Chicken Meatballs and Zucchini Pasta (with Crockpot Version)

Happy Meatball Monday! Wait what?! I know, it's not a Crockpot Monday today. I needed something different this week for my meals, but have no fear this can easily be made into a crockpot meal. 

It's strange to think I had never had a meatball before last fall, crockpot turkey meatballs were the first time I ever had meatballs. I love turkey meatballs (I don't eat beef), but I wanted to try something different. When I purchased my vegetable spiralizer I knew I had to make zucchini pasta and since I was trying new things I wanted to try "spaghetti" and meatballs, yes that is right I have never had spaghetti and meatballs before (my dad doesn't like spaghetti what can I say?). Instead of making turkey meatballs  I opted for chicken meatballs, also a first, and they turned out so good! 

The meatballs are made with almond flour and gluten free breadcrumbs and packed with flavor. They paired so well with the zucchini pasta that I am working on making my own homemade pasta sauce to complete the pair. The meatballs are not hard to make and they could be put in the crockpot- see note at end of recipe instructions for crockpot version. 

Chicken Meatballs

• 1 pound lean ground chicken
• 1/3 cup almond flour/meal
• 1/8 cup gluten free breadcrumbs (or more almond flour)
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
• pepper, to taste
• basil, to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, tin foil or a baking mat. If you're using tin foil lightly spray tin foil with nonstick cook spray.

In a mixing bowl combine almond flour, bread crumbs, parmesan cheese, olive oil, garlic, pepper, basil and egg. Mix until everything is well combined.

Add ground chicken into mixing bowl and stir to distribute breadcrumb mixture throughout.

When the chicken and breadcrumbs have been combined, use your hands and roll meat into 1-1.5 inch meatballs. 

Place formed meatballs on baking sheet and repeat with remaining meat. 

Bake meatballs at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. To check if meatballs are done slice the top open on one. There should be no pink and the tops of all the meatballs should be a golden color. If they're not done bake for an additional 3 minutes and check again.

I served my meatballs over zucchini pasta. I finally caved and bought a vegetable spiral slicer (so worth it!). I just fed the zucchini through it and it came out as noodles, which are totally delicious! 

*CROCKPOT VERSION- If you want to cook the meatballs in the crockpot place formed meatballs in crockpot. You can brown the meatballs on all side before putting them in the crockpot to seal in flavor, but you don't have to. Dice up 1/2 medium sweet onion and put it in crockpot with meatballs. Pour a 28 ounce jar of organic peeled and crushed tomatoes over meatballs. Cover crockpot and cook on low for 6-7 hours or high 3-4 hours. Serve meatballs over zucchini pasta. Store leftovers in refrigerator or freeze for later use. 

Nutrition for 1 meatball (based on 29 meatballs):
MACROS: 0C/3F/4P

Nutrition Facts
Servings 29.0
Amount Per Serving
calories 36
% Daily Value *
Total Fat 3 g	4 %
Saturated Fat 1 g	3 %
Monounsaturated Fat 1 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0 g
Trans Fat 0 g
Cholesterol 19 mg	6 %
Sodium 35 mg	1 %
Potassium 2 mg	0 %
Total Carbohydrate 0 g	0 %
Dietary Fiber 0 g	1 %
Sugars 0 g
Protein 4 g	8 %
Vitamin A	0 %
Vitamin C	0 %
Calcium	2 %
Iron	2 %

*And a special shout out to my awesome brother for getting me the coolest oven mitt ever for Christmas! It's a cow and it's completely hilarious!

Pão De Queijo- Brazilian Cheese Bread (Gluten Free)

Let me tell you about this bread. One of my friends introduced me to it last fall. I was extremely skeptical about it because I am not a cheese lover, but she persisted so I took a tiny bite. HOLY COW IT WAS GOOD (and not crazy cheesy like I expected)! I was instantly curious how to make them because they were hard on the outside, but hallow inside. She had learned to make them while living in Brazil with her family for three years so she shared with me how to make them (bonus they're naturally gluten free!). 

The recipe seemed easy, almost too easy. Sure enough they turned out wonderfully though! I made mine in muffin style and served it with chicken meatballs and zucchini pasta. They are really light and they're not dense so they do not feel like a brick in your gut. Before you become overly skeptical give it a try!

