Family Chow Hall

Meatballs with Garden Vegetable Sauce

March 30th, 2006

I’m one-hundred-percent positive that I am not the only mother on this planet who has a hard time getting their children to eat and love vegetables. No matter if it’s salad, spinach, green beans, peas, lima beans, etc. — someone at my table is not going to be happy about it.

My reaction? I just smile and tell them they have to eat it. Or go see if we have some carrots in the fridge. You see, those high-fiber, nutrient-rich vegetables are so important for them, I don’t budge. They have to eat some. Every day.

Now, I try to make their veggies just as appealing as I possibly can. I make cheese sauce for their broccoli. I let them dip their carrots in Ranch Dressing. Depending on the vegetable, I might add cream sauce, butter, salt, pepper, bacon, or brown sugar.

I invite you to send me your “Hey!-my-kids-eat-this!” vegetable recipes. I’d like to gather more vegetable recipes for myself and also post them for my readers. From soups to salads, send me your kids’ favorites. Submit recipes to my email box: cheryl@familychowhall.com. Thanks!

Last night we were planning to have meatballs for supper. I decided to add some finely chopped veggies to the sauce in order to add a few extra vitamins and some bonus fiber. This is the recipe that I came up with:

Garden Meatballs
serves 8 / prep. time: 30 minutes / cook. time: 45 minutes

Meatballs:
2 lb. ground beef
1 egg
1 stale heel of bread
salt and pepper

Combine all and form into balls. Fry in a large skillet with a little olive oil. Gently turn as they brown. When well browned on all sides, move to a casserole dish.

Sauce:
2 cans tomato sauce
1 large carrot or 4 baby carrots
2 stalks celery
1/2 onion
1/2 zucchini
2 T. olive oil
1/2 t. basil
1 t. parsley
salt and pepper
1 T. sugar

Finely chop the carrots, celery, onion, and zucchini. In a large skillet or saucepan, saute the vegetables in oil until tender, about 10 minutes. Add the tomato sauce and the other ingredients. Simmer for another 10 minutes - this will allow the flavors to blend nicely. Pour over the meatballs, cover with a lid or foil, and bake in a 375 oven for 30 minutes or more.

I served this with some whole-wheat spaghetti and grated parmesan cheese, but it is just as yummy when served in a bun with some mozzarella — a meatball sub.

Eat Well to Live Better

Entry Filed under: Beef, Recipes, Supper