Make It Monday Recipe Week 3: Everyday Meatballs

This became a family favorite in 2011, when I discovered Tosca Reno’s cookbook, The Eat Clean Diet Cookbook, at my local library. (BTW, I can’t stand the word “diet”! Healthy eating is about eating delicious food, not depriving yourself of favorites!)

I choose to use regular lean ground beef, though you can substitute ground turkey or ground chicken for this recipe. It’s fun to make big batches for the freezer for when you want to add a meatball or two to any meal. Instead of making giant meatballs with an ice cream scoop, make smaller ones half the size.

My food grinder attachment that I got on sale and bought with Kohl’s Cash

This recipe is especially handy if you have a family of picky eaters like me. Sometimes there are one or two of us who prefer to have a meatball with their spaghetti, sometimes there are one or two of us who like to have it in their salad. Yep, meatball salad! It’s also healthy protein to help keep your hungry teenage boy feeling full!

Here’s my “Every day is a Meatball Day!” recipe, that I have adapted from Tosca Reno’s, And when I make it, I pronounce meatball in my best Italian accent, “Meat-a-ball!”

Every Day is a Meat-a-ball Day Recipe – Only 7 ingredients, plus salt and pepper.

INGREDIENTS:

1½ pounds ground beef (I usually grind meat that we get from a local farm)
½ cup finely chopped onion
1 egg lightly beaten
1 cup breadcrumbs OR oat bran
2 teaspoons dried basil OR 2 Tablespoons fresh basil, chopped
2 teaspoons dried oregano OR 2 Tablespoons fresh oregano, chopped
2 garlic cloves passed through a garlic press
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

PREPARATION: (See photos below)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Cover cookie sheets with parchment paper for easy clean-up.

In large bowl place egg and breadcrumbs or oat bran. Add spices and mix well. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Using an ice cream scoop, make meatballs and place on prepared cookie sheet. Place in hot oven and bake for 20 minutes or until golden.

TIP: make it gluten-free by making your own breadcrumbs. Use day-old GF bread crumbs and place them in a food processor. Pulse until crumbs are the right texture.

Enjoy a making your a meat-a-balls!

Stay tuned for Marilyn’s Make It Monday Recipe Week 4, next Monday.

~Aimee, TFF

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