Made "Real Meatballs and Spaghetti" (Barefoot Contessa) with a few minor alterations, but wasn't that thrilled.

Maybe it was my fault, but I don't think so. The 5-star recipe, to me, is too loose and not seasoned enough.

My changes (to the recipe at the link above):

MEATBALLS

Used 1.40 lb meatball mix + .5 lb 90% ground beef
Added 1/4 cup minced onion
Added 1 tbsp minced garlic (not enough)
Added 1/4 tsp chopped crushed red pepper (not enough)

SAUCE

(I doubled the recipe, which you will NEED to do for pasta)

Used two cans San Marzano skinless tomatoes
Added 2 sweet sausage patties (had them in freezer; too much I think)
Added 1 tbsp chopped basil (3 frozen packaged cubes; not enough)
Added 1 tbsp dried oregano (or tsp, forgot to write it down)

Everything else was to the tee, so not sure why it was so thin. I did use the immersion blender since I hate chunky tomato sauce, so maybe that contributed to it.

The meatballs were good, but not great. I hate over-seasoned food, but this probably could've used more than the recipe called for. The sauce tasted too much like sausage, so I guess I used too much -- didn't put beef in the sauce, so no surprise.