I don’t care what anyone says…it costs more to eat healthy! We generally eat fresh fruits, veggies, and
meats most of the week. We don’t go out
to eat much at all. Literally maybe once
or twice per month each, and that may be Chipotle for Ryan after he biked 3
hours on a Saturday or Thai for me at lunch with a friend. I have not gone through a ‘drive-through’
since I was pregnant with Lola. The kids
have had McDonalds twice I think but it was a while ago when they were with a
friend and Lola doesn’t even remember it.
It’s not that we are against it (actually Ryan is but I don’t care), it’s
just that we don’t eat it so therefore the kids don’t either. I cook something most nights, and if I don’t ‘cook’
I usually bake the kids some tater tots and make them a sandwich. We are trying to make some changes to our
budget, but it is really hard to budget eating healthy. Buying fresh veggies and fruit all the time
adds up. I do buy frozen sometimes too - the steam bags of veggies are a lifesaver when
I get home with the kids at 5:40pm and need dinner on the table in less than 5
minutes. Steam veggies and a cheese quesadilla
are on the table once per week because it’s quick.
We bought ¼ of a cow last summer and
plan to do the same again next month. I
like knowing where my food comes from! (
http://www.raftergbar.com/). We have eaten most of it up, but still have a
few packs of steaks and burger to use up.
It’s been kind of fun to experiment with the different types of meats
you get when you buy in bulk. I wasn’t
sure how the heck I would use up the hamburger because we got waaaaay more than
I anticipated. Actually, we got what we
were supposed to but considering I only bought hamburger every once in a while
it was kind of intimidating. Although I have to say, when we had a birthday
party for Luca and decided to grill burgers it was really nice to go to the
freezer and grab a bunch of packs of hamburger and not have to go to the
store. We made 20 burgers and it hardly
put a dent in our supply! I have made a
ton of meatballs which I really like, and I experimented with putting lots of
veggies in them. I finally came up with
a really good recipe (below) and infused them with good veggies, minus
breadcrumbs (gluten free) and cheese (dairy free), so they are pretty healthy
too. I have also made lots of burgers, meatloaf,
stuffed peppers, sloppy joes, macaroni and cheese with beef, beef
Bolognese, just to name a
few. I think we are going to start
buying some pork in bulk as well. We eat
a lot of pork and I would really like to know where it comes from too.
So back to my original thought…money,
which I also covered in my last post when I was grouchy. J Eating healthy and whole food is important
enough to us to sacrifice money in other areas to make sure we can keep a
fridge and freezer stocked full of fresh food.
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Beef and veggie meatballs w/ no breadcrumbs or cheese
Makes around
12-15 large meatballs
·
Extra-virgin olive oil
·
1 onion, finely diced
·
Salt
·
2 cloves garlic, smashed and chopped
·
Pinch crushed red pepper or more depending on
how spicy you want them
·
2lbs lean ground beef (or any other ground meat)
·
2 large eggs
·
Around 1 cup of finely chopped veggies (carrots,
peppers, zucchini, and spinach all work great).
You can also pulse in a food processer which works much better.
·
1/4 cup or more to taste of finely chopped fresh
Italian parsley leaves
·
1 cup almond meal (or ½ cup almond meal and ½
cup flaxseed meal), or you can use breadcrumbs.
·
1/4 cup to 1/2 cup water
Coat a large
saute pan with olive oil, add the onions and bring to a medium-high heat.
Season the onions generously with salt and cook for about 5 to 7 minutes. The
onions should be very soft and aromatic but have no color. Add the garlic and
the crushed red pepper and saute for another 1 to 2 minutes. Turn off heat and
allow to cool.
In a large
bowl combine all the ingredients, and add around ½ -1 tsp of salt (depending on
how much you put in the onions and how much salt you like). It works well to
squish the mixture with your hands. Add around 1/4 cup of water and do 1 final
really good squish. The mixture should be quite wet so add more water if needed.
Coat a large saute pan with olive oil and bring to a medium-high heat. Test the
seasoning of the mix by making a mini hamburger size patty and cooking it. The
mixture should taste really good! If it doesn't it is probably missing salt. I don’t do this anymore because I just kind of
‘know’ but it is good to check if you haven’t made them before.
Preheat the
oven to 325 degrees F.
Shape the
meat into desired size. Brown the
meatballs on all sides. I typically work clockwise so I remember which
meatballs went down first and I use tongs to turn them. They won’t end up as perfect ‘balls’ because
of being browned on all sides, or at least mine don’t. Place them on a cookie sheet (if you make
them fairly large, they will try to fall apart here so be careful) lined with
parchment and bake them in the preheated oven for about 15 minutes or until the
meatballs are cooked all the way through.
Serve with
pasta and marinara or you can substitute spaghetti squash for the pasta. Take a spaghetti squash and poke holes with a
knife (around 10+ holes all around). Put
in the microwave for 6-8 minutes (depending on microwave strength), then turn
on the other side and cook for an additional 6-8 minutes. Take out, cut in half and let cool for around
5-10 minutes. Take a fork and pull all
the seeds out, and then take a spoon and scoop the insides out. If serving with something else, you can just
eat as is, but if you want to eat as a side dish you can sauté in a bit of
olive oil with some salt and pepper and then top with chopped parsley.
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A few pics of what you can do with ground beef (at least in our kitchen):
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