It is Sunday Night Dinner at the Gentrup's.  My parents live in town so Leon and I enjoy having them over for dinner on Sunday Nights to try out new & old recipes.  Tonight is Italian Night with Italian Meatballs, two sauces of Marinaria and Beer Cheese, a large romaine lettuce salad with homemade croutons, garlic bread and a nice James Arthur "Angel Share" Wine.

Italian is probably our favorite family meal and my family will tell you when we go out to eat I usally vote for Italian.  My favorite resturant is 

If you are ever in Omaha try this wonderful family owned resturant out.  You will not be disappointed!  They have roasted garlic for your bread and of course dipping sauce.  I digress so I had better get back to my meal.  I found a new recipe for Italian Meatballs.

Italian Meat Balls

Ingredients:1 pound each of lean beef and pork
¼ cup parmesan cheese
1 large slightly beaten egg
½ cup Italian breadcrumbs
2 tablespoons of minced garlic
2 teaspoons of salt
1 teaspoon of black pepper
½ cup of milk
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 teaspoons of dried parsley

Put your meatballs on a cookie sheet in the oven and bake for 25 minutes. Another cooking method is to simmer the meatballs in pasta sauce for about 40 minutes. This will give them great flavor and texture.  You can bake the meatballs and freeze to use later.

I have never cooked my meatballs in the sauce but am trying it this time in the suace. It worked out wonderful!   The meatballs had a nice texture, had absorbed some of the sauce in the flavor and they were fully cooked.  The marinara sauce was just doctored up Hunt's spaghetti sauce with a jar of Leon's canned stewed tomatoes and marinara seasoning.  The beer cheese sauce is Leon's recipe from his stint working at Valentinos in the kitchen.
Hope the recipe is not a secret because here it is...........


Beer Cheese Sauce
1 cup of shredded onion ( 1 medium)
1 cup of shredded celery
1 cup of shredded carrots
18 oz beer ( your choice)
3 cups of milk
1/2 Tablespoon of chicken bouillon crystals
1/2 cup melted butter
1/2 cup flour
1/2 tablespoon of salt
2 lbs of Velvetta ( 1/2 the large package)
Cook the veggies until the onions are transluent.  Add the bouillon and beer.  In a seperate saucepan make a roux of butter and flour. Cook over medium heat for 1 - 2 minutes.  Melt the cheese in the microwave, add to vegetables with milk & salt.  Whisk in roux.  We kept it warm in a crockpot for latter.

We had leftover beer cheese sauce and it made a great vegetable primavera later in the week.

We had garlic bread and my new go to bread from HyVee.  It is a Sicilian Baked and it looks kinda of like an oversize bear claw.  When heated it has a great crust and soft bread inside.  We never get to cutting it because as soon as it come out of the oven we are tearing chunks of it off to eat.