Homemade "Spaghetti Os"

I came across a homemade “Spaghetti Os” recipe the other day on another food blog, and this sparked my curiosity.  I started exploring into other homemade “Spaghetti Os” recipes and they all seemed very similar. . .a basic tomato sauce thickened with some sort of cheese and an optional mini meatball.  Usually when I make simple pasta with Marinara Xavier usually eats mostly pasta tossed with a tiny bit of sauce and lots of Parmesan, so I wanted to give this a try so that he was eating more of the vegetable-based sauce with only a little bit of pasta but still with plenty of Parmesan cheese to make him very happy.  He was in love with this pasta!  He actually said, “Thanks Mama for making the best pasta in the whole world!”  We’ll obviously be making this again.  J 

Homemade “Spaghetti Os”

Mini Meatballs:

1/2 lb ground chicken

1/2 C panko crumbs

1/2 t garlic powder

1/2 t onion powder

1/2 t Italian herb seasoning

Sauce:

2 T extra-virgin olive oil

1/2 red onion, diced

2 large carrots, diced

2 garlic cloves, chopped

1 28-oz can tomatoes, diced

S&P, to taste

1 t garlic powder

1/2 t onion powder

1/2 C Parmesan cheese, grated

1 C ditalini (small salad macaroni)

Put all the ingredients for the mini meatballs in a bowl and mix together well with your hands, but don’t over mix or you’ll have tough meatballs.  Make a bunch of mini meatballs & set aside.

Heat the oil in a high-sided saucepan (if you’re pureeing with an immersion blender so that it doesn’t splatter everywhere, but if you’re pureeing in a blender you  just need a regular saucepan) over med-high heat.  Cook the onion & carrots until onions are translucent, about 5 min.  Add the garlic and cook another minute.  Add the tomatoes and season with onion & garlic powders and S&P.  

Remove from the heat and puree with an immersion blender (you can do this in batches in a blender if you prefer).  

Add the cheese and stir in; this will thicken the sauce.  

Add the meatballs and allow to simmer for 10 minutes, partially covered to avoid splattering.  Add the pasta and allow to cook for another 12 minutes, until pasta is tender and meatballs are cooked through.