Well Fed Network

Posted by Erika Waz on Kids Cuisine.

It was my 3-and-a-half year old son who suggested spaghetti and meatballs for dinner and it was my newly-crowned 7-year-old who suggested we use the recipe from her new cookbook for dinner. I wasn’t about to argue when the two of them agreed on something for dinner and appeared to be willing helpers.

The cookbook was retrieved, the recipe found, and then they changed their minds about helping.  The picture of a girl mixing meatballs with her hands did them in - they did not want to get messy and I was asked if there was something else they could do to help prepare dinner.  At that moment, my daughter read the title of the recipe and then ran for her picture book of the same name.

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs is easily one of my children’s favorites.  It used to be one of my favorites growing up, and I love the times where we all sit down together to read the story and study all the detailed pictures.  So as I assembled meatballs and popped them in the oven, my daughter read her book to her younger brother.  When they were finished, I suggested that they draw a picture to decorate the dining room with.  Before we knew it, we were all settled down to a dinner of spaghetti and meatballs, surrounded by original artwork depicting favorite foods from the story. Dinner that night was full of details about the land of Chewandswallow and its unfortunate inhabitants.

Cloudy with a Chance Meatballs

from The Spatulatta Cookbook by Isabella and Olivia Gersole
Serving Size: 8    
2 pounds lean ground beef or ground turkey
1 cup fine dry breadcrumbs
1 large egg
2 cloves garlic — finely chopped
1 cup onions — very finely chopped
1 tablespoon dried basil
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1.Preheat the oven to 350ºF.  Cover a cookie sheet with aluminum foil.

2.Put the ground meat into the large bowl;add the bread crumbs.

3.Break the egg into the small bowl, check to make sure there are no pieces of shell in the bowl, and then pour the egg into the large bowl.  Add the garlic, onions, basil and pepper.

4.This is the fun slimy part. Use your hands (make sure you wash them first!) to mix and mash all the ingredients together.  Make sure the pieces of onion are spread throughout the meat.

5.Take a handful of the meat mixture and roll it to about the size of a Ping-Pong ball. 

6.Then place each one on the cookie sheet, about 2 inches apart.  Wash those yucky hands thoroughly!

7.Bake until the meatballs are browned on all sides, 11 or 12 minutes.

8.When they are cooked, use tongs to put the meatballs into a serving bowl.

9.You can serve them with hot pasta and your favorite spaghetti sauce, or eat them just as they are-delicious!