Homemade Garlic Meatballs
These meatballs are easy to make, and super yummy and flavorful. A good habit to get in is to make some at the beginning of the month (or as soon as you run out of already made ones), freeze them, then when you are making spaghetti on a busy night, thaw them and heat. Spaghetti is such a convenient week-night dinner, why not make it even more filling with these meatballs - even better because they include carrots, so you won't have to feel so bad not including a veggie on the side if you don't have time :) I usually serve mine with my homemade applesauce and our Bean Haus bread with grass-fed butter.
If serving as spaghetti and meatballs, just be sure your noodles are whole-grain or whole-wheat (not white pasta) and a good pasta sauce. I have yet to make my own, so I use Muir Glen Organic Tomato Basil from Kroger. I'll get the motivation to make my own sauce eventually... maybe now that my dad will likely have tomatoes in his garden very soon. If you have a good 'clean' recipe, I'd love to hear about it in the comments!
Also, if you have yet to throw out your packaged Kraft Parmesean cheese, do it now and grate your own. Trust me. Buy a triangle of parmesean cheese and grate it. I seriously don't understand how society went from freshly grated to Kraft's rendition, but it was a horrible change, and I'll never go back. I actually prefer grating all my cheese... but that's a personal decision. Try it out. You never know what you might be missing out on. :)
Homemade Garlic Meatballs
INGREDIENTS
1 lb ground beef, (preferably grass-fed, my parents actually gave us some ground deer meat last week, so I used that and they turned out great)
1 egg, beaten
⅓ cup whole-wheat bread crumbs (I make my own, will post recipe asap)
⅓ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese (freshly-grated is 100 times better than store-bought, give it a try!)
½ cup carrot bits (you can grind them in a food processor, grate then dice them, or mince them)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 ½ teaspoons red wine vinegar
1 ½ teaspoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning
¼ teaspoon salt
INSTRUCTIONS
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
Mix together ground beef and next 10 ingredients. I find it easiest to use my hands.
Grease a baking sheet with olive oil.
Roll the beef mixture into meatballs the size of golf balls. Place them in rows onto the greased baking sheet.
Bake for 9 – 11 minutes or until brown all the way through.
Serve with spaghetti and noodles or use as an appetizer.
