Throwback Thursday

It's always bittersweet to look back on some of these older blog posts and see how much things have changed in our lives in just one year.   Such is the case with this particular posting.    Last year, our close friend Ricky had been deployed to Korea for a year and he posted a picture of this recipe asking me to learn to make it for him so that when he returned States side he could have it.  Challenge accepted and I played around with it to make it my own.   

Ricky and the Kids

A year later and Ricky is back in the United States but unfortunately, the Air Force sent him to New Mexico.  Just a few months ago he got married and is now daddy to her two adorable kiddos as well as adopted a puppy. Being a military family can be so heartbreaking at times as you make friends and then watch them leave.   Since we moved here 5 years ago, every friend we have made has moved on to other places - Ricky is in NM, our friend Steve and his wife are now in Florida, and Angelica and Jon are in Massachusetts.  Our friends Laura and Roman moved off to Mexico to go to school to become doctors;  Roman is still there but unfortunately their relationship didn't make it and Laura is now married to another man and living in Georgia.  And still, here we are, 5 years later, we are still here at Edwards, missing our friends and family who are now scattered all over the country.  At times, I'm afraid to even try to make new friends as everyone else seems to get orders but us.  I have a feeling 5 years from now, we will still be sitting at Edwards California. LOL But Ricky.. If you and Leticia ever come back to California, I will make the Meatball Sandwich Casserole for you ;)  Just make sure you bring your baked beans.. lol

Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Meatball Sandwich Casserole

My friends love to post various recipes both on Facebook and on Pinterest. Since most of my friends are just as big foodies as I am, this works out great for me as there's always a plethora of dinner ideas streaming to me on a daily basis.   Yesterday, on of my friends (Ricky, here's your shoutout  lol)  posted what was labeled as a Meatball Sandwich Casserole. Well, as soon as I saw it I knew what I was going to cook tonight for dinner. I mean come on - meatballs, pasta sauce, bread and oodles and oodles of cheese.. Enough said - I showed my husband the picture and off he went to the commissary to pick up the required ingredients :)


First thing first, gotta get that oven preheated.. 

While the oven was preheated, I took one jar of pasta sauce and added it to a huge pot and then added two small bags of Armour Italian Turkey Meatballs. I cooked these over low heat in the pot just long enough to heat them up.  While they were heating up, I also sliced up a fresh french bread baguette.

Time for construction.. Pouring the heated meatball and sauce in my trusty casserole dish I then started using the sliced up bread to line the outside of the dish.

Next was covering all this goodness with cheese.. Using a blend of 1 cup Italian cheese and 1 cup Mozzarella cheese I covered up all the meatballs. My family REALLY likes cheese so I might have used slightly more than a cup, my family won't mind.. (Hey, it helps cut down on toilet paper)..

Now all this meaty cheesy goodness gets popped into the preheated oven for 25 minutes, until the cheese is melted and bubbly.  Let it cool off for a good 10 minutes.

Pair it up with a nice salad and just a bit of garlic salt and you basically have a Subway meatball sub that's alot healthier for you.   Unless you go crazy with the cheese ;)

Next time I made this, I'll probably angle the bread a bit better and put a nice bruchetta on them but overall , this meal was great.. The kids really enjoyed it.