I have had a few people comment on Instagram lately that ‘they hate dinner as much as I do,’ which is possibly the best form of solidarity I have ever experienced.
Funnily enough, although I have the experience nightly of hating the dinner prep and impending fight with the kids to eat it, I hadn’t actually realised how much I truly hate ‘dinner’ or that ‘hating dinner’ was a thing until it was pointed out to me.
It’s just that it really sux. And it’s not only the cooking part that sux – cooking would be fun if I had a beautiful kitchen, an unlimited grocery budget, a house elf – and not to mention; well-behaved kids who ate what was put in front of them.
But as it stands, this little shack that I love dearly does not have a fancy or 100% functional kitchen (marry a cabinet maker they said), and my kids are flat out eating plain pasta most days. As for the money tree and house-elf, sadly they’re also a nope.
BUT because I hate this part of the day so much, I have become pretty good at phoning it in.
This makes me the perfect candidate for collaboration with Marathon Chef Direct Creations.
See that little packet pictured above; it’s a magic (shelf stable) bag of microwavable meatballs in sauce. You just open it, chuck it in the microwave for a few minutes, and it’s ready to serve.
I was unsure what and how exactly it works, meat that doesn’t need to be refrigerated? But it does, meals are made fresh and kept that way by use of technology and packaging – no magic involved.
Free from artificial flavours, colours or preservatives and there is no added MSG. The Chef Direct range includes Meatballs, Con Carne, Lamb Shanks with Mint Gravy, Lamb Shank Red Wine & Rosemary.
Anyway, let’s get to the recipe.
Meat Ball Subs Recipe
Ingredients
- One packet of Chef Direct Meat Balls
- Some brioche hot dog rolls
- A cup of grated cheese
- Two cups of premade coleslaw
Instructions
- Cut the meatball packet open and pop it in the microwave for three minutes.
- Switch on the grill to heat up and grate some cheese.
- Take the packet out of the microwave and while it sits, put the rolls in a baking dish and spoon in the coleslaw.
- Now add the meatballs and grated cheese to the rolls and pop them under the grill for a minute or until the cheese bubbles.
- Feed them to your unappreciative family who, hopefully, eat them without complaint.
- Chuck the one baking dish and cheese grater in the dishwasher (if you have one) and enjoy that fact that there is no meatball sauce on your cooktop.
Stockist: Available at IGA and online
One of the kids did, in fact, eat the meatball sub. And the other one didn’t ask to leave the table because of the ‘smell’ as she does most nights, so that’s a win. Hubby graciously offered to finish hers and then made himself a lamb shank sub for dessert (we have been trialling the entire Chef Direct range, and he is quite the fan of the Mint Lamb Shanks)
The meatballs come in at about $7.50 a packet, which is similar to what I would spend on raw meatballs (without sauce), so that’s a pretty easy choice for me.
Thanks so much to Chef Direct for sponsoring this post – please consider supporting the companies who support Aussie bloggers.
