This Meatball Sub Casserole is a family-pleasing Trim Healthy Mama meal that comes together lickety-split!
An S helper because it mixes a small amount of healthy carbs with healthy fats, this dinner is perfect for growing kids, husbands with physical jobs, pregnant, nursing, or diabetic mothers, and those who are at goal weight!
You could even serve this Meatball Sub Casserole to your family as an S Helper, and enjoy it as an S yourself, if you prefer, by simply not eating that small amount of bread at the bottom of your portion. That’s the wonderful thing about Trim Healthy Mama; it’s easy to make meals that accommodate the needs of a whole family without having to cook two separate dinners!
I love this meal especially because it comes together so fast. In less than 10 minutes, you can have supper in the oven, using things that you probably keep on hand:
- sprouted bread (I use Silver Hills brand from Costco)
- cottage cheese
- egg
- Italian seasoning (or use a mixture of your own favorite spices)
- baby spinach leaves (you could probably even use frozen spinach, if you thawed it out and drained it as much as possibly first)
- precooked meatballs (in Canada, M&M’s sells sirloin beef meatballs that are breadcrumb and sugar-free!)
- sugar-free pasta sauce (in Canada, my favorite sugar-free pasta sauce is President’s Choice Roasted Garlic tomato sauce)
- cheese
Full of lasagna-y flavors, pair this Meatball Sub Casserole with a salad (we enjoy the simplicity of Dutch Salad with a more flavorful main dish), and you’ve got a wonderfully, healthy meal the whole family will appreciate!
Note: I had ran out mozzarella cheese before making the dish in the photos; I highly recommend doing half mozz., half cheddar, if you have both cheeses on hand! A sprinkle of Parmesan would be delicious, too.
Meatball Sub Casserole | THM: S or S Helper
This Meatball Sub Casserole is a family-pleasing Trim Healthy Mama meal that comes together lickety-split! An S helper because it mixes a small amount of healthy carbs with healthy fats. Perfect for growing kids, husbands with physical jobs, pregnant, nursing, or diabetic mothers, and those who are at goal weight!
Ingredients
- 5-6 slices of sprouted bread (I used Silver Hills brand)
- 2 cups cottage cheese (1-2% fat)
- 1 egg
- 1 tbsp Italian seasoning
- 4-5 cups fresh baby spinach leaves
- 12 gluten-free meatballs, precooked
- 2 cups sugar-free pasta sauce
- 2 cups grated cheese (cheddar and/or mozzarella are fantastic)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 F.
- Line a 9x13" pan with slices of bread in a single layer. In a small bowl, stir cottage cheese, egg, and Italian seasoning together. Spread over bread. Layer on baby spinach leaves. Stir meatballs and pasta sauce together, and distribute evenly over baby spinach leaves. Sprinkle on grated cheese.
- Bake at 375 F for 35-40 minutes, or until hot and bubbly.
Looking for other family-pleasing main dishes? These are big hits around here!
Quick Steak & Cheese Quesadillas (S)
Broccoli Cheddar Bacon Quiche (S)
Thanks for adding Canadian food source suggestions!
Jacinda,
I tried the meatball sub casserole. While I thought it was delicious, my husband and sons did not like the flax SilverHill bread I used on the bottom. My question – would the casserole be okay if next time I just omitted the bread?
If you have access to an Aldi grocery store I highly recommend their sprouted bread!! Your family might prefer a different brand.:)
I bought frozen meatballs from Aldi. Would they need to be thawed before cooking?