This is a recipe, albeit tweaked, that I got got from one of my favorite non keto cookbooks; “Weelicious” by Catherine McCord. (The recipe has been tweaked to adhere by our low carb standards though!) I bought it as soon as it came out in 2012 (when my youngest, Charlie, was born) and have been using it ever since. It’s a book that challenges you to use ingredients that most of us don’t gravitate towards when feeding kids… like okra, pesto, tuna and spinach (and if you DO gravitate towards those, extra points for you ;), but I was happy with the help this book has given me through the years). Enjoy! NOTE: When I made this recipe, I forgot to count how many meatballs it yields so I don’t have specific stats yet. Over the next few days I’ll make it again and do a count so I’ll be able to give you guys exact stats. It’s super low carb though, so if you are really strict in your carb count on any given day, I am convinced that you won’t mess up that count if you add this recipe to your daily menu:)
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 lb ground turkey (substitutions can be ground chicken, but also ground beef, or a mix of sausage and ground beef).
- 1/4 cup pesto
- 1/4 cup ground flaxseed (flaxseed meal)
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups of your favorite low carb tomato sauce
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F.
- Place the turkey, pesto, flaxseed meal, cheese and salt in a large bowl and use clean hands to combine them all.
- Using about 1 tablespoon per meatball, roll the mixture into balls and set them aside on a plate.
- Pour the tomato sauce into a 9×9 inch baking pan and lay the meatballs evenly over the sauce.
- Cover the baking with foil and bake for 20-25 minutes, until cooked through. (mine took 25 minutes, but I have noticed with my oven, I always have to adhere to the longest time described in a recipe).
What I’ve learned…
- The sort of ground meat you use is completely interchangeable in a lot of recipes. It all depends on what flavor you like. My family likes a mix or ground pork and beef best.
- When a non keto recipe asks for breadcrumbs as a filler, you can use flax seed meal as a substitute. When the breadcrumbs are used for a crunchy outer layer, the most common substitute is ground pork rinds.
- When you are low on inspiration for your keto cooking, try looking in non keto cookbooks. There are tons of low carbs gems hidden in regular cook books!
Source: “Weelicious” by Catherine McCord. Get it here
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