Meatballs are a great option for a healthy family dinner and a perfect way to start incorporating iron rich meats into your baby's diet. They can be paired with a whole grain pasta, tomato sauce and veggies, or some roasted or steamed veggies for a quick dinner. I usually make a double batch with fresh ground beef, and freeze a bunch for future evenings when we need a fast healthy meal.

Meatballs are great because they can be made out of a variety of types of ground meats, plus you can add finely chopped herbs and greens without most kids being bothered by them. The one thing my kids always complained about was the diced onion, so I recently started grating the onion and it has worked wonders. They never know it's in there, but the meatballs still get the onion flavour and moisture. #momwin

Family Friendly Meatball Recipe

Prep Time: 10 mins Cooktime: 17-20 mins Makes about 20 meatballs

INGREDIENTS:

1 lb lean ground beef (or alternative ground meat)
1 whole egg (or flax egg)
1/2 cup whole grain bread crumbs soaked in 3 tbs milk (I make them with the end of a loaf of bread in the vitamix)
1-2 garlic cloves mashed (depending on preference)
1/4 cup onion grated (small onion or ~1/3 large red onion)
2 Tbsp finely chopped fresh oregano
2 Tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley
2 Tbsp finely chopped fresh basil
handful of spinach finely chopped *optional
salt & pepper to taste
2 drops of tabasco sauce *optional

INSTRUCTIONS:

Preheat Oven to 400°F
Place all ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix by hand until combined. Do not overwork meat.
Scoop out 1 generous Tbsp at a time and roll into meatballs (you can always change the shape or size of these meatballs to suit your needs, just remember to adjust the baking time accordingly)
*If your ground beef is fresh you can freeze raw meatballs for future use
Bake meatballs on a rack over a baking pan for 17-20 mins. Turn once while baking.
Remove from oven and serve immediately, or allow to cool and refrigerate or freeze

I absolutely love paring these iron rich meatballs with homemade vitamin C rich tomato sauce. I'll be sure to share my favourite sauce recipe soon.

Don't hesitate to ask any questions below. Hope your family enjoys these as much as ours does.

Care