Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Quinoa Meatballs

I could do a whole post about how much I love quinoa -- pronounced (keen-wah), and I'm sure someday I will.

It's versatile. It's a wonderful texture - if you don't overcook it, or give it too much moisture. It's packed with fiber and protein, and is a wonderful supplement to a vegetarian diet. I'm not a vegetarian, but getting closer every day. I try to cook with whole grains, lots of veggies, and reduced meat. Also, when cooked in my magnificent pressure cooker, it is perfect every time.



These meatballs made me so happy. I can't wait to try some other variations.

Okey Dokey.

Here goes. Simple and delicious.

I mixed the spices first, adding the ground beef and quinoa last. I used the super-hyper-mega-lean ground beef, but I'm sure you could use just extra-lean. This is just what happened to be in my freezer, since we bought an eighth of a grass-fed cow earlier this year. Wow... best meat we've ever eaten, and it came out to about $3.50 a pound.

But I digress. Here it really goes.

Quinoa Meatballs.

3 T olive oil
1 finely chopped onion
1 lb extra lean ground beef / or turkey
2.5 C cooked quinoa
1/2 C parmesan cheese
2 eggs
2 T parsley
1 tsp salt or beef bouillon
1 tsp black pepper
1.5 T Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp Italian seasoning

Now here's the tough part. Get ready.

It's really really hard.

Mix the stuff together.

Make meatballs, somewhere between a ping-pong ball and a golf ball in size, and lay them out on a cookie sheet. I placed them on my silicone baking mats. No stick. No mess. Spray the tops with cooking spray, bake at 350 for 30 minutes, and voila!

Beautiful marvelous meatballs. I ate them over whole wheat pasta with homemade fresh tomato marinara. It was a meal for the gods. DELICIOUS. These would also make wonderful sweet and sour meatballs, meatball subs, you name it.



Tomorrow, I'll blog the marinara when I make more, because I am in absolute love with it.

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