As I was nursing the baby before bed tonight, I was thinking about how quickly the past 6+ months since Piper’s birth have flown by. I vividly remember the first few days we were home from the hospital and demolition had just begun on our kitchen. I was holed up in my bedroom with a newborn – hormonal, exhausted, and totally overwhelmed.
With the jack hammering (okay, that’s what it sounded like…) in full progress, I peaked in on the crew to see if I could back out and tell them to come back when I was back to work full-time. I’m only somewhat kidding when I say that. I recall wanting nothing more than everyone to get out of my house and to leave me in peace. Of course I can say now that I’m so glad we did our kitchen, but the timing was a little stressful.
Now, I find myself spending a little less time in that beautiful kitchen. Much of that is with thanks to Brii who has taken on a lot of our meal prep. And, she loves it! She’s the perfect little soux chef.
I came home from work this morning and the chicken was cubed, the bell peppers and bok choy were sliced, and the green onions and cilantro were chopped. Everything was in individual baggies in the fridge and ready to go! She’s a dream. And she has been with us long enough now that she actually knows where things go in the kitchen. Mark doesn’t even know where things go in the kitchen!
With work being as crazy as it has been, not all of our meals have been blog-worthy, even with Brii’s help. Or even Instagram-worthy, but they’ve been homemade and healthy…and that’s pretty acceptable, I feel!
But sometimes, you want that picture-perfect meal. You want the beautiful zoodles to accompany your homemade meatballs. You want to enjoy that beautiful meal that also happens to be gluten-free, dairy-free, Whole30, Paleo, and low-carb. So unless you’ve vegetarian or vegan, this recipe is most definitely for you!
- 1½ lbs ground pork
- 1½ lbs 93% lean ground beef
- 2 Tbsp Italian seasoning
- 1 egg
- 1 Tbsp parsley, finely chopped
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp ground black pepper
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 Tbsp parsely, finely chopped
- 1 tsp black pepper
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with foil and set aside.
- Mix the pork, beef, Italian seasoning, egg, parsley, salt and pepper together in a large bowl until well-combined. Form meat mixture into meatballs using 2-3 tablespoons of mixture. Arrange meatballs on the prepared baking sheet.
- Bake for 20 minutes or until cooked through.
- Meanwhile, add the olive to a large pan over medium heat. Once hot, add the chopped onion and saute for five minutes. Add the garlic, tomatoes, bay leaf, and pepper; stir well and bring to a boil.
- Reduce heat to low and gently simmer 20-25 minutes. Add the cooked meatballs and gently stir to coat.
I am glad Brii is working out for you! And that dish looks amazing. I am not a fan of raw zoodles, but a quick saute and I am in. 😀
Thank you for sharing this great recipe. My family love meatballs and it looks so yummy!!! Planning to make it for lunch this week:)
These meatballs are making me hungry, Nicole! And where can *I* find someone like Brii?