Homemade Italian Meatballs and Sauce

I feel like this is sort of cheating?

I know I've posted meatballs before, but they are NOTHING like this.

These were incredible. Justin even said they were better than some meatballs he'd had in a restaurant. NO JOKE.

I swear, the last few times I've cooked when it snows, the meal has been amazing. This was just…way too good.

Here's what you need (combo of inspiration from How Sweet Eats and Giada) . . .

For meatballs:

1.5 lbs of ground beef (we used ground chuck)
1/3 cup of shred romano cheese
1/4 cup of bread crumbs (we used GF from Fresh Market)
3-4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp parsley
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes*
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 egg

For sauce:
3-4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 yellow onion (medium), chopped
3 stalks of celery, chopped
1 tbsp unsalted butter
1/3 cup of red or white wine
28 oz can of diced tomatoes (I used san marzano)
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp italian seasoning
salt/pepper

Here's what you do . . .

1. In a big bowl, mix together all the ingredients for your meatballs. Use your hands to combine, but try not to mix too much. Form 1 inch balls, and place them in a large pan coated well with olive oil.

2. With heat on medium/high, brown your meatballs. It takes a few minutes on each side. They don't have to be totally cooked through, but you want them mostly cooked.

3. In a separate pan, sauté your other garlic, onion, and celery with 1 tbsp of butter and a little olive oil until they are soft, about 7-8 minutes.

4. When meatballs are browned, add garlic/onion/celery mix and sauté until there are some brown bits on the bottom of your pan (if there aren't already).

5. Add your wine - I used white because it's what we had - and scrape the brown bits off the bottom. Let the wine reduce - about 5 minutes.

6. Add diced tomatoes, italian seasoning, basil, salt and pepper and stir to combine. Your meatballs should be mostly submerged.

7. Let simmer on low heat for at least an hour. Serve over pasta, on a sandwich, or all by themselves. ENJOY!

We had them with gluten free pasta right before it started snowing and they were PERFECT. It seems like a lot of steps, but I promise it's not so bad. And SO worth it.

Hope you all had a fabulous Valentine's Day!