Growing up we never ate meatballs without pasta. But the older I get the more I realize how much I enjoy them really any time, any way. I was in Florida recently at a food truck rally (side note I love food trucks, I try to find them everywhere I go! Plus my brother really wants to own one, and the idea is slowly growing on me. Anywho....) and ate meat balls with buffalo sauce, asian glaze, and the typical grandma's meatballs. These here are the plain jane of meatballs, a simple quick red sauce, and I'm actually making them as a appetizer for a party. But with that said, they are pretty delish. You could always double the sauce and make some pasta, quinoa pasta or whatever tickles your fancy.

Here's what ya need:

Olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper, basil, parsley, garlic powder, red pepper flakes, ground chuck, ground pork, eggs, parmesan cheese, Italian bread crumbs, and water.

Step one: Using a large sauce pan, add 1 tablespoon of olive oil and let it heat up a tad. Add 3 cloves of garlic, chopped in half. Do not let them burn, just bronze them a little bit then remove them. You are really just using this garlic to flavor the oil.

Step two: Turn down your heat to medium low, add a can of tomato paste. Stir around then add the tomato puree.

Step three: Next add all the spices, 1 teaspoon salt, 2 tablespoons basil, 2 teaspoons garlic powder, 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes. Stir, and turn to low. It's meatball time.

Alright folks, keep the sauce on low while you mix and sear the meatballs. They are going to finish cooking in the sauce later on. These are quite simple, very similar to the meat(ball)loaf (see: meatloaf), a little time consuming when rolling all the meatballs. But over all easy!

Step One (four): Put your pork, ground chuck, 1 tablespoon basil, 2 teaspoons parsley, 9 cloves of garlic grated, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, 1/2 cup cheese into a large mixing bowl.

Step two (five): Mix the 3/4 cup breadcrumbs with 6 tablespoons water, then add to the meat mixture and mix well mix together, I tend to take off any rings I have on and use my hands.

Step three (six): Heat up about 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large sauté pan, roll the meatballs to the desired size. Sear on all sides then add to your pot of sauce to finish cooking. Allow to simmer for 1-1 1/2 hours on medium low to low, stirring occasionally. Enjoy!

The recipe:

1 tbs olive oil

12 cloves garlic

6 eggs

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

3 tbs basil

2 tsp parsley

1 tsp red pepper flakes

1/2 cup parmesan cheese

3/4 cup Italian bread crumbs

6 tbs water

1/2 pound ground pork

2 pounds ground chuck

The extras:

* This can be served as an appetizer in a crock pot, as a meatball sub, with garlic toast, or with pasta, quonia pasta, brown rice pasta, spaghetti squash, or zucchini. Really whatever you like.

* You can use grated parmesan reggiano if you have it available.

* Today I didn't make these in my own kitchen, typically I would use fresh cheese from a local shop, and herbs from my garden but use what you have! (Or what you buy at a shopping trip to Target!)

* Shop around in your neighborhood for fresh ingredients at a fair price. Little speciality shops tend to have good finds!

* Meatballs and sauces freeze perfectly, if you have extra time on your hands or just are not planning on feeding that many people, make the entire recipe anyways and package them up to fit your needs! Just pull one out of your freezer, defrost, reheat and you have a great quick meal.

* These should feed 6-8 people depending on what you serve it with.