Mama’s Recipe Box: ‘Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs’

By Bonnie Owens on September 16th, 2009

In honor of the fun movie, “Cloudy with A Chance of Meatballs,” coming out on Friday, I thought we would kick off the premiere of our new recipe box column with a fun meatball recipe that your kids will love to make..and eat!

This is a very kid-friendly recipe. Let your kids unfold the pie crust, pile on the meatballs and pour the sauce on. They can even help you shape the meatballs if you make your own!

Ingredients:

1 refrigerated pie crust
About 1 lb pre-cooked meatballs, thawed if frozen(see note below)
3/4 cup spaghetti sauce
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray. Unfold pie crust onto cookie sheet.
Mound meatballs into the center of the pie crust, leaving a 3-inch border all the way around.
Spoon spaghetti sauce over meatballs.
Fold about 2 inches of the crust over the meatballs, all the way around. Your meatball pie will look like a rustic apple tart.
Bake 30 minutes.
Remove from oven, and top evenly with cheese. Bake another 10 to 15 minutes until cheese is golden brown.

**Special note**You can make the meatballs ahead of time. (Kids love to form the balls and put the on the cookie sheet.) Or you can use your favorite brand of store bought meatballs.

To make the meatballs: Preheat broiler. In a large bowl, whisk together 1 egg, 1/3 cup milk, 1 1/4 teaspoons salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper with a fork. Stir in 1/3 cup finely diced onion, 2/3 cup breadcrumbs, and 1/2 cup parmesan cheese. Add 1lb ground turkey and mix until combined. Form mixture into 1 1/2-inch balls. Place balls on a cookie sheet and broil for 10-12 minutes.