Meatball Monday

 I LOVE to cook with my girls and we try to do it as much as possible!!!

It's good for so many reasons. It teaches them the time and effort it takes to prepare a meal (I don't want them to think food magically appears on the table). They learn about measurements, ingredients, how to follow directions and reading. I also think they are more likely to try a new food if they have prepared it themselves.

Last night we made baked meatballs. One of our favorites! The girls like it because it gets their hands nice and messy. The recipe we made is based off of one from Food Network. We didn't have most of the ingredients so we just threw in whatever we had on hand.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 pound ground pork (I only had ground turkey so that's all I used)
• 1/2 pound ground lamb
• 1/2 pound ground round
• 5 ounces frozen spinach, thawed and drained thoroughly (I didn't have frozen so I used chopped fresh)
• 1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan
• 1 whole egg
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried parsley
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (we omited these to keep the girls happy)
• 1/2 cup bread crumbs, divided

Directions: 
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the pork, lamb, ground round, spinach, cheese, egg, basil, parsley, garlic powder, salt, red pepper flakes, and 1/4 cup of the bread crumbs. Using your hands, mix all ingredients until well incorporated. Use immediately or place in refrigerator for up to 24 hours.

Place the remaining 1/4 cup of bread crumbs into a small bowl. Using a scale, weigh meatballs into 1.5-ounce portions and place on a sheet pan. (Um really??? We just eyeball it and make them the size of the muffin tin) Using your hands, shape the meatballs into rounds, roll in the bread crumbs and place the meatballs in individual, miniature muffin tin cups. (I spray my pan w/ non-stick spray)

Bake for 20 minutes or until golden and cooked through.

SO YUMMY! The breadcrumbs give them a nice crispy outside.

We served ours with spaghetti squash, pasta with homemade spinach pesto (I promise to share the yummy recipe soon!) and sauteed mushrooms.

As we like to say around here...De-Lish!