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1
Sauce: Saute onion, celery, green pepper until tender in olive oil in bottom of large sauce pan.
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2
Add garlic, chopped cilantro, jalapeno, oregano, red pepper flakes, saute another minute or so.
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3
Add tomatoes and tomato sauce, paste, water to vegetables and spices.
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4
Bring to a slight boil and then turn down to simmer while preparing meatballs.
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5
Meatballs: Preheat oven to 350F (325F for convection oven).
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6
In a medium mixing bowl, put ground beef, egg, cheese, bran and pepper.
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7
Put on clean rubber gloves and mix ingredients together well with your hands.
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8
Form into meatballs (should make 8).
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9
Coat frypan with olive oil and heat to medium-med.
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10
high.
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11
Add meatballs to pan and brown on all sides (they will still be uncooked on inside.
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12
Put meatballs into a covered casserole dish.
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13
Add the sauce (you may only need half, depending on the size of your casserole dish.
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14
You can save the other half for freezing or leftovers).
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15
Cover and place in oven for 1 hour to several hours.
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16
Before dinnertime, bring a pot of water to boil, and cook the whole wheat noodles according to package directions (around 8 minutes).
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17
If using Spaghetti Squash, split in half length wise and bake in oven face down on an oiled cookie sheet (for 40 minutes at 350F).
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18
Serve noodles or squash (remove seeds, scrape inside of squash with a fork, to make spaghetti strings, throw away skin) with sauce and one or two meatballs on top.
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19
The sauce and meatballs freeze well, so double the recipe and plan leftovers for later in the month!
