Last weekend, I had the urge to have meatballs with red sauce.  This isn’t something I’ve ever really craved, nor is it something I have in my cooking arsenal. My dad always made homemade sauce growing up, but I had never learned to make it. An Ex and I used to make his uncle’s Sunday Gravy recipe a few times a year, but again, never really learned the recipe, nor did we make meatballs.

I also really wanted to be able to put them into the crockpot while I ran errands and did things around the house.  I turned to Pinterest (of course) and found a recipe for paleo meatballs done in the crockpot. Lik e usual, I liked parts of the recipe, but had my own ideas, and a few hours later, I had a delicious pot of meatballs and red sauce all my own.

I have since also frozen them, and reheated, and it works really well. So you can create a stockpile of frozen meals that just need to be reheated for weeks when meal prep doesn’t happen, you just need some healthy comfort food, or just to have on hand.

Turkey & Red Bean Meatballs with Red Sauce
Makes 8 servings
Calories: 263 kCal
Fat: 6g
Carbs: 27g
Fiber: 8g
Protein: 26g

Ingredients

Instructions

1) Mix all meatball ingredients in a large bowl. Heat large saute pan that has been coated with olive oil spray to medium-high heat. Form balls and put into pan, and cook until browned on the outside.

2) While meatballs are browning, add all sauce ingredients into crock pot that has also been coated with olive oil spray. Mix together and add meatballs when browned.

3) Turn crock pot onto medium to high heat, and cook for 3-4 hours. If sauce needs thickening, add more tomato paste, or a tbsp of almond meal.

4) Serve with base of choice. They work nicely with spaghetti squash, pasta, or roasted vegetables.