Mozzarella Stuffed Meatballs Over Penne Alfred Pesto

As parents of three children three years of age and younger, we really don't get out too much. When we are able to sucker the grandparents into watching the kids, we will try and spend time together talking over a meal at some restaurant as we enjoy a day off from decision making in the kitchen. On one particular occasion, we decided to go to a restaurant we don't frequent very often. When we sat down and received the menu, one of the pictured specials was something that looked really appetizing and something I've never seen before. As you can probably put together from the title of the post it was Mozzarella Stuffed Meatballs over Angel hair Alfredo. Sounds delicious right? The restaurant did a really excellent job with the photos because it looked delicious, yet it turned out to be a pretty dreadful meal. Its kind of like when you see an awesome Movie Trailer and makes you want to see the movie, yet when you see it all the best parts of the movie were what you watched in the Trailer. That is a pretty frustrating feeling. I'm not naive when it comes to how many national restaurant chains make money. I know most use quite a bit of frozen cuisine, and I've never been great at pinpointing things that began frozen, however I've never tasted a ball of meat that was as flavorless and uninspiring as what was layed before me that particular day. I was so displeased, I didn't finish the meal, and that is saying something for a guy with and appetite like mine.

So here is the gushy part about Trisha. A week after the Meatball disaster, as I like to call it, I walk in the door to an aroma that instantly makes me wonder what Trish has in store for us for dinner. Walking in the door at our house is an instantaneous wake up call. This day was no different. I didn't even get the chance to ask Trisha what it was she was cooking that smelled so great. As time ticked away to dinner time, I notice her boiling penne pasta with some Alfredo Pesto sauce cooking in the pan next to it. So I think to myself, "Sweet! Penne Alfredo sounds like a great dinner to me". Then after a few more minutes, I get the call for dinner, and when I approach the stove I am again reminded of how thoughtful Trisha is when I see the meatballs on the baking sheet with mozzarella cheese oozing out of the center. What you see before you is what I saw. Perfectly cooked meatballs with a generous amount of cheese in the middle over a bed of penne pasta topped with Alfredo Pesto sauce. Truthfully, I don't think I need to describe how unbelievable it tasted because you can tell by the pictures how amazingly Trisha cooked it. So here is a prime example of how love was yet again the main ingredient in this dish. Trisha saw how unhappy I was, then decided she could do it better than the restaurant, which she did ten times over, for no other reason than to make me happy. Now tell me I don't have the best wife in the world? Enjoy!

Ingredients: Meatballs

3 lbs ground turkey(or whatever you prefer)

1 cup onions - finely chopped

5 garlic cloves - minced

1/3 cup pesto sauce

1 cup Italian style bread crumbs

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese - grated

1 pound mozzarella or monterey cheese - cut into cubes(For inside Meatball)

1 teaspoon seasoned salt

1 tablespoon Italian seasoning

Extra virgin olive oil

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees

2. In a bowl, mix together; ground turkey, chopped onion, minced garlic, bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, pesto, seasoned salt, Italian seasoning.

3. Form turkey mixture into meatballs.

4. Stuff a cheese cube into each meatball and seal the meat around the cheese.

5. Arrange the meatballs on a nonstick baking sheet and drizzle with EVOO.

6. Bake for approximately 30 minutes (until internal temperature of meat reaches 170 degrees)

Ingredients: Alfredo Pesto Penne

1 Box Penne Pasta

1 Jar Alfredo Sauce

1/3 Cup Pesto Sauce

2 Garlic Cloves

Directions:

1. Cook penne according to the box

2. Cook the alfredo sauce, pesto sauce and garlic on the stove until warm.

3. Place Penne on dish, drizzle with Alfredo Pesto, place meatballs on top, sprinkle some Parmesan over top and Enjoy!