Slow Cooker meatballs with angel hair....

This is the time of year where sports are in full swing and evening dinner prep time is shortened. So with Munchkins having soccer three days a week, two of which are in the evening I need something to be ready when we get home. This is what we has waiting for us Wednesday night after soccer, slow cooker meatballs.

 All I had to do was boil up our favorite pasta, whole wheat angel hair and dinner was done. I am lucky enough to be home all day so I can prepare a little at a time. I would chop veggies while he was doing a workbook, or saute while I was making his lunch. Then finished it all after we finished our school work. If you work away from the home you could easily prep this the night ahead and throw it on before work. I cooked mine on high for 4 hours but low for 8 hours would probably work just as well.


 I started out by turning the slow cooker onto high while I got everything ready. I immediately put the tomato products in and let them warm up while I chopped and sauteed the veggies.

 I chopped up the veggies and then sauteed the onions and bell peppers first, in olive oil, until they started to turn translucent then I added the garlic and seasonings/dried herbs.

 After they were nice and soft I added the "wine" (I was out of all wines, it was so sad but I just deglazed with water, it's a good substitute but I would rather have used wine) and deglazed the pan. It cooked until most of the liquid cooked out.

 I then added the veggie/wine mixture to the slow cooker and gave it a good stir making sure all the veggies were equally distributed.

 It was then time to start prepping the meatballs. I threw all the meatball ingredients into my stand mixer's bowl and mixed it up until it was nice and homogeneous.

Then I formed the meat mixture into nice round balls, I made them about 1 oz each. You can make a ton ahead of time and freeze them or refrigerate them until ready to use.

 I added the nicely formed meatballs to the warming sauce, put the lid on and let it cook for four hours on high.

 Right before serving while the pasta was cooking I added fresh herbs from my garden. A little fresh basil and oregano really made it taste a little better

 After the pasta was cooked up, al dente, we were ready for dinner. Yum Yum! Not bad for a busy soccer night.

Slow Cooker Meatballs with Angel Hair

Sauce
1 Bell pepper, small dice
1 small onion, small dice
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp Olive oil
1/2 cup red wine
1 Tbsp Montreal Steak seasoning
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
2- 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
1-15 oz can Tomato sauce
3 Tbsp tomato paste
1 bunch fresh basil, chopped
1 bunch fresh oregano, chopped

Meatballs
1 pound ground Italian sausage
1 pound ground pork
1 egg
1/2 cup breadcrumbs, panko or cracker crumbs
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 Tbsp Dijon Mustard
1 Tbsp Montreal Steak Seasoning