By Chloe turned seven. My girl. My firstborn. The baby who made me a mother at twenty, the toddler who sang "You Are My Sunshine" at a pre-K show, the kindergartner who read fifty-three books in one summer, the first grader who asks questions that make teachers pause and writes stories about dogs eating pizza. She is seven and she is MAGNIFICENT and I made her a science birthday party that cost $50 and was worth a million.
The party. Twelve kids from school at the Hermitage park pavilion. Baking soda volcanoes (six of them, lined up on a table, each erupting with red food coloring "lava" while twelve first graders screamed with delight). Color-mixing experiments with water and food coloring. A "secret message" station where they wrote with lemon juice and held the paper over a candle to reveal the words (supervised — I am a responsible science party host). Test tube candy as party favors. Pizza from Little Caesars. And a cake — homemade, chocolate, with a frosting atom model on top that I found on Pinterest and executed with approximately 30% accuracy. It was supposed to be an atom. It looked like a donut with satellites. Chloe said, "It's PERFECT, Mama." It's perfect because she says it is. The birthday girl's word is law.
Terrence was there. He ran the volcano station, pouring baking soda with the kids, getting soaked in fizzy red water, laughing the entire time. He was covered in food coloring by the end. He looked at me across the pavilion — red-stained, laughing, surrounded by screaming children — and he shrugged and smiled and that shrug said: this is fun. This is who I am. I'm the guy who gets covered in baking soda at your daughter's birthday party and doesn't care. Earline would like him. Earline liked men who got their hands dirty.
Mama brought her own gift: a sewing kit. A REAL sewing kit — needles, thread, fabric scissors, a measuring tape. She said, "Every girl should know how to sew." Chloe looked at the sewing kit and then at the microscope and back at the sewing kit, and I could see her brain processing the dichotomy: science AND domestic arts. She said, "Can I sew a lab coat?" Yes, baby. You can sew a lab coat. You can do both. You can do everything. That's the whole lesson. Not science OR sewing. Science AND sewing. Both. All of it. Never choose between the things you love. Just carry them all.
I made the birthday dinner: Chloe's choice. She chose spaghetti and meatballs — the same thing I made the night before her first day of kindergarten. It's become HER meal. The Chloe Mitchell meal. Spaghetti and meatballs for every beginning. She's seven now. The beginnings are getting bigger. The spaghetti stays the same.
She could have chosen anything — tacos, macaroni, even pizza since we’d already had Little Caesars at the pavilion — but Chloe didn’t hesitate for a single second. Spaghetti and meatballs, same as always, same as the night before kindergarten. So after Terrence washed the red food coloring off his arms and Mama packed up her sewing kit and the last of the test tube candy was counted and divided, I put water on to boil and made her this — baked all the way through so the edges get a little crispy and the cheese bubbles and browns and the whole thing feels like a celebration even on a Tuesday.
Spaghetti Meatball Bake
Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 40 min | Total Time: 1 hr | Servings: 6
Ingredients
- 12 oz spaghetti
- 1 lb lean ground beef
- 1/3 cup Italian-seasoned breadcrumbs
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided
- 1 large egg, lightly beaten
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tsp dried Italian seasoning
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1 jar (24 oz) marinara sauce
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
- Fresh basil or parsley for garnish (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat and prep. Preheat oven to 375°F. Lightly grease a 9x13-inch baking dish and set aside.
- Cook the spaghetti. Cook spaghetti in a large pot of salted boiling water until just al dente, about 1–2 minutes less than package directions. Drain and set aside.
- Make the meatballs. In a large bowl, combine ground beef, breadcrumbs, 2 tablespoons of the Parmesan, egg, garlic, Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper. Mix until just combined — do not overwork. Roll into 1 1/2-inch balls (about 18–20 meatballs).
- Brown the meatballs. Heat a large oven-safe skillet over medium-high heat with a drizzle of olive oil. Brown meatballs on all sides, about 4–5 minutes total. They do not need to be cooked through. Remove from heat.
- Mix the base. In the prepared baking dish, combine the cooked spaghetti with marinara sauce and water, tossing to coat evenly. Stir in 3/4 cup of the mozzarella.
- Assemble. Nestle the browned meatballs into the spaghetti mixture, pressing them in slightly so they are surrounded by pasta. Sprinkle the remaining mozzarella and remaining Parmesan evenly over the top.
- Bake. Cover tightly with foil and bake for 25 minutes. Remove foil and bake an additional 10–15 minutes, until cheese is melted, bubbling, and lightly golden at the edges and the meatballs are cooked through.
- Rest and serve. Let the bake rest for 5 minutes before serving. Garnish with fresh basil or parsley if desired.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 520 | Protein: 34g | Fat: 16g | Carbs: 58g | Fiber: 4g | Sodium: 820mg