Crockpot Meatballs

My kids love spaghetti and meatballs.  This meatball recipe uses leftover cooked quinoa because gluten free, dairy free, soy free, nut free and peanut free bread crumbs are not easy to find. The added benefit is that quinoa is protein packed and a whole food. We also recently added some zoodles to our gluten free spaghetti and game on! This mama doesn’t need to make a separate veggie side and the kids think they are getting away with something! You can sauté or do a quick blanche with the zucchini before you toss it in with the gluten free pasta. Enjoy!

Crockpot Meatballs Recipe

Ingredients

• 1lb ground turkey breast
• 1/4 cup cooked quinoa
• 1/4 cup parsley, finely chopped (I used 1/8 cup dried)
• 1 egg
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
• 1 bay leaf
• salt and fresh pepper to taste

Directions

• Place the cooked quinoa in a blender or food processor and pulse it 6x.  The quinoa with stick together to make almost a dough or “ball up”.
• In a large bowl, combine ground turkey, quinoa, egg, parsley and garlic.
• Makes sure to combine all the ingredients really well.
• Using clean hands, mix all the ingredients and form small meatballs, about 1/8th cup each.
• In a saute pan, heat olive oil over medium heat and brown the meatballs.
• When the outside of the meatball is golden brown add the garlic.
• Make sure that the garlic does not burn.
• Pour crushed tomatoes into the crock pot with bay leaf.
• Add garlic and meatballs to crockpot.
• NOTE: If you are planning to store it for the freezer..This is where you would place all the ingredients into a freezer bag instead of the crockpot.
• When meatballs are in the sauce, cover and set crock pot to low, 4 to 6 hours.
• When meatballs are ready, adjust salt and pepper to taste and add fresh chopped basil or parsley.

Makes 4 Servings

Crockpot Meatballs

Clean Eating Gluten Free Foodie

http://www.ceglutenfreefoodie.com

Dairy Free

Wheat Free

Peanut/Tree Nut Free

Soy Free

21DF: 1 R, 1/8 Y, 1 G