Thursday: Meatball Subs

Okay, so this isn't a picture of a meatball sub. But I happen to love this cute pink flowers. I could decorate all my girls' rooms exclusively in these flowers.

Meatball subs are the easiest, yummiest dinner around.

1. Start with a bag of mini-meatballs from anywhere. I used a bag from Trader Joes mixed with one from Target because that's what I had in my freezer. HEB sells them, too.
2. Place enough meatballs to fill your sandwiches in a large saucepan. I used large sub rolls tonight, and I planned on 8 mini-meatballs per sandwich. I don't think we used that many, though.
3. Then pour your favorite pasta sauce or marinara sauce over all the meatballs. You want enough to cover all the meatballs and a little extra to make sure you can spoon some over the top of the meatballs in the sandwich. I added 1/2 cup carrot puree to the pasta sauce. And I usually add Italian seasoning mix to the sauce. I think you could even add some defrosted frozen spinach. Turn the heat up to medium until the pasta sauce starts to bubble. Then turn it down to low.
4. We cut the rolls lengthwise and then in half. Neil scooped out the insides of the rolls to make space for the meatballs. We added reduced-fat mozarella cheese.

There are actual instructions on the bags of mini-meatballs that you should follow if this is too vague for you. I thought all the kids would eat half a sandwich, but they ate more than that. This is difficult with very young kids because they might let the meatballs drop out the bottom.

I served the subs with a salad for Neil and me. For the kids, I sliced a pear. Again, little baskets make it seem like we are at a restaurant. I am sure you are wondering about the kinds of restaurants that we take our kids to if eating out of a basket is such a huge deal. You will understand when you have four kids to feed at a restaurant. Or when you live in Boston. It's one of those things where if you have to ask how expensive a restaurant is, you can't afford to eat there. So we make sure our kids think red plastic baskets are cool.

I am looking forward to eating out tomorrow night! I will have gone two full weeks cooking dinner even though meatball subs are so easy they barely count.