Sweet & Sour Meatballs

These meatballs are Paleo and have no dairy (cheese) or grains (breadcrumbs) for fillers.

I know I know to not use the different variety of cheeses that can be put into meatballs is almost unthinkable, but I can't have dairy or breadcrumbs that have wheat in them, so non-traditional meatballs it is. *The meatballs are Paleo, but definitely not the mac&cheese and rice!

Luckily, Against All Grain always saves me and provides good recipes that I can mostly eat.

We made the sauce, but The Fish Fam didn't like it because it was too tangy and tart. I think if you used the tomato puree she suggests it might taste better. But, after having leftovers and still having lots of sauce and meatballs left we dumped the sauce and washed off the meatballs. And throughly enjoy the meatballs by themselves, great flavor.

The meatballs remind me of the flavorful meats in different dishes we had in Asia.

Here is Danielle's recipe for her Game-Day Sweet and Sour Meatballs...

AUTHOR: Danielle Walker - AgainstAllGrain.com

SERVES: 3 dozen

PREP TIME: 20 mins

COOK TIME: 45 mins TOTAL TIME: 65 mins

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds ground beef, chicken, or pork
• 2 large eggs
• 2 small vidalia sweet onions, about 1 cup minced
• ¼ cup almond meal (with the skins) or 2 tablespoons coconut flour
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 1.5 teaspoons ground ginger
• 2 teaspoon sea salt

Sauce:

• 3 cups tomato puree
• ¾ cup unsweetened pineapple juice
• ⅓ cup honey
• ⅓ cup coconut aminos
• ¼ cup tomato paste
• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 2 tablespoons dijon mustard
• 1.5 teaspoons sea salt
• ½ teaspoon ground ginger
• ½ teaspoon onion powder

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Make the sauce first by combining all of the ingredients in a wide pot. Bring to a low boil then reduce the heat to medium-low and let it simmer uncovered for 45 minutes, until thickened.
3. Meanwhile, make the meatballs.
4. Place the onion in a food processor and pulse until finely minced.
5. Add the egg, almond meal, beef, oil, ginger, and sea salt. Pulse until fully combined.
6. Roll the mixture into small bite-sized meatballs.
7. Space them evenly on two rimmed baking sheets and bake for 12 minutes, turning once.
8. Once the sauce has thickened, transfer it and the meatballs to a slow cooker set to low. Cover until ready to enjoy.

URL to article: http://againstallgrain.com/2014/01/23/game-day-sweet-sour-meatballs/

*We used organic beef and turkey meat. I wouldn't suggest the turkey meat with beef, but it's all we had in the freezer to make the 2lbs. Also, I made more meatballs, without the sauce and added some tamari sauce (gluten free soy sauce) in the mix.

**To make it Fodmap free for me I had to take out the onions in the meatballs. In the sauce I also had to void the honey and used maple syrup instead. Also, had to void the onion powder. I used white wine vinegar instead of apple cider vinegar. I also only had organic canned tomato sauce in my pantry and not tomato puree.

The Fish Fam topped the meatballs over rice with organic mac&cheese and broccoli for sides.

*I had a bowl of rice with three meatballs and some steamed yellow squash and bok choy.

This was our leftovers for lunch today....

Enjoy!

A Few More...

A few more dishes I've been able to tolerate.

My favorite bone broth soup.

We saved our organic turkey carcass and all the bones from Thanksgiving and I made this broth.

Added some carrots, zucchini, yellow squash, white turkey meat, and sea salt.

Super good :)

Also, this bell pepper mix with some wild caught white fish.

Fried in some ghee (grass-fed clarified butter). Spiced with sea salt, basil, turmeric, and ginger.

Very tasty!

And always remember...

:)

Thanksgiving Dinner!

What else could be better than Pumpkin Pie at Thanksgiving?!

Well, I guess the Turkey, surfing, rolls, vegetable dishes, cornbread, and other pies too :)

But, this pumpkin pie was special because I was able to eat it!

It's a Paleo pie and was awesome.

Onto the main event!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

I cooked just about everything from scratch and was in the kitchen from morning 'til late afternoon.

Whew! It's a good thing my hubby took care of our yummy organic turkey!

I had lots and lots of help from my kids and family too, thank goodness.

I made this Sourdough, Wild Mushroom, & Bacon Stuffing.

I bought an organic rosemary sourdough loaf at Wholefoods and wow,

it smelled delicious!

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 pounds sourdough bread, crusts trimmed, cut into 1/2-inch cubes (about 12 cups)
• 1/2 pound shiitake mushrooms, stems removed, coarsely chopped
• 1/2 pound oyster mushrooms, coarsely chopped
• 1/2 pound cremini mushrooms, thinly sliced
• 4 tablespoons canola oil, divided
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 3/4 pound slab bacon, cut into 1/2-inch dice
• 1 large Spanish onion, finely diced
• 5 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 3 to 5 cups homemade chicken stock or low sodium canned chicken broth
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh sage
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh thyme leaves
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

• Spread the bread onto a large baking sheet (or 2 smaller baking sheets) in an even layer and bake, stirring a few times, until lightly golden brown, about 12 minutes. Remove and let cool. Once cooled, put the cubes into a very large bowl.

• Increase the heat to 375 degrees F. Combine the mushrooms in a large baking dish or baking sheet, toss with 3 tablespoons of the oil, and season with salt and pepper. Roast in the oven, stirring several times, until soft and golden brown, about 25 minutes.

