Finding Joy in My Kitchen: Turkey Meatball Sub Casserole

With our leftover meatballs from our crockpot turkey meatloaf dinner, I opted to try something that looked extremely delicious from the Country Cook.

The recipe relies on French bread, meatballs, spaghetti sauce, and a creamy mixture originally made out of cream cheese and mayo. We opted to combine Greek Yogurt and cream cheese for a lighter center, and it worked out great.

This was a great leftover meal, changing plain old spaghetti and meatballs into something fresh the next day. Kind of like another one of our favorite spaghetti leftovers – spaghetti braid.

Meatball Sub Casserole – Adapted from The Country Cook

Ingredients

2 C spaghetti sauce (leftover preferred)
French Bread
4 oz. cream cheese, slightly softened
1/3 C plain Greek Yogurt
1/2 tsp. basil
1/2 tsp. oregano
1/4 tsp. minced garlic
1 C mozzarella cheese
Parmesan cheese for garnish, if desired

Directions

Begin by slicing up your French Bread into 1-1/2 inch slices. Arrange the slices in the bottom of a 9x13 glass baking dish and lightly spritz the top and bottom with olive oil. Place the pan in the oven and broil for 1-2 minutes on each size, watching carefully so they do not burn. You want to get the bread toasty so it doesn’t get soggy.

Meanwhile, warm the spaghetti sauce and meatballs for about 2 minutes in the microwave. Set aside.

Prepare the spread by whipping the 4 oz. of slightly softened cream cheese (we used Neufchatel) and adding in 1/3 C Greek Yogurt along with the 1/2 tsp. basil and 1/2 tsp. oregano, pepper and minced garlic. Stir well.

Using caution because the bread and 9x13 baking dish will be hot, spread with cream cheese mixture over the top of the bread slices. Sprinkle with a little cheese, if desired.