My Kids Favourite Meatballs
My kids do not agree on much. One eats almost anything. Another almost nothing at dinner. One hates berries and the others love anything sweet. It’s hard to cook a meal that all of them sit and eat without complaint. For my son that will not eat anything that is not pre packaged. In our house that makes it a little difficult to feed him. Since we try not to have much processed food in our home. I tell you though they can be stubborn. I had our dear son once stage a days long strike until I gave him what he wanted. All he would eat was breakfast and then nothing. As a parent it was hard not to give in. But, there is only so many times I can allow him to eat noodles with butter and parmesan cheese.
We were at my Brother in law’s house and they had made a meal that my son would not touch. And I mean that literally! I think I have problems with my son. My nephew won’t eat certain foods if they are on the table with other foods. They said no problem. Their kids ( I think all kids are like this) are the same way and no one can ever agree. They heated up some leftovers and he ate it! He ate it all! And it didn’t come from a can! I almost thought aliens took over my son’s body. Strangely enough my older daughter’s mouth was watering over it as well. I’ve been making this dish for years now and now with the little one, she eats it too.
It feels great to have foods that everyone will eat. We went home that night with the recipe. I have no idea where it came from but I can tell you it is really good. I’ve had to change it slightly to make it gluten free. It’s not the healthiest dish (since the only vegetables in it are onions and garlic). I like to serve it with a nice salad on the side. Also a great thing is this meal freezes really well. I use the aluminum foil containers from the Dollar Store and use the lid to write what is inside. I freeze each container with one serving of meatballs and one serving of rice. Perfect for lunches or dinner when you have no idea what to eat.
Sauce
¾ cup ketchup
3 tbsp gluten free soya sauce
½ cup honey
3 cloves garlic – minced
2 tbsp butter
Meatballs
1 lb ground beef
1 lb ground pork
1 cup minced onion
1 clove minced garlic
1 egg
Directions
Melt the butter in a large pan over medium heat. Add garlic, cook until fragrant, add all other sauce ingredients. Bring to a boil, then decrease heat and allow to simmer 15 minutes while you prepare meatballs.
In a bowl combine ground pork and beef. Add minced onion, garlic and egg. Combine with a fork (i just use my hands, it’s really much easier). Form into balls approx the size of a heaping tablespoon. * You can make your meatballs smaller or larger depending on your preference.
Add meatballs to simmering sauce.Increase heat to medium low. Allow to cook approximately 20 minutes, stirring occasionally (until meatballs are cooked through).
Serve over rice
Pink slime in your hamburger
(Photo from Documentary Lovers http://www.documentarylovers.com)
Let me just start out by saying that I have tremendous amounts of respect for Jamie Oliver. I have been watching his shows on the Food Network for the past few years and I have been following him on his website. He is a visionary who is using his status to push the government and the food companies to really question what is good for the pocket book versus what is good for our bodies. He is one of my real food heroes. His show taught me how real food can be prepared without having to be dependent on all the processed goods that I had used in the past.
I have included a demonstration (click here to view) Jamie Oliver held to show people what they are really consuming when they eat ground meat. Especially the ground meat in hamburgers, etc… It really is truly disgusting. They use a mix of inedible beef trimmings that we would find in dog food, or chicken feed. They then mix it with ammonia and water to kill the bacteria. This mixture can then be added to ground beef without labelling it. All because the government says it’s safe. I think most of us had an idea about the grade of meat that was included into a McDonald’s burger (or shall we say that no one really believed that it was ever 100% Beef). However, have you ever thought about what could be added to the meat that you buy in the grocery store.
I was sadly appalled when the XL Foods scandal was in full swing to learn that my favourite butcher was buying their meat from them. It was awful. I never imagined that even my local butcher was buying from the same place as Metro and all the rest. It taught me that you really need to be careful and ask the right questions about where the food you are buying actually comes from. To this day I have noticed that over time the amount of water in the meat has increased. Have you noticed steak bought from certain retailers is impossible to fry. The water content is so high that as it is released from the meat it doesn’t just evaporate immediately but fills the pan and poaches your food. That should not happen.
Sorry for the rant but I’m scared for my families health. If we know this, how much is out there that we haven’t found out yet. Jamie Oliver is doing his best to raise awareness. It’s our turn to do the same.
Scary…
Go Naked Nutrition 