Spaghetti and meatballs!!

   What's for dinner you say? Spaghetti and meatballs! YAY! My minions love this meal and my oldest likes to assist in making it. Well, most of the time he does...he was at a friends house tonight so I flew solo. Anyway, I got super lucky at the grocery store today and found a ground pork/beef blend on managers special for $1.99 AND right on the back it said gluten free. Yippie! I had everything else already in the house so a quick kid pleasing easy dinner was at hand. 
   So here's what I threw together for dinner tonight:

1. The super store find of ground meat
2. 1 egg
3. Cooked white rice
4. Rice noodles
5. Pasta sauce
6. Frozen spinach
7. Seasonings: sea salt, pepper and garlic powder

 I start the sauce on low with about 1 c. of frozen spinach right before I make the meatballs. In a separate large pot start to boil, with a little sea salt, the rice pasta. 

Asian market buy at about $1 a bag
  In a medium boil add about 1-1/2 white rice (or brown, whatever suits your taste. I usually have some type of rice already made in the frig like this).

   Pre-made white rice









Add the single egg

Blend together and add salt, pepper and garlic powder. The ground meat I found already came seasoned so I didn't have to add much. Season to your taste.

I prefer this salt of any other

Time to get messy! Add the meat and smoosh together until completely blended. Make sure you take off any rings beforehand because omg yuk. 

my rings :)

Roll into meatballs and place onto an oiled pan to bake. I have a great toaster oven I use that cooks them perfect in 30 mins. You can use a regular oven and bake at 400 for about the same time, you just need to check them.

ready to bake








While they are getting yumified, your pasta water should be almost ready and your pasta sauce simmering. Because I have to sneak spinach in my kids food I make sure it's pretty well cooked. So keep on simmering the sauce on low and add rice pasta to the boiling water when it's ready.

Notice how cloudy the water is? That's all the starch that needs to be well rinsed off once this is ready.







You're going to cook the pasta for 8-10 minutes with frequent testing. You want to be sure to not over cook or you'll have a gooey mess! Remember this is rice just shaped like spaghetti noodles.

 rinse in cold water










When your meatballs are done, add them to the sauce and continue to simmer 3-5 mins.

Add your rice pasta and cook another 5-8 mins to heat the noodles back up. I recommend always adding your rice pasta to whatever sauce you're making to keep them from sticking all together. If you need to have it separate you can use a mix of salt and olive oil. Plate this deliciousness up and make your guest smile :)

**Kid Approved**

Frugal mom approved too. Total cost is roughly $1.25 a bowl.