Grandma Lo Lo's Meatballs & Sauce

All of my life I've been fortunate to be served delicious, home cooked italian food almost every time we have a family meal. Most of our "recipes" have been passed from generation to generation for so long that the recipes don't really exist. And I've grown so used to having tons of pasta sauce around ("gravy," as my Grandma Lo Lo called it), that I've never had to make it for myself. While I was home for the holidays this year, I decided to make our old standbys with my mom's help, and cobble together as much of a written recipe as I could. I'm excited to make these at home and to continue the tradition of passing on our own brand of pasta with meatballs.

P.S. My favorite way to enjoy is by combining into a nice baked ziti, which I will also have to put a recipe up for one day soon.

Mom's Meatballs

Ingredients:

2 lbs meatball mix (ground beef & veal mix)

1 cup breadcrumbs

2 eggs

Chopped Onions (generous)

Parmesan Cheese (generous)

Oregano (generous)

Basil

Garlic (about 2 tbsp)

Pepper

Salt (a dash)

Directions:

  1. Mix all ingredients together, usually hand mixing is best.
  2. Add small amounts of water and continue to knead the mixture. Meat should be "fluffy," but not runny.
  3. Ball the meatballs and put on baking sheet.
  4. Bake at 350 degrees until starting to brown.
  5. Add to sauce and allow to cook with sauce for another 1.5 hours.

Baking in the oven with some delicious sweet and hot sausages.

Grandma Lo Lo's Gravy

2 cans peeled tomatoes

2 cans pureed tomatoes

Chopped Onion

Garlic

Basil

Pepper

Oregano

Parmesan

Salt (a dash)

Directions:

  1. Blend peeled tomatoes in blender until smooth.
  2. Add cans of tomato puree to pot. Add a bit of water to each can and pour into pot.
  3. Add all remaining ingredients.
  4. Add meat (browned sausage or meatballs) if desired.
  5. Simmer on low for 1.5 hours

Simmering, delicious homemade sauce.