Meatballs for Sandwiches

I made these meatballs for my son's first birthday party and they were a huge hit. I got many requests for the recipe so I decided to post it. I served it with pre-sliced hoagie rolls and croissants, but some people just ate them plain with a fork.

• Ready In: 4 hrs 30 mins
• Serves: 25-30

Ingredients

• Sauce

• 1 (28 ounce) can tomato sauce
• 1 (28 ounce) can tomato puree
• 1 (14 ounce) can chopped tomatoes
• 1 (8 ounce) can tomato paste
• 2  teaspoons olive oil
• 3  garlic cloves, minced
• 1⁄2 sweet onion, chopped
• 1  teaspoon salt
•  italian seasoning

• Meatballs

• 4 -5  lbs  meatloaf mixture (ground beef and pork)
• 1  cup  breadcrumbs
• 2  slices  bread, cubed and soaked in milk
• 3  eggs
• 1⁄2 cup parmesan cheese
• 2  garlic cloves, minced
• 1  teaspoon salt
• 1  teaspoon pepper
•  italian seasoning

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
2. Mix bread cubes soaked in milk, breadcrumbs, parmesan cheese, eggs, salt, garlic, pepper, and seasoning in the bottom of a large bowl.
3. Add meatloaf mix and combine with other ingredients using your hands. Don’t mix too much, just make sure all ingredients are well blended.
4. Roll mixture into balls using your hands and arrange meatballs on a cookie pan (with sides, not the flat kind).
5. Bake meatballs for 30 minutes. You can brown them under the broiler for a few minutes if you like a crunchier meatball.
6. In the meantime, sauté onion and garlic in olive oil on low heat until translucent, do not burn.
7. Combine the sautéed onion and garlic to the rest of the sauce ingredients in a large crock pot or stock pot. Turn crock pot on high (if using a stock pot, bring contents to a boil).
8. When meatballs are done in the oven, mix into the sauce mixture. Cook in crock pot for 4-6 hours on high heat. If using a stock pot, reduce heat and simmer meatballs for 4 hours or until ready to serve.