Perfect Paleo Meatball

What a busy couple of weeks it's been! I can't believe how fast October and November have flown by. Something about the dark freezing weather has got me craving Spaghetti and Meatballs, nothing like comfort food to warm the body up! Funny fact: I used to hate spaghetti with red sauce. I always asked my mom to put butter or alfredo on it when I was a kid. I don't know when that started to change but between high-school and college I started really enjoying a good home made Italian tomato sauce. So now with my healthy changes I switch to spaghetti squash instead of pasta and can still have my home made sauce and meatballs.

Meatballs have always been a tough one for me. I always tend to dry them out, or they don't taste fluffy enough. I read somewhere once that shredded carrots make it very juicy, so with that in mind I started coming up with a recipe that turned out to be the best meatballs I've ever made.

Recipe: Paleo Meatballs
1.5-2lb of ground beef (I got 85/15%)
1lb of ground italian sausage
1 carrot (shredded)
1 vidalia onion
Fresh Basil
1/2 c almond flour
2 eggs
3 cloves garlic
salt/pepper

Directions:In the food processor, I put a quartered onion, shredded carrot, garlic and handful of basil and blend until it was almost soup like. In a large bowl I add both the ground beef and italian sausage and start to incorporate it. To that I add the pureed onion/carrot/basil mixture, 2 eggs, salt and pepper. Once fully incorporated I added the almond flour mixed it in. Then I formed a bunch of golf ball sized meatballs! I decided to brown them first in a pan lightly seasoned with olive oil and then bake them in a pan for 25 min at 400 degrees. I put a little water at the bottom of the pan. I've hear a little wine could also enhance the flavor but I didn't have any. I finished them off by letting them sit in the sauce for another 10 minutes.

Served it on top of roasted spaghetti squash and some home made italian tomato sauce.

Paleo Crust..Primal Pizza

Prior to the paleo/primal lifestyle my Friday nights typically consisted of a nice large cheese pizza split with family and friends. In addition to the weekend night staple, it's been a family tradition that my dad continued with our family: When you receive your first pay check at a new job...you buy the pizza! I always thought that tradition was fun and since I was 15 bought pizza for friends and/or family to celebrate my first pay check at a new job. This past Friday I was in that scenario.. However, instead of having a cheat night, I bought all the ingredients to make a perfect paleo/primal pizza. The crust made from a mix of almond flour and arrow root starch held my toppings perfectly! I have made the cauliflower crust in the past, and though it was good, the process took much longer and the outcome is iffy and totally dependent on how well you can remove the water from the steamed cauliflower. This paleo crust was really simple and easy and came out better than I had hoped!

Paleo Pizza Crust

Recipe: Paleo Pizza Crust
2 cups Almond Flour
1 cup arrowroot powder
1.5 tsp baking powder
1.5 tsp salt
1.5 tsp oregano
1.5 tsp rosemary
2 tbsp garlic powder
pepper to taste
3 eggs
1/2 cup almond milk

Directions:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Grease pan (round or square depending on shape you'd like or have) Combine all the try ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix together -- make sure to break up all clumps (my almond flour always has a few clumps in it.) Add your eggs and almond milk to the dry mix and whisk together until fully blended. Just an FYI this will be the consistency of a thick batter. