One Pot Spaghetti and Meatballs

We tried out The Fairhope Foodie's One Pot Spaghetti and Meatballs.

I'm not sure this will be a fair review, since I ended up making so many substitutions. First of all, it appears E. was sneaking carrot sticks (I guess if she's gonna steal something, it might as well be veggies), so I only had about 1/3 c. chopped carrot to add. Then, it appears the girls rearranged my pantry, so I couldn't find my tomato sauce. Instead I used a can of diced tomato and a can of tomato paste. And I forgot to add salt/pepper to the meatballs. After the pasta was in for the 12 minutes, we only let it simmer another 5 minutes, as my husband was finishing up a level in a video game. My husband ate while I fed the baby, and his serving of pasta was still chewy (we don't like our pasta al dente). I served myself up after another 5 minutes of simmering and my pasta was just fine, so adjust your cooking time accordingly.

My husband thought it tasted like just another spaghetti and meatballs. E. ate her serving, but didn't want any more. V. skipped this meal due to the egg in the meatballs, as we're not sure if she inherited my husband's egg allergy or not. I thought the sauce had a richer taste than normal, and I actually went back for seconds, which I never do for spaghetti. The meatballs were rather bland, but I think if I'd remembered the salt, they would have been just fine. Compared to regular spaghetti, I dirtied a cutting board and a mixing bowl instead of a saucepan, so my dishwasher didn't notice a difference. Overall, I'm not sure if my palate is worth an extra $3 (the estimated cost difference between this recipe and my standard spaghetti), certainly not every time, but maybe I'll use this again when I can't face serving plain old spaghetti one more time.