Gluten Free, Cheesy Beef Meatballs with Tomato and Veggie Sauce.
Gluten Free, Cheesy Beef Meatballs with Tomato and Veggie Sauce.
Nothing makes me happier than seeing the kids enjoying their dinner and knowing that it’s full of the good stuff. This is exactly what happened when I made my new gluten free Cheesy Beef Meatballs with Tomato and Veggie Sauce!
Perfect Combination for both Toddlers.
If Cole was a dinosaur he would definitely be a carnivore (Dinosaurs spring to mind because the twins have recently been playing with a gifted Dinosaur Train set). He will always choose the meat option before the salad or veg.
Norah however is the complete opposite. She much prefers all the fresh colourful stuff. That’s why this recipe for Cheesy Beef Meatballs with Tomato and Veggie Sauce is so perfect. Cole is eating veggies and he doesn’t even realise. And Norah loves these meatballs so much she was eating them off the tray in the kitchen before I even served up.
Deliciously Moist Meatballs.
These gluten free Cheesy Beef Meatballs are quite moist which makes them easier for the little ones to eat. Perhaps that’s why Norah enjoyed them so much.
The mixture is quite wet, so there was no keeping the meatballs round. I baked them in the oven and the bottoms of them flattened out on the tray. I haven’t tried browning them first in the frying pan, but the kids ate a heap of them so I’m more than happy to have flat bottomed Cheesy Beef Meatballs. Even if they don’t look too pretty.
Tomato and Veggie Sauce.
The Tomato and Veggie Sauce was super easy to put together. I used a zucchini, eggplant and a red capsicum. I simply chopped them up with a large clove of garlic and cooked them a little with some extra Virgin Olive Oil. I poured in a jar of Passata (puréed tomato), put the lid on and let it cook down until all the veggies were nice and soft. Just before blitzing it, I added about 6 fresh basil leaves.
New Food Processor!!!
Santa must have read my last blog post; Coconut and Cranberry Christmas Slice where I asked for a new food processor for Christmas. I was lucky enough to receive a Kenwood Multipro Sense food Processor and Blender a little early and so far it’s been fantastic! Thanks Santa (Dad!)
I’ve remade my Chocolate Coconut Hummus and traditional Hummus and the texture is so much smoother. I have been using it every morning for smoothies too. I used the blender attachment to blitz this sauce and it came out beautifully! No lumps and seemed creamy without any cream!
Almond Meal instead of Breadcrumbs.
I know most people would use breadcrumbs in their meatballs, but as you all know I’m always trying to find ways to get more fat/calories into Norah. I’ve tried to use almond meal to make them before, but I had my ratios out a bit and they were really dry. This time I still used almond meal, but I added water to the mixture too. They ended up being nearly 4g of fat per meatball. Easy calculating for me; 1 scoop of Creon (enzymes) for each cheesy beef meatball.
Quinoa instead of pasta.
Pasta is definitely a favourite in our house. Norah would eat it everyday of the week if I let her. I know this recipe would work perfectly with some pasta (especially with all the sauce), but I wanted to try something else. Quinoa! They’ve eaten it in the Crispy Chocolate Fat Bombs, but that’s very different to cooking it and serving it as a meal.
While they stood next to me in the kitchen, eating the meatballs, I served up the rest onto our plates. I mixed mine altogether, because I love quinoa…. but I wasn’t sure how they’d go. I used a separation plate to hold the gluten free Cheesy Beef Meatballs and the Tomato and Veggie Sauce in seperate sections. Then I added a small amount of quinoa to the last section. Norah’s sauce ended up with a tablespoon of cream in it too, just to try help fatten her up a bit.
They tasted the quinoa plain and didn’t like it, but they liked the Tomato and Veggie Sauce and I already knew they liked the Cheesy Beef Meatballs. I showed them my plate and how to mix the sauce with the quinoa. Both of them scooped it from one section and dropped it into their sauce. And then….. they ate it!!!! No pasta in site and there was no fussing at the dinner table. Amazing!!
This really gives me hope, that sometime in the (hopefully) near future, they will eat all the foods we eat and actually enjoy them. For those of you that aren’t so sure that you’re little ones will eat the quinoa, the Cheesy Beef Meatballs do pair well with my Hidden Veg Mac and Cheese or as an extra in the Pumpkin and Passata Pasta Sauce.
Gluten Free, Cheesy Beef Meatballs with Tomato and Veggie Sauce
Gluten Free Cheesy Beef Meatballs with Tomato and Veggie Sauce. A perfect meal for the whole family. Delicious, moist meatballs with a beautiful tomato and veg sauce that even the toddlers will gobble up.
Ingredients
Sauce
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 36.6g of fat
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 eggplant
- 1 zuchinni
- 1 red capsicum
- 700 ml passata
- 6 basil leaves
Meatballs
- 500 g beef mince 24.5g of fat
- 80 g fine grated parmesan cheese 22.1g of fat
- 50 g almond meal 25.3g of fat
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano
- 1/2 tsp dried parsley
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp onion powder
- 2 eggs
Instructions
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Pre heat the oven to 180℃
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Cook 1/2 a cup of quinoa following package instructions.
Sauce
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Crush the clove of garlic and chop the veggies into chunks.
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Place a sauce pan on medium high heat and add the oil.
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Add the garlic to the oil, stirring frequently for about a minute (or until fragrant).
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Add the rest of the veggies. Stir them on and off for about 5 minutes.
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Pour in the jar of passata.
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Turn down the heat to low and leave to simmer as you prepare the meatballs.
Meatballs
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Place all the ingredients for the meatballs into a medium sized mixing bowl and mix it with your hands until fully combined.
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Line a baking tray with baking paper.
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Use a tablespoon measure to create evenly sized meatballs. Scoop out some of the mixture, roll it in your hand to form a ball and place on the baking paper. Continue until you have no mixture left.
Remember that the mixture is quite wet.
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Place the tray into the oven for 15 minutes.
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After the 15 minutes, remove the tray from the oven and turn the meatballs over. At this point your meatballs and tray will likely look like a big mess. Don't worry, once they've cooked all the way through they will be fine.
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Once all the meatballs have been turned over, return the tray to the oven for another 15 mins (or until cooked through). Remove from the oven and finish the sauce.
Sauce
After placing the meatballs back into the oven place 6 basil leaves into the veggie sauce.
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Pour the vegetables into a food processor and blitz it until it's nice and smooth.
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Add the quinoa to the smooth sauce and mix it through.
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Serve the meatballs smothered in the sauce. Add cream or butter to individual portions for a higher fat content.
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If freezing left overs, place the meatballs flat on a tray and freeze separately to the sauce. Once frozen through you can store them in a freezer bag or air tight container in the freezer. This will make it easier for you to defrost meatballs as needed.
If you have too much sauce for the amount of meatballs, there are plenty of other things you can do with it; serve it as a dipping sauce, use it as a pizza base, use it in wraps or just make extra meatballs. I freeze the sauce in small portions to defrost as needed.
Recipe Notes
Total fat content for the meatballs: Approximately 90g of fat.
Each meatball is approximately 4g of fat.
Total fat content for the sauce is 36.6g of fat. If splitting this by 8 it will be approximately 4g of fat per serve. Norah has such a small serve, I don't count the fat in the sauce for her, but I do add extra oil, butter or cream to her bowl and calculate that instead.