Pasta and Meatballs Meatloaf

(adapted from Better Homes and Gardens)

Pasta and Meatloaf - two very basic and staple meals in this household... you can imagine how wowed I was when I stumbled upon this mash up of mini meat loaves stuffed with pasta and then placed on a huge piece of garlic bread.  Oh holy delicious! I had to make it and did and we ate until our bellies burst. It was absolutely easy to make and you should really give it a go. Really really.

WHAT YOU'LL NEED:

1 1/2 lbs ground beef

1/2  Cup dried penne pasta

3 Hoagie buns - make sure you find wide ones. I wasn't able

    to so I found a wide fresh baguette loaf from the bakery,

    which worked fantastically.

1  Medium onion (chopped)

3  Garlic cloves (minced)

2  Eggs

3/4  Cup milk

2/3  Cups fine dry italian bread crumbs

1/4  Cup grated parmesan cheese

2 Teaspoons Italian seasoning

1 Cup pasta sauce

1 Tablespoon olive oil

Shaved parmesan cheese

Parsley

Garlic Butter

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Boil the penne noodles, drain and set aside to cool.
3. Cut each bread roll into half (for a total of 6 individual pieces).
4. In a skillet, saute the onion and garlic in the olive oil. Medium heat.
5. In a bowl, combine the eggs and milk - whisk gently.  
6. Next add the bread crumbs, bread crumbs and grated parmesan cheese.
7. Fold in the ground beef and cooked pasta.
8. Form six mini loaves. Don't worry about them being perfect The mixture will be soft and lumpy.
9. Place the loafs on a baking pan (cookie sheet) and bake uncovered for 25-30 mins or until completely cooked thru.
10. Butter the bread with the garlic butter and bake for 10 mins or until golden brown.
11. While the bread is baking, heat up the pasta sauce.
12. Spread sauce on each slice of bread, sprinkle with some shaved parmesan then top with a meat loaf. Sprinkle some more shaved parmesan and garnish with parsley.
13. Serve with a side of pasta sauce for dipping.

Its that easy! Make pasta, make meatloaf, make garlic bread. Put it all together and Mmmmmm.

Worms and Witch Fingers

Spaghetti and breadsticks Halloween style, served up in a couple of bell pepper pumpkins.  I had fun making this dinner as much as everyone enjoyed eating it.  There's not much more to it, so lets get to the recipe (aka its late and I'm too tired to babble on about it).

WHAT YOU"LL NEED:

• Spaghetti noodles  (however much you want to make)
• Spaghetti sauce
• Ground beef (optional if you want a meat sauce)
• Bell Peppers (orange and yellow are best. Use however many you would like to serve up)
• Bread stick dough (I used Pillsbury)
• Almonds
• Red gel dye
• Italian seasoning and/or garlic salt
• Large black olives
• 1/4 cup melted butter

DIRECTIONS:

Pumpkin/Worms ~

Make your spaghetti as you normally would.
Hollow out the peppers and carve pumpkin faces in them.
While the spaghetti noodles are boiling, make your witch finger breadsticks - see directions below.
When noodles are done, add your sauce and loosely fill the peppers.  
Before its too full, slice the olives in half and place them inside the pepper behind the cuts for the eyes.

Witch Fingers ~
Shape the breadstick dough into knobby fingers.
You can use a knife to mark up the knuckles.
Dab some red gel dye on the tips of each finger and press an almond into it.
Brush the tops of the finger with the melted butter and sprinkle with the seasoning.
Bake per directions on the packaging.