April 25, 2012

What's for dinner? Meatball Sandwiches

Website: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2010/07/16-minute-meal-3-mini-meatball-sandwiches/

Picture:

Meatballs topped with Provolone Cheese with a Salad topped with Lemon Vinaigrette and Dinner Rolls

The Differences: The only difference between the ingredients in the original recipe and what I did is I used garlic powder instead of minced garlic. There was also no differences between the recipes cooking methods and what I did.

The Prep: The night before I put together 4 tablespoons of shredded Parmesan cheese, 3/4 of a cup of olive oil, 1 clove of minced garlic, 1/4 teaspoon sugar, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, and 2 lemons, juiced. Put them in a sealed container and shake it vigorously then put it into the refrigerator for up to 24 hours. It takes about 10 minutes. Mixing together the beef, breadcrumbs, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and milk. Knead it together with hands and roll it into tablespoon size balls. This takes about 10-15 minutes. Chopping the onion and cooking it in the skillet for about a minute (about 4 minutes). Put the meatballs into the skillet and cook them (about 5-10 minutes). Add the Marinara sauce, shake gently to mix, cover and simmer 20 minutes. While the meatballs simmer toss the salad, tomatoes, and the dressing made the previous night and put the salad into the fridge until ready to serve. Slice the dinner rolls and the cheese into quarters as well. Overall time should be about an hour of prep (if you include the mixing the dressing the night before).

The Cost Breakdown:
ground beef: $5.23
Onion: $0.66
Marinara sauce: $1.69
Dinner rolls: $1.99
provolone cheese: $3.79
Parmesan cheese: $2.00
Lemons: $1.38
Salad: $4.00
Tomato: $0.26
Red onion: $0.83

not included in the price is the breadcrumbs, garlic powder, salt, pepper, milk, olive oil.

Total: $21.83 or $5.46 per person for a family of four.

The Verdict: Okay, I know the title says meatball sandwiches and there isn't a sandwich in the picture. I actually bought the wrong dinner rolls so we made our own sandwiches as we ate dinner. It was messy, and it tasted really good =). The meatballs were firm and flavorful, the marinara sauce was appropriately messy, the cheese was gooey, the bread was a wonderful accompaniment, and the salad and dressing were good if a bit on the lemony side for me. Erik enjoyed the meal and his manly side came out as he made a huge mess with his sandwiches. It was amusing and if dinner can't be fun what's the point?