Vegetable Meatballs

A kitchen is a laboratory and recipes are experiments. 

There are some amazing blogs just  filled with healthy recipes and awesome fitness tips. Check them out and get inspired.This recipe was an adaptation of two recipes I collected from other blogs:

Blogilates- Super Healthy, Ultra-Clean Meatball Recipe! 

&

A Cozy Kitchen - Turkey Zucchinni Meatballs 

Ingredients:

2 cups carrots

1 cup frozen corn

2/3 cup almonds

1/2 cup flax seed

3 egg whites

2-3 lbs ground Turkey

1 cup oats (the recipe calls for quick oats but I used the old fashioned and they tasted great.)

1/2 cup fresh Parmesan cheese

salt/pepper/oregano/basil

Directions:

Pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees.

I combined the carrots, flax, and almonds in my food processor until they were finely minced. Next time, I will crush the flax up first so it can become a powder. I added them all together and the carrots and nuts ended up very tiny but the flax needed some extra time, I was nervous the carrots would puree so I stopped.

*The flax needs to be ground up in order to be absorbed into the body, otherwise it will just go through your system compared to putting clean oil through a dirty filter in your car. Next time :)

After that I added all of the ingredients together and formed them into larger balls that fit into my muffin pans.

Spray the pans with olive oil and cook them in your hot oven for about 25-30 minutes. 

Feel free to try out adding zucchini, squash, peas, onions, and peppers. I never cook with onions because I don't care for the taste. Let me know what works for you!!

Serve with whole wheat noodles and fresh sauce, in a tortilla, or eat it plain. 

Montana Foods List:

Carrots -163

Ground Turkey-54

Snack Balls

Life is busy. We don't always get to the grocery store when needed and find ourselves with one or two ingredients shy of a recipe. This snack is for those of us who enjoy the madness of improvising in the kitchen. This recipe used the appropriate ingredients that I had available in my kitchen. "Snack Balls" are super flexible and a perfect on the fly snack. Not to mention they are a healthy treat that is packed with energy.

Ingredients

My Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup of dry, old fashioned oats.
• 1/4 cup toasted coconut flakes
• 2/3 cup peanut butter
• 1/2 cup ground flax seed (adds fiber)
• 1/4 cup dark chocolate chips
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1/4 cup dried pomegranate  

Optional Ingredients:

• sunflower seed butter, almond butter, peanut butter
• alternative oatmeal, grains, granola, wheat germ, and rice cereals
• your favorite dried fruits/berries: raisins, dried cranberries, dried blueberries,  
• your favorite chopped nuts; walnuts, peanuts, almonds or sunflower seeds
• no chocolate chips or alternate with milk chocolate, white chocolate, or butterscotch

My mixture before I it chilling

Directions:

• Put all of your ingredients together in a large bow,l and mix well.
• Let the mixture chill in the refrigerator for about  30 minutes.
• Once chilled, roll into appropriate sized balls or other fun shapes.
• The balls will stay fresh in the fridge for one week :) 

 

*I was not a fan of the coconut flakes, I probably won't use those again. I also think it was a waste of vanilla so I don't think I will use that ingredient either. I found that you don't really need to measure the ingredients in this recipe. As long as you put enough grains to hold the balls together,  any variation of this recipe will be perfect. 


*This recipe is nice if you have a busy week and only have one day to spend on preparing meals and snack. Try this out for breakfast, snack time, or if you are running late to soccer practice. 

Keep trying your own variations and let us know what works for you and what doesn't.!
 Happy Wednesday, Bozeman! It's the first snow of the season :)

*This recipe makes 15-20 balls

Montana Foods List:
Oat Cereal Flakes 150
Peanut Butter 141