measure 1 teaspoon each oregano and Italian seasoning and add them to the large bowl.
5. Mix all of the ingredients with your hands.
You won’t want to get messy, but this is the easiest way to blend it completely.
With a large bowl that has a silicone non-slip base, mixing the meat and seasonings together is easy because you will not have to hold the bowl!
6. Open the mozzarella package and slice it in half on a cutting board. That is to say, this mozzarella log was already sliced into pieces and needed to be just cut in half lengthwise.
7. Spray a 9 X 13-inch baking dish with non-stick spray then set the pan aside and heat the oven to 375 degrees.
8. With cleaned hands, grab a handful of meat mixture and flatten in your hand making the base for the mozzarella.
9. Pick up a piece of mozzarella and place in the center of the meat, then fold up the edges and close the meat around the cheese completely placing each meatball in the prepared baking dish.
10. When the water is boiling, cook the pasta according to the package directions.
11. When all of the meatballs are rolled and in the baking dish, bake for 10-15 minutes or until just browned. The Mozzarella Stuffed Meatballs do not have to be fully cooked, as they will finish cooking in the sauce.
12. Remove baking dish from the oven, and then one-by-one place the meatballs into a large saucepan on the stove.
13. Open the jar of spaghetti sauce and pour onto the meatballs and then heat the sauce.
14. Carefully, with a mug or heat-safe cup, scoop out a cup-full of pasta water and add it to the spaghetti sauce jar and carefully swirl the water to get all of the sauce, then pour the pasta water and leftover sauce into the saucepan. Then cover and reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 10-15 more minutes.
15. Once the pasta is cooked, pour into a sink colander in the sink to drain the water. This is the perfect sink colander and keeps the pasta out from the water splashing on the sink basin while additionally being extendable over most sinks.
16. Finally serve the mozzarella stuffed meatballs and sauce over pasta!
After dinner, we had a total of six meatballs left and NO pasta. How crazy is that?! Out of twenty-four meatballs, we had six, as our kids ate more than usual. This can serve as a public service announcement to double the pasta the next time you make these Mozzarella Stuffed Meatballs.
Mozzarella Stuffed Meatballs Recipe
How to make Mozzarella Stuffed Meatballs
Equipment
- 9 X 13-inch bake dish
- Large Saucepan
- Medium Bowl
Ingredients
- 1 pound Ground Sausage
- 2 1/2 pounds Ground Beef
- 1 Egg
- 1 cup Breadcrumbs plain
- 1 pound Fresh Mozzarella
- 1 tsp Oregano
- 1 tsp Italian Seasoning
- 1 jar Marinara
- Pasta
Instructions
- Put a 6-Quart pot half full of water on the stove and then turn the heat to medium-high to boil the water.
- In a large bowl, add the 2-pounds ground beef and 1-pound ground pork sausage.
- Add 1 egg to the meat in the bowl.
- Measure and add 1 cup breadcrumbs and then add it to the bowl.
- Then measure 1 teaspoon each oregano and Italian seasoning and add them to the bowl.
- Mix all of the ingredients with your hands, you won't want to get messy, but this is the easiest way to blend it completely.
- Then, open the fresh mozzarella package and slice it in half lengthwise, as most fresh mozzarella tubes are precut.
- Spray a 9 X 13-inch baking dish with non-stick spray and set it aside.
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
- With cleaned hands, grab a handful of meat mixture and flatten in your hand to then make the base for the mozzarella.
- Pick up a piece of mozzarella and place in the center of the meat, then fold up the edges and close the meat around the cheese completely, placing each mozzarella stuffed meatball in the prepared baking dish.
- When the water is boiling, cook the pasta according to the package directions.
- When all of the meatballs are rolled and in the baking dish, bake for 10-15 minutes or until just browned.
- Remove the baking dish from the oven, and then one-by-one place the meatballs into a large saucepan on the stove.
- Open the jar of spaghetti sauce and then pour onto the meatballs and heat the sauce.
- Carefully, with a mug or heat-safe cup, scoop out a cup-full of pasta water and add it to the now empty spaghetti jar, swirl it around carefully and then pour out into the saucepan.
- Then cover and reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 10-15 more minutes.
- Once the pasta is cooked, pour into a colander in the sink to drain the water.
- Finally, serve the meatballs and sauce over pasta!
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