Welcome to Multiples in the Kitchen. I am Jen and I am the Mom to an almost 5 year old son and 2 year old BBG triplets. I love blogging and share my stories.

For the most part, I stay at home with the kids but I do get to escape a couple days a week to the adult word where I work as a Registered Nurse.

But besides the kids, nursing and blogging, my other hobby is cooking. I love to get in the kitchen and get my hands dirty. I know it may sound weird but when I am feeling stressed, I run to the kitchen and cook and all my troubles seem to melt away with the butter in the pan.

So since I love cooking, I love sharing this with my kids. I noticed when Hayden (my oldest) was younger that he liked ‘helping’ me make dinner and it was only a matter of time before Jake, Quinn and Claire took an interest in what I was doing.

So rather than shoo them away (which I do do, sometimes) I invite them to pull up a chair and watch or better yet, get their hands dirty too.

Before I share this month’s recipe with you, I want to tell you a little bit about my cooking philosophy. I am not a classically trained chef maybe someday but not now. I like to cook with about 50% store bought ingredients and 50% fresh ingredients. I am all about quick and easy meals that will feed my crowd with leftovers.

I believe in offering a wide variety of food for the kids to try. My husband and I work on the ‘No Thank You Bite’ system. Our kids must try one bit of something before they can be excused. Sometimes they learn they like it and dive right in and other times not so much.

For me cooking is not an exact science, it is a little of this or a little of that. I will include recipes for each dish. And most of my recipes are variations on recipes that I have learned/found from others. I will try and point you to the original if possible.

Now onto the featured recipe. Since the weather is turning colder, I thought it would be nice to share with you a comfort food that my family loves. There is nothing more comforting than a big bowl of Spaghetti and Meatballs, only these meatballs have a surprise inside.

Now gather your multiples and lets get started.

First cut 5 pieces of string cheese into bite size pieces.

In a large bowl, add the ground beef, bread crumbs, and eggs.

Don’t forget to add the spices.

Then get ready to get dirty and mix it all together.

Once all is combined, form into balls, placing one piece of cheese in the middle of each meatball. Make sure that all the cheese is securely in the middle.
We don’t want any of the cheesy goodness getting out.

Once the meatballs are formed, place them on a baking sheet, bake in the oven at 400 degrees for 15 minutes.

Now here you have a choice, the meatballs are fully cooked so you can place all or some of them in the freezer for later use. But if you want to eat them now, get a large skillet on the stove, heat up a jar (or two) of your favorite spaghetti sauce (You can make your own sauce — but lets face it I used to do this before I had kids.) and add the meatballs.

Once the pasta is cooked, place the pasta on the plate, cover with sauce, add a meatball or two and enjoy.

Yum!

Spaghetti and Surprise Meatballs

  • 2.5lbs Ground Beef (Ground Turkey works well too)
  • 5 strings of String Cheese
  • 1 cup Season Italian Bread Crumbs
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 tbsp Garlic Powder
  • 1 tbsp Onion Powder
  • 1 tbsp Parsley flakes (fresh parsley would work here too, just use about 3 times as much).
  • Salt and Pepper to taste
  • 2 jars Spaghetti sauce
  • 1lbs Spaghetti Pasta

Preparation steps

  1. Cut the string cheese into small pieces.
  2. Put thawed ground beef in a bowl and then add bread crumbs, eggs and spices.
  3. Mix well, using your hands works best.
  4. Once combined, form into balls, size really does not matter just make it large enough to fully cover a piece the the cheese. Make sure to them all equally sized so they cook evenly.
  5. Place one piece of cheese in the middle of each meatball and secure tightly.
  6. Put meatball on a baking sheet and bake in the over at 400 degrees for 15 minutes.
  7. Meatballs are now fully cooked and can be stored (frozen) for later use or if using right away, add meatballs and sauce to a large skillet and simmer.
  8. When pasta is cooked and sauce is warm, then its time to eat.

Enjoy!