Easy Meatball Sub Casserole

By lakecar

Ingredients

• ◾Loaf of French bread
• ◾1 large clove of garlic
• ◾8 oz reduced fat cream cheese, softened
• ◾2 Tbsp lite mayonnaise
• ◾1/4 tsp garlic powder
• ◾1 tsp Italian seasoning
• ◾1 pound frozen meatballs, thawed out enough to cut in half
• ◾1 can spaghetti sauce
• ◾1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• ◾2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Details

Adapted from menumusings.blogspot.com

Preparation

Step 1

Into an oven safe casserole dish, we will just layer in the ingredients, starting with the thick slices of French bread. Toast the bread in the oven until golden brown. Immediately rub the bread with the cut side of a large garlic clove when you remove the bread from the oven. The garlic will actually start melting down into the bread, giving it a great flavor. Remember - season each layer of your food for the best flavor at mealtime! (Alternative - I bet you could use slices of the frozen "Texas Toast," some of which have varying degrees of garlic, cheese, etc already on them. Just a thought.)


For the next layer, combine the softened cream cheese, mayo, garlic powder, and Italian seasoning. Spread this on top of the toasted bread.

On top of the cream cheese layer, add the thawed meatballs which you have cut in half. Be generous. Place them side by side, touching each other. If you are as impatient as I am, you probably popped them into the microwave to thaw them. Oh heck yeah I do that!

On top of the meatballs, add the whole large can of spaghetti sauce. I like this canned sauce for this recipe because it's smooth, it has a good flavor, and it's cheap!

On top of the sauce, add your cheeses. Sprinkle with just a tad more Italian seasoning if you'd like, or dried basil.


Bake covered for 30 min at 350 degrees. Then about 5 minutes or so uncovered just until the cheese is the perfect amount of melted! Garnish with chopped fresh basil