• While the mushrooms are roasting, heat the remaining 1 tablespoon of the canola oil in a large high-sided saute pan over medium heat. Add the bacon and cook, stirring occasionally, until golden brown and the fat has rendered, about 10 minutes. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon to a plate lined with paper towels.

• Remove all but 2 tablespoons of the rendered fat in the saute pan and place back on the stove over high heat. Add the onion and cook until soft, about 4 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add 3 cups of the chicken stock and the herbs, season with salt and pepper, and bring to a simmer.

• Add the mushrooms to the bread, and then add the onion/stock mixture, egg, salt and pepper, and gently stir until combined. The dressing should be very wet, add more stock as needed. Scrape the mixture into a buttered 13 by 9 by 2-inch glass baking dish. Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Remove the foil, and continue baking until the top is golden brown, about 30 to 40 minutes longer. Remove from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Recipe courtesy Bobby Flay

My father in-law did the brussels sprouts, I don't know what he put in it, but it was good!

Here's a recipe from my previous brussel sprout dish...

I threw together this dish by chopping up...

Fresh Garlic, minced

Onions, diced

Potatoes, peeled and cubed

Brussel Sprouts, bottoms cut off

and cut in half

I started to pre cook the sausage in a pan on the stove, but didn't cook all the way because it would cook longer in the oven.

I put everything in a big bowl and added sea salt (I like Redmonds), peppercorn (from the pepper grinder), and Italian Herb Seasoning, and then drizzled plenty plenty of oil all over and mixed it all together.

Preheat oven 400 deg or so for 30-40 mins.

Can't forget the cornbread and rolls!

I just used an easy cornbread recipe here and oh my goodness the rolls...

This was my first time making rolls, quite daunting, and after all the…

Mixing

Kneading

Rolling

Etc.

There was lots of time waiting for them to rise.

And hoping they'd turn out!!

I had the help of my little sous chef, so all in all they didn't turn out bad, but I'll get it right one day!

Can you guess the secret ingredient in just about every dish?

Ryan says, "It starts with "B" and ends with "utter"!"

Yep....

B-U-T-T-E-R

And lots of it!

Lots of healthy organic grass-fed butter that is.

In the pie crust along there is 4 sticks of it!

Luckily, my littlest was my apple pie helper!

He was so cute slicing the apples, juicing the lemon, and mixing the sugar.

We named it after him :)

Sadly the pie didn't turn out like I was hoping for due to various reasons, but just throw down some vanilla ice cream and it's all good!!

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Spaghetti w/ a Chance of Meatballs

The Fish Fam loved these Turkey Meatballs.

As I was mixing everything together it smelled really good.
But, once they got cooking in the oven, wow, it smelled pretty awesome.

My little one exclaimed in excitement...

"Yay, spaghetti with a chance of meatballs!"

And during dinner, "Mom, I want more chance of meatballs!"

This recipe looked the best... Turkey-Spinach Meatballs.
But, I didn't have everything, so I did this...

Meatballs

• 1 large egg, beaten to blend
• ¼ small onion, finely chopped
• 1 clove garlic finely chopped
• 1½ pound ground turkey, preferably 93% lean or less
• 3 oz chopped spinach
• ½ cup finely grated Parmesan 
• ½ cup plain dried breadcrumbs
• 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
• Few dashes of crushed red pepper 
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 tablespoons olive oil  

• 
  Preheat broiler. Cover a rimmed baking sheet with foil and coat with nonstick spray.
• Using your hands or a fork, gently mix egg, onion, garlic, turkey, spinach, Parmesan, breadcrumbs, parsley, fennel seeds, lemon zest, and salt in a large bowl just until combined. Scoop out turkey mixture by the ¼-cupful and form into balls (you should have about 20). Place on prepared baking sheet, spacing 2” apart; brush with oil.
• Broil meatballs, turning often, until browned all over and cooked through, 15–18 minutes. Add to marinara sauce.
• DO AHEAD: Meatballs with marinara sauce can be made 2 weeks ahead. Let cool completely and freeze individual portions in resealable plastic bags. Run under tepid water to loosen from bag and gently reheat, covered, until meatballs are warmed through and sauce is bubbling, 15–20 minutes.
  
  
  They came out great! 
  Next time I'll just not put so close to the broiler.

Boil your spaghetti noodles.

Add your favorite marinara sauce or make your own.

Make some breadsticks (click for recipe).

Then sprinkled everything with fresh Parmesan cheese.

And walla dinner is served...

Mangia bene, vivi felice :)

Kale & Beet Spaghetti

I had some beets to use so they were thrown into our dinner.

Beets always give a nice and vibrant color that I love.

Also in the mix is kale, turkey meat, and fresh parmesan cheese.

Side salad topped with yummy organic strawberries.

Butternut Squash Pasta

I know this is not the prettiest photo, in fact I know not all of my food photos are. So, bear with me as it is a work in progress. :) These are organic pasta noodles with Dave's Gourmet Butternut Squash Pasta Sauce (excellent deal at Costco). I chopped up red onions and garlic (I love these two ingredients) and cooked them in the organic ground turkey meat on the stove. I chopped up zucchini and then threw them and the corn in the pan with the sauce and let it warm up, not cooking too long. I also like putting in raw pine nuts in pasta, something I picked up from a friend...Thanks Letha!