Pão De Queijo- Brazilian Cheese Bread

• 1.5 cups tapioca flour
• 1/2 cup grated mozzarella cheese, or cheese of choice
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 2/3 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
• 1 egg

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line muffin tins.

Place all ingredients in a blender.

Blend on low and stop to scrap down the sides of the blender. Blend until the batter is smooth and no chunks remain.

Pour batter into muffin tins, about 1/2 full. Using regular sized muffin tins I was able to fill 17 slots. If you use mini muffin slots you can fill 24 slots.

Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. It will be done when it is puffy and golden on top. 

Allow to cool for a few minutes before serving. 

If you've never had Brazilian cheese bread before the texture is different. They are crunchy on the outside hollow on the inside. It sounds crazy, but they are crazy good!

Nutrition per muffin (based on 17 large muffins):
MACROS: 9C/5F/1P

Nutrition Facts
Servings 17.0
Amount Per Serving
calories 88
% Daily Value *
Total Fat 5 g	8 %
Saturated Fat 1 g	5 %
Monounsaturated Fat 3 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0 g
Trans Fat 0 g
Cholesterol 13 mg	4 %
Sodium 31 mg	1 %
Potassium 12 mg	0 %
Total Carbohydrate 9 g	3 %
Dietary Fiber 0 g	0 %
Sugars 0 g
Protein 1 g	3 %
Vitamin A	1 %
Vitamin C	0 %
Calcium	4 %
Iron	1 %

Crockpot Chunky Turkey and Vegetable Soup

Happy Crockpot Monday! Is anyone else sick of snow? Everywhere around me has a snow day, but does my university have a snow day? Nope. I am going to have to snowshoe to class today. But seriously no snow day and a foot and a half of snow, come one. 

Ok, rant over. Want to know what makes a snowy day better? Soup. And even better, crockpot soup. I knew the snow storm was coming and nothing sounded better than curling up with a warm bowl of soup. I kind of just winged this recipe- I threw the vegetables I already had on hand into the crockpot with ground turkey and prayed it would come out tasting good. I really like this soup! For me it is the perfect combination of meat and vegetables, but there is not too much of either. It's definitely a good soup for a cold winter day. It's incredibly easy to make and totally customizable, throw in whatever vegetables you like! (Not to mention the macros are pretty awesome, only 11 carbs per serving!)

Crockpot Chunky Turkey and Vegetable Soup

• 1.3 pounds lean ground turkey
• 1 medium carrot, sliced
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 1/2 large sweet sweet onion, diced
• 8 ounces baby bella mushrooms
• 1/2 cup uncooked brown rice, quinoa is also delicious
• 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic, or more to taste
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• ground pepper, basil and thyme to taste, I used about 1/2 teaspoon
• 14.5 ounce organic petite diced tomatoes
• 2.5 cups low sodium organic chicken broth. 

In the crockpot layer in the vegetables- onion, bell pepper and sliced carrot. 

Put the ground turkey breast into the crockpot and use a fork or knife to break it up into smaller chunks. 

Pour olive oil over top of the ground turkey.

Then add in minced garlic and spices.

Add in rice, petite diced tomatoes, and mushrooms. You can put the mushrooms on the bottom of the crockpot it really does not matter (I may have forgotten about the mushrooms which is why mine were on top). 

Finally pour chicken broth into crockpot. 

Cover the crockpot and cook on low for 6-8 hours. 

Stir the soup to mix everything together before serving.

Nutrition Information (about 8 servings of 1 cup):
MACROS: 11C/6F/13P

Nutrition Facts
Servings 8.0
Amount Per Serving
calories 148
% Daily Value *
Total Fat 6 g	9 %
Saturated Fat 1 g	7 %
Monounsaturated Fat 1 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0 g
Trans Fat 0 g
Cholesterol 40 mg	13 %
Sodium 193 mg	8 %
Potassium 66 mg	2 %
Total Carbohydrate 11 g	4 %
Dietary Fiber 2 g	6 %
Sugars 4 g
Protein 13 g	26 %
Vitamin A	39 %
Vitamin C	50 %
Calcium	4 %
Iron	7 %