Homemade Veggie Meatballs

So I hear complaints every day from other moms that their children will only eat hot dogs and chicken nuggets. They try and serve delicious foods for every meal only to have them turned down. Many kids are just downright refusing to eat anything at all. It sounds like many parents are struggling with getting their kids to enjoy food.

Eating is definitely an interesting one for children. It is said that the greater the variety of foods you eat while you are pregnant, breastfeeding, and serve your children before they turn 1, the better the chance that they will be open to eating new foods when they are older. having children myself, I know that they go through phases of only eating blueberries for 2 weeks, and then only eating potatoes for another 3 weeks…

Picky eating is definitely normal for kids, but when they get older, every parent wants to know that their children are making good food choices and are healthy because of it. No one wishes sickness and nutrition issues for their kids. Unfortunately from the very beginning, most Americans are eating so many processed and refined foods, that kids are getting addicted to the sugar and flavorings in foods, which turn them off to more toned down flavors like green beans and tomatoes.

Even before children turn 1 year, they are being served processed baby food in jars that is chock full of sugar and other flavorings and food dyes. It’s no wonder that when given a real banana or carrot, they snub their noses. They would much rather eat the more flavorful fruit snacks, artificially flavored chips, and processed chicken nuggets. Even ketchup and ranch, typically given to kids to make their food taste better, is full of sugar.

If we could just make better tasting recipes and stop filling our homes with sugar-laden items, there would be a big change in the food requests around mealtimes. For instance, I took regular meatballs, already flavorful and highly requested, and added carrots and other veggies. I’m not a big fan of hiding vegetables so my family is tricked into eating them, but getting them involved in the food preparation process and letting them see how delicious it is.

Let me show you!

Start by blending up your chosen veggies in the food processor and then dump them into your mixing bowl. I used carrots, broccoli and brussel sprouts this time.

Add in all of your other ingredients.

And mix. Roll 2 tablespoon sized balls and lay them out on your cookie sheets evenly.

Pop them into the oven.

Bake for 15 minutes.

Related Recipes:
The Best Ever Brown Sugar Meatloaf recipe
Easier Than You’d Think Shepherd’s Pie
The Best Ever Salisbury Steak recipe

Now it’s your turn!

Ingredients

1lb raw hamburger meat
2 1/2 cups veggies (carrot, zucchini, broccoli, celery, bell pepper, onion, brussel sprouts, asparagus…)
1/2 teaspoon pink Himalayan salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 egg

Instructions

1.Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
2. Choose 2-3 veggies that you would like in your meatballs. Carrots tend to be really sweet and work well in all of these veggie mix recipes.
3. If you have a food processor, this is a fantastic tool for blending up all of your veggies really small.
4. After blending, dump them into your bowl.
5. Now add in all of your other ingredients and mix well. You may need to do this with your hands.
6. Form 2 tablespoon sized amounts into balls and lay them out evenly on your cookie sheets.
7. Slide them into the oven and bake for 15 minutes.
8. I typically make a bunch of them ahead of time and keep them in a storage bag in the freezer to use whenever we need them. I would then recommend heating them up in your sauce of choice when you’re ready to use them.

Oddly, when you get your kids involved and they start learning what ingredients are included in your various dishes, they will be more likely to eat them. You could even take it a notch up and start growing some of your most used items in pots on the windowsill or outside on the porch and they’ll be even more invested.

My “wouldn’t eat veggies if my wife wasn’t making them” husband actually loves these meatballs and my toddler requests them quite often for dinner. If necessary you could even toss in a tablespoon or two of coconut sugar if you thought that would help your family make the switch to better foods a little easier. I had a friend that was trying to make the switch from processed foods, make these meatballs for her family with spinach the other night, and she had a great deal of success.

Eating healthy doesn’t have to be difficult or require a great deal of effort on your part. These simple veggie meatballs can be made in about 20 minutes tops, while you are cooking your pasta and heating up some of your homemade pasta sauce. If you make these ahead of time like I do, and pop them in the freezer, dinner can be made in even less time. And these will easily show you that a healthy dinner doesn’t have to be bland and boring either. All of the bright flavors in this dish will awaken your senses and change your mind about eating better.

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