Italian Style Meatballs

Ingredients: 
12 oz Lean Ground Pork
84 g Whole Wheat seasoned breadcrumbs
28 g Grated Parmesan Cheese
1 Egg

4 Cups of Joe's Homemade Pasta Sauce

* Salt
* Pepper
* Garlic Powder

Preparation:
In a large bowl, mix together meat, breadcrumbs and Parmesan cheese until well incorporated. Once mixed well so that there are no dry ingredients separate from the mixture, add the egg, salt, pepper and garlic powder.  

Roll Meatballs to whatever size you would like (recommended between 23 - 27 g per meatball) (makes approximately 20 at that size). 

In a large pot/saucepan/stockpot/dutch oven, heat up pasta sauce over low heat. (Dutch oven is recommended since it can keep the contents hot without applying as much direct heat over a longer period of time). 

Once Sauce is simmering, add meatballs and cover. 

Cook for approximately 1 hour or until you can smell the garlic powder filling the air. 

Serving: 
Recommended to serve these with some spaghetti, other pasta, and or in a sandwich. 

Nutrition Info:  

Each meatball is approximately 2 Weight Watchers Points Plus points, recommended servings are between 4 and 6; or it can be summarized as 22 points for approximately 20 meatballs. 

Baked Ziti in a mug

This is a variation on the lasagna in a mug, I made it using freshly pressed pasta but you can substitute with regular boxed pasta. 
Due to its mug constraints, this is a Weight Watchers friendly meal. 

Ingredients: 
3/8 Cup of Joe's Homemade Pasta Sauce
56g of Ziti or Rigatoni
28g of Part Skim Ricotta Cheese
28g of Park Skim Mozzarella Cheese Grated
13g of Parmesan Cheese Grated
* Sea Salt (best for homemade pasta), use Kosher for boxed pasta

Preparation:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. In a saucepan bring water and salt to a boil.  Once boiling, add pasta and boil until all floats, remove from heat and strain. 

In a mug (http://www.shopworldkitchen.com/corningware/french-white-pop-ins-mug-1035985) mix together pasta, 1/4 cup sauce, ricotta and mozzarella cheeses. Stir together until well blended. Top with remaining 1/4 cup of sauce and a layer of Parmesan cheese.  

Place in the oven for 15 - 20 minutes until cheese begins to bubble. 

Serving: 
This is recommended to be served on a trivet, towel, or other plate as the mug will be extremely hot. 

Nutrition Info: 
Using part skim cheeses this weighs in at 9 Weight Watchers Points Plus Points. 

Lasagna In a Mug

This is a take on lasagna whereby you can speed up the cooking time and individualize the contents by cooking individual sized portions in a mug.  I recommend using one of the corningware vented top soup mugs as they are a good size and have a fair capacity to fill. http://www.shopworldkitchen.com/corningware/french-white-pop-ins-mug-1035985

Ingredients: 
4 rounds (Hand rolled Pasta dough cut using cookie cutter into 3" rounds)
1 servings of Part Skim Ricotta Cheese
1.5 servings (46 grams) Part Skim Mozzarella Cheese shredded
1 Cup of Pasta Sauce (http://raygasnick.blogspot.com/2012/06/joes-homemade-pasta-sauce.html) 
1/2 serving (14 grams) Parmesan Cheese shredded

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees and place a heat capacitor (such as a stoneware pan or pizza stone) on the low shelf. In mug, place 1 ladle worth of sauce and top with first round. Layer with 1 serving (28 grams) of Mozzarella cheese, top with next round. Place 1/2 ladle of sauce, cover with ricotta cheese and layer next round. Place another 1/2 ladle of sauce and cover with remaining mozzarella cheese. Put final round on top, layer remaining sauce and Parmesan cheese. 

Bake in oven for 15 - 25 minutes until sauce begins to bubble around the edges. 

Serving:
Serve in bowl (recommended to place it on a plate as it WILL be hot.) 

Nutrition Information:
This is a quick, easy and relatively healthy meal. This is 8 Weight Watchers points plus points. 

Recommended Additions:
1. More Layers - this will increase the cheesiness, but it is recommended to alternate mozzarella and ricotta cheeses as when they melt, there will be clear texture differences between layers. 
2. Meat - There are two options on this one: 
    * Ground Beef or Pork directly, 1/4 lb total meat sauteed in some light olive oil lightly salted and peppered
    * 80/20 Beef or Pork: 1/8 lb + 28 grams of soy crumbles to increase the quantity but keep it healthy (adds about 2 - 3 more WW Pts + )
3. Vegetables - Layer some squash or zucchini in between cheese layers or meat layers 

Substitution: 
Substitute tomato sauce with Parmesan cream sauce, substitute beef / pork with chicken and consider adding a layer of spinach in lieu of extra cheese. **** Flavorful, not very healthy ****