Italian Meatballs and Marinara Sauce: Recipe and Review

When we began to seriously discuss and then go forward with becoming a gluten free (and according to my friend we have actually embraced more of a grain-free lifestyle) lifestyle, I began to immediately think of all the things I wasn't going to be able to have.  Why is it that we do that? It is like we are trying to make ourselves miserable.  We focus on the negative! 

While doing this, I thought of all the carb-y foods I just couldn't have.  Well, silly me! That is plain crazy and false! You really can have whatever you had before, it is just made in a different way, a cleaner, healthier way really.

So when I came across a recipe from homemade meatballs and marinara I was excited! I love pasta and my boy-filled family loves meatballs! Bonus- the recipe made enough for our family to have leftovers the next night! I LOVE when that happens!

Italian Meatballs and Marinara via
Meatballs
1.5 pounds beef
1 large onion diced small (set aside half)
4 cloves of minced garlic (set aside half)
1/3 cup almond flour
2 eggs, whisked
1/4 cup of fresh, chopped, flat-leaf parsley
pinch of red pepper flakes

Sauce
1- 28 oz can of San Marzano plum tomatoes with sauce
15 oz can of tomato sauce
other half of diced onion
other half of minced garlic
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried basil
2 tbsp fresh chopped parsley
1/2 to 1 tsp salt
healthy pinch of red pepper flakes

1. Saute onion in 2 tbsp oil, 5-7 minutes
2. Season with a pinch of salt and add minced garlic. Cook for an additional minute.
3. Remove from heat.
4. Pour half of mixture into the crock pot and set aside the other half in a separate bowl.
5. Add the remaining ingredients for the sauce to your crock pot.  Break apart the tomatoes into smaller pieces.
6. Turn crock pot on low.
7. Add your meat to the  bowl of onions and garlic mix.
8. Add the rest of the ingredients for the meatballs to the bowl.
9. Gently mix the meat mixture together.
10. Preheat a large frying pan with 2-3 tablespoons coconut oil over medium heat.
11. With your  hands, shape golf ball sized meatballs.
12. Place meatballs into the pan.  Let them get a nice brown coating.  They won't cook all the way through. They will finish cooking in the slow cooker.
13. Transfer browned meatballs directly into the crock pot.
14. Cook on low 4-6 hours.

My husband is a hunter and just helped stock our freezer with some fresh venison. I used a 50/50 mix of grass fed beef and venison.  I wouldn't recommend using all venison since it is a leaner meat and the meatball might not stay together as well.  The mix stayed together perfectly.

I also used coconut oil whenever the directions called for any kind of oil.  It is super healthy and has such a light flavor that I use it for all cooking and baking needs.

I stirred my crock pot occasionally over the course of the day.  I will say that my house smelled amazing all day long.  I prepped the meatballs and sauce that morning and it was a really quick process; much less time consuming than I thought.

A bit before dinner, I boiled a pot of water and made some gluten free spaghetti to serve with our meatballs and marinara.  The meal was SO GOOD! My entire family ate it up! It was such a cold day when I served it that the  meal warmed us right up.  It was the perfect guilt-free comfort food.  And the leftovers heated up great the next night.  This is a meal I will definitely keep in our dinner rotation.