Ciao a tutti! In the spirit of leaner cooking, today's recipe is a lighter rendition of hearty Italian meatballs. Pair with your favorite (or low carb) marinara sauce and you have a great dish for any day of the week. The possibilities are endless with this protein dish.
To keep things low in fat, I opt for the leanest ground beef available. For reduced calories and carbohydrates, use minimal bread crumbs, one egg, a splash of nonfat milk for moisture and a little grated parmesan cheese for flavor. You can totally get by with more breadcrumbs, cheese or even an extra egg. Remember I'm purposely reducing to keep low in fat and carbs.
INGREDIENTS
2lb lean ground beef (93/7 for me)
1/2 cup Italian breadcrumbs
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
5 minced garlic cloves
1 egg, whisked
2 tbsp flat leaf parsley, chopped
2 tbsp nonfat milk or warm water
1 tbsp Italian seasoning
salt & pepper to taste
This recipe makes approximately 32 meatballs.
PREP
Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a large mixing bowl, add ground beef. Season well with salt, pepper and Italian seasoning. Add breadcrumbs, parsley, garlic and parmesan cheese. Whisk the egg in a separate bowl and add to the beef bowl, followed by a splash of milk. Combine well.
Before rolling meatballs do a taste test. Simply take a small amount of the mixture and make a little patty. Fry it on a small pan for a minute or two and taste (this is a Rachael Ray trick). Adjust any seasoning needs and continue to roll one inch meatballs. Consider using an ice cream scooper for consistency and efficiency. It helps speed the process for me.
Place meatballs on lined baking sheet and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until golden brown.
Heat marinara sauce of choice and place meatballs into the sauce and simmer for 5 mins to combine flavors. You can also serve plain with marinara on the side for dipping and done.
Do whatever works for you friends. I made meatball subs for the kids while I had 5 ounces of meatballs paired with a simple side salad. We all eat the same thing, I just modify my plate based on my macros for the day.
For macros, add the macros per ingredient and divide by the quanity of meatballs made. For example, my meatball macros are, 2.3 grams of fat, 1.2 grams of carbohydrates, and 7.2 grams of protein per meatball.
Hope this helps! Enjoy.
Xx Dee
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