Meatball Sub in a Bowl (Week 2)

My new dinner this week (week 2 of "trying something new") is basically a meatball hoagie, put together in a casserole dish - super easy and quick - also inexpensive.  I found this recipe on the blog Pearls, Handcuffs and Happy Hour.

Total cost for this dish was about $9 which fed 4 of us.

Ingredients:
1 loaf French Bread
1/2 large jar of spaghetti sauce
green pepper
onion
1/2 bag of meatballs
1/2 block mozzarella cheese

Slice bread into 1/2" slices. Using pastry brush, lightly cover with olive oil or melted butter.  Put in 350-degree oven until just crispy. Meanwhile, heat up meatballs, pepper and onion, add spaghetti sauce to warm. Line casserole dish with bread overlapping, going around the sides. (The original recipe called to put bread in the bottom of the dish as well, but these pieces just ended up a soggy bread mess.  If you want your bread to stay crispy, just place around the sides.)  Fill center with meatball mixture.  Cover with paremesan and/or mozerella cheese.  Bake at 350 until cheese is melted and it's warm in the middle - about 20 min.

This tasted like a yummy baked meatball sub, which I love! The crunchy bread, melted cheese and warm meatballs in sauce - delicious!  2 out of 3 kids enjoyed it and finished their bowls.

I think I would use this technique for leftover spaghetti, as well.  Take the spaghetti, put it in a casserole dish, line it with some sliced French bread, cover with cheese and bake about 20 min. Leftover baked spaghetti is terrific.  Adding the bread component would make it even better.