This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Carando® for IZEA. All opinions are 100% mine.




Fall is here and that means it's time for two things: comfort food and....well, comfort food! During the Spring and Summer months I tend to gravitate towards lighter foods. I eat lots of salads,  green juices and light pasta dishes. But now that it's getting cooler out I'm totally happy making heartier meals that will keep me full longer and bring a sense of comfort.

I've always loved chicken but finally started to experiment with sausage and I want to catch up on all that I've missed so I wanted to start off with a classic Italian dish that would heat up well because I'm trying not to buy lunch everyday. I decided to make a pasta dish with a tomato sauce as opposed to one with dairy. I always like the way these heat up in the microwave and the way my meats and spices marinate in the sauces. Normally I've always made my meatballs using ground beef but I wanted to try making them with pork because I like how it holds on to flavors better (in my opinion) and it doesn't seem to dry out as quickly.  Carando has range of products that I was able to choose from but since I'm a meatball junkie I opted for their Italian Style Meatballs. I've never purchased pre packaged meatballs before and I have to say that I kinda love the packaging. The fact that they were in egg crate type containers kept their shape and I liked being able to see how big they were.





INGREDIENTS

• 1 package of cooked angel hair pasta
• 1 jar of tomato basil pasta sauce (homemade)
• Grated fresh parmesan cheese (as much as you want!)
• Garlic flakes
• Dried basil
• Carando Italian Style Meatballs

INSTRUCTIONS

While I was cooking the pasta I followed the cooking instructions on the Carando Italian Style Meatballs package which was to pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees.











Then I placed the meatballs on a baking tray that was lined in foil and cooked it for 10 minutes. After the 10 minutes I turned them over and cooked them for 10 more. After this I checked that the inside temperature in the meatballs was over 165 degrees.




Next up I emptied the jar of tomato basil sauce into a deep pan and added the cooked pasta. I then added all the meatballs in a circle to ensure that they would get heated evenly. I added garlic flakes and dried basil and let them all simmer for about five minutes before mixing.





I them let it cook for an additional five minutes and voila, it was all done!

I topped my pasta off with fresh grated cheese as well as red pepper flakes and oh em gee! It was amazing. The red pepper flakes was a bit much since the meatballs were already spicy, which I love by the way, but I love spice so it wasn't bad on my part.







I'm very excited to share my spaghetti and meatballs with my coworkers and know they are going to love the meatballs as much as I do. The flavor is so rich and the spiciness to it is a nice balance to my homemade tomato basil sauce.










Carando Italian Style Meatballs are a welcomed addition to my grocery list and I'm glad I was able to purchase it at Ralph's because I don't think I would have tried them otherwise. So tell me: Did you discover a new product due to their campaign? I'd love to hear what others thought about the Carando products that they've tried. And don't forget to check out some Carando Recipes for inspiration!