Baked Chicken Meatball Parm

Have I mentioned that my kids love meatballs?  All kinds - beef, pork, turkey, chicken.  What's not to love, right?  You can make them out of anything, season them up how you like, mix and roll up the ingredients and pop them in the oven.  Boom!  Dinner (or meal prep) comes together so quickly! 

These little babies are unbelievably tender and so flavorful!  They are perfect for when you get a craving for Italian comfort food but not all the fat and calories that go with it.  Oh, and wait... did I mention that these are easy, healthy, AND budget friendly?  Winner winner chicken dinner!  There are a plethora of recipes out there for these.  That's how much people love them.  I made a gluten free version so my peeps with sensitivities could enjoy them, but you feel free to add your own variations.   For my meal prep friends, I served these with lemon-butter zoodles or green beans.  I wanted to keep a low carb, clean, healthy vibe happening.  

#glutenfree #lowcarb #cleaneating #diabeticfriendly #kidfriendly #budgetfriendly #easy #italian #dinner #mealprep #lunchprep #baked #chicken

Ingredients: (4-6 servings)

* Tip - every time I made meatballs, I double the recipe.  That's why you will see a different quantity in the photos.  You pretty much spend the same amount of time mixing, baking, etc., and end up with an extra set to freeze for later.  This recipe is for a single batch.

Meatballs  (4 dozen, 1/2" meatballs) 

• 1 pound ground chicken
• 1 large egg 
• 3 Tbsp plain oatmeal 
• feel free to use breadcrumbs, but oatmeal is a gluten free option and is also a much healthier option
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese  
• please grate it straight from the block, not that cheap stuff in the can.  This will have a much better taste.
• 1/4 cup marinara
• 1 Tbsp garlic paste (~ 3 cloves garlic, very finely minced)
• 1 Tbsp worcestershire sauce 
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp Italian seasoning
• 1/2 tsp dried basil
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1/8 tsp red pepper flakes 

Sauce and Stuff 

• 1 1/2 cup marinara sauce
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella
• fresh basil, snipped into thin ribbons 

Step-by-Step: 

Prep - Preheat oven first to 375F, because this goes pretty quickly.   Line baking sheets with parchment paper for easy cleanup. 

In a large bowl (because it's easier to mix in a big bowl) mix together ground chicken with all the other ingredients listed under "meatballs."  I apologize in advance that some of the pictures are a little out of focus.  My camera was spazzing out.  Sigh. #reallife 

1 pound ground chicken
1 large egg 

3 Tbsp oatmeal

1/4 cup marinara 

1 Tbsp minced garlic

1 Tbsp worcestershire 

1 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp dried basil 

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1 tsp black pepper 

1 tsp Italian seasoning

1/8 tsp red pepper flakes 

1/4 cup fresh grated Parm 

 With clean hands, combine until well mixed.

Using a 1/2 oz cookie scoop, scoop out meatballs and roll into smooth balls.  This works best if you have wet hands.  This is a really moist mixture and the water will help you roll them quickly without the meat sticking to your hands.  This is a great job to have some help with.  It's not necessary, but makes the process go really quick.  I person scoops, the other rolls.  Place the rolled meatballs on parchment, evenly spaced.   You don't need to worry about them spreading out, but you don't want them to touch.  Using the cookie scoop allows you to have evenly portioned meatballs that will all have the same cooking time.  

Pop them into the oven at 375F x 20 minutes.  They will firm right up. 

While they are baking, spread about 1/2 cup of marinara in the bottom of a casserole dish.  A 9"x 13" x 2" dish should do perfectly. 

I used a "traditional pasta sauce" from a can that I like, but feel free to use your favorite brand or homemade sauce.   

1/2 cup marinara

When meatballs come out of the oven, nestle them down into the sauce in the casserole dish.  Spread remaining marinara over the top of them.  We want to keep them moist and not allow them to dry out.  

1 cup marinara

Sprinkle shredded mozzarella over the top. Return them to the oven at 375F for another 15 minutes.  We are now just getting all those flavors to come together and allow the cheese to get ooey gooey and bubbly.    

1 cup grated mozzarella 

In the last 5 minutes of baking, sprinkle the shredded basil over the top.

handful of fresh basil ribbons

Serve with your favorite side - pasta, lemon butter zoodles (zucchini noodles) or green beans, broccoli, etc.  If you want to add a salad and bread, there's your complete meal.  

Yumm.  Can you just taste it now?  Warm Italian spices wrapped up in a bite sized morsel of tenderness and let's be honest... sauce and cheese!  

Best of all, there's no guilt!  It only TASTES sinfully dreamy. 

If you do meal prep for your people, this is definitely a great option!

Even your traditional beef eaters will be happy with these. 

Bonus Recipes - 

Egg Roll in a Bowl with Creamy Sriracha Sauce - 

#keto #lowcarb #highprotein #paleo #whole30  #diabeticfriendly #cleaneating #glutenfree #dairyfree   #asian #pork

Mango Avocado Caribbean Jerk Chicken Meal Prep -

#mealprep #glutenfree #dairyfree #easy #familyfriendly

Options for #paleo #whole30 

Asian Inspired Ginger Sesame Turkey Meatballs with Teriyaki Glaze - 

#baked #glutenfree #highprotein #lowfat #mealprep #cleaneating #asian #turkeymeatballs 

#menumusings #kidfriendly

Classic Cobb Salad -

 #cleaneating #glutenfree #salad #chicken #healthy

Pan Seared Chicken in Tarragon Cream Sauce - 

#cleaneating #glutenfree #french #chicken 

Written Method:

Prep - Preheat oven first to 375F, because this goes pretty quickly.   Line baking sheets with parchment paper for easy cleanup. 

