All week I have had this strange craving for meatballs, I know, weird right? With meatballs on my mind, I set out to find an easy recipe that I could make a large batch of and freeze for meals to come. I came across this recipe in Diabetic Living magazine and modified it based on what I had available in the kitchen. Surprised at how tasty they turned out (considering I never cook meat and barely know what to do with it in the kitchen), I call them my Masterful Meatballs!
Masterful Meatballs
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cup soft whole wheat bread crumbs (I put about 2 slices in my food processor and pulsed until crumbly)
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten (I used free-range, vegetarian fed, no antibiotic eggs)
- 1/3 cup tomato sauce
- 1 Tbsp dried basil
- 1/4 cup flat-leaf parsley
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 2 lbs ground beef (I used grass-fed, antibiotic and hormone free, 85% lean beef from Whole Foods)
Preheat oven to 350*F. In a large bowl combine bread crumbs, egg, tomato sauce, parsley, basil, salt and pepper. Mix together with your hands and shape into about 40 meatballs. Place meatballs on foil-lined baking sheets and bake for 20 minutes. Serve immediately or store in freezer for up to 3 months. For this recipe, I would encourage you to use 95% lean ground beef because my 85% meatballs tended to be a little greasy (I had to dab them with paper towels when they came out of the oven). I wanted to buy grass-fed beef and all they had at my grocery store was 85% lean, so I managed.
I served my meatballs over spaghetti squash with tomato sauce left over from the recipe and froze the rest for later use. Meatballs are so versatile that I know these will come in handy on a busy day in the future when I don’t have time to cook. Other ideas for meatballs: make a meatball sub sandwich, use meatballs in lasagna in place of ground beef, slice up meatballs and put on a pizza, or simply serve with toothpicks as a simple appetizer at your next party!
In other news, it has been 2 weeks since I planted my windowsill herb garden and I have newly formed sprouts!
From left to right I have parsley, oregano, basil, rosemary (which has yet to sprout from the soil), and cilantro (which has completely taken off in the past couple days!). I cannot wait to have fresh herbs to use in all of my recipes!
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About Me
My name is Amari Cheffer and I am a Registered Dietitian, blogger, and food enthusiast! I started blogging back in 2009 to document my lifelong love affair with food and nutrition. I am a licensed Registered Dietitian with a Master's in Nutrition Science from the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Things I hate most include tasteless diet foods, excuses, hopeless weight-loss advice, and quitters. If you have time to breathe, you have time to eat healthy. It's all about problem solving and planning ahead for your one-of-a-kind lifestyle.
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Hurray for sprouted herbs! And for eating meat again=]