YAHTZEE!!!!!

To Die For Italian Meatball Sliders From Cooking Light March 2012

When I made Italian Meatball Sliders from Cooking Light, I honestly felt like I was rolling the dice.  First of all, I think of Cooking Light and I think "Boring and Bland"....The picture looked appetizing, but let's be honest....how many times have we all been fooled by the pictures?  In these times of, eating healthier and not weighing 1000 pounds (I've got a 20 year reunion coming up, and don't want to be "that girl"), I figured I'd give this a go.

The second dice roll came in the form of a sprig of fresh basil that goes on top of the meatball sliders.  I went ahead and put the basil on top of all the sliders and handed out the plates to the family.  As I did that, I was thinking up what witty title I was going to use for this blog entry referencing the discarded basil on my children's plates.  Low and behold.....no one brought their plate back with the "green stuff" tossed to the side!!  What?!?! Pure and utter shock on my face...I still look shocked today as I write this (this is better than botox!).  And as a result, you all can enjoy my lame title, that doesn't do this particular recipe justice.

And finally, this may be one of my favorite meals, from a magazine, I have made yet.  I cannot believe how great this was!  Look, I will be honest about how hard something is to cook and how much time it takes and if the family will eat it...if it is super expensive or it just flat out was a waste of time.  This does not fit into any of those categories.  It was a meal that I will make again....and again....and again.  I will be serving this to company at some point and I even sent out text messages to my ladies who are always looking for something new and really yummy to feed their families.  Please take my word on this one...try it.  It was absolutely fantastic!  I rolled, the ever elusive, Yahtzee!

Here is what I changed up, just a bit, when I made it: I did the salad they listed with the recipe (which was also out of this world!) and had fresh mozzarella left over, so I put that on top of the meatballs and covered the pan to melt the cheese.  I couldn't find slider buns at the grocery store, so I just bought Italian Rolls (that was a good call, by the way, I highly recommend using the Italian Rolls, if available). I doubled the recipe (except for the parsley-I left that a 1/4 of a cup) and used ground turkey instead of ground pork.  I hope your family enjoys this as much as mine did!

The Ingredients (Including the Salad)

Marinating The Peppers and Onions

Finished Salad

Pre-Cooked Meatballs

Meatballs Ready for Cheese and Basil

Save This Recipe!  Cooking Light March 2012