In a large bowl (because it's easier to mix in a big bowl) mix together ground chicken with all the other ingredients listed under "meatballs."  I apologize in advance that some of the pictures are a little out of focus.  My camera was spazzing out.  Sigh. #reallife 

With clean hands, combine until well mixed.

Using a 1/2 oz cookie scoop, scoop out meatballs and roll into smooth balls.  This works best if you have wet hands.  This is a really moist filling and the water will help you roll them quickly without the meat sticking to your hands.  This is a great job to have some help with.  It's not necessary, but makes the process go really quick.  I person scoops, the other rolls.  Place the rolled meatballs on parchment, evenly spaced.   You don't need to worry about them spreading out, but you don't want them to touch.  Using the cookie scoop allows you to have evenly portioned meatballs that will all have the same cooking time.  

Pop them into the oven at 375F x 20 minutes.  They will firm right up.  While they are baking, spread about 1/2 cup of marinara in the bottom of a casserole dish.  A 9"x 13" x 2" dish should do perfectly. 

I used a "traditional pasta sauce" from a can that I like, but feel free to use your favorite brand or homemade sauce.   

When meatballs come out of the oven, nestle them down into the sauce in the casserole dish.  Spread remaining marinara over the top of them.  We want to keep them moist and not allow them to dry out.  Sprinkle shredded mozzarella over the top. 

Return them to the oven at 375F for another 15 minutes.  We are now just getting all those flavors to come together and allow the cheese to get ooey gooey and bubbly.  In the last 5 minutes of baking, sprinkle the shredded basil over the top. 

Serve with your favorite side - pasta, lemon butter zoodles (zucchini noodles) or green beans, broccoli, etc.  If you want to add a salad and bread, there's your complete meal. 

Sausage Stuffed French Toast

I'm almost embarrassed to even post this, because it's not even a real recipe.  Several friends asked me to post it, however, so here it is.  It's a well known fact that I have "food A.D.D."  I love familiar, comforting foods with a twist.  I also love a good sweet and salty combination - any time of the day!  

I was just hungry for something different on a lazy summer morning and decided to put a couple of my family's favorite things together - good smoky sausage and french toast.  

The awesome thing about this, is you probably have all this stuff in your kitchen right now as we speak.  Yep.  Basic stuff... as breakfast typically tends to be.  One of my kids asked if it could be made with pieces of yummy crunchy bacon.  Sure.  Knock yourself out with whatever variation you prefer.  

 #easy #quick #breakfast #comfortfood #familyfriendly #frenchtoast #sausage

Ingredients: 

This is a concept, not an exact recipe.  I didn't measure anything as I'm assuming everyone knows how to make french toast.

• 3 large eggs
• Milk of choice - I probably used 1/2 cup or so
• Sugar of choice - I only used one small scoop because I don't like it very sweet
• Vanilla - probably a teaspoon.  Use a good vanilla (Mexican, Dominican Republic, etc).
• Cinnamon - several good shakes
• 1/3 pound smoked pork sausage - adjust as needed.  Andouille would work here as well, but if you want to do something like chicken/apple sausage, go for it.  Whatever YOU prefer.
• A handful of frozen sweet peppers - red and yellow bell peppers.  I like them frozen for super quick and easy prep.  Plus the frozen ones cook down faster than fresh. 
• Oil of choice for pan frying.  I used coconut oil.
• Optional - syrup, honey, or powdered sugar as a topping

Step-by-Step:  

Mix your batter.  Whisk until all ingredients are incorporated and eggs are completely broken up.  Set batter aside.  For whatever reason, I usually make my french toast batter in a pie plate as they accommodate the bread nicely and are easy to deal with. 

Cut up sausage into bite sized pieces.

Saute sausage and peppers until peppers are soft and sausage has a little bit of color on them.  Set aside to cool while preparing bread.

We only buy wheat bread, but choose what is in your pantry.  Cut the crusts off of the bread, then roll the bread out flat.  Don't worry, it will puff back up.  White sandwich bread is usually more "square" but I don't ever have that on hand.  Turns out the rounded edge didn't make a difference. 

Add a spoon of sausage and peppers to the bread.  Maybe 1/4 cup?  I didn't measure.

Roll the bread around the filling and allow to rest on the "seam."

Get that batter all whisked up again to make sure the cinnamon and stuff is all mixed in.  Soak the rolled bread in the batter until bread is saturated.  Maybe a minute. 

I used virgin coconut oil in my pan.  To the hot oil, add the saturated rolls.  Keep heat fairly low.  Like medium/low-medium so the bread can get cooked through without getting overly brown first.  Put the seam side down first so it can get glued together from the batter and heat.  Ha

Using tongs, turn to brown on all sides.

Once browned on all sides, serve immediately with topping of choice.  I wanted breakfast syrup.

Yummm!  Breakfast with a twist. 

Oh.  One more option.  

If you have made this and it was well received, you could do this in a big casserole dish and bake them for several people at a time.  Roll the bread, add rolls to dish, pour batter over the tops, cover and let soak (even overnight).  The next morning, just bake until done.  This is how I've done my Overnight Stuffed French Toast Roll Ups in the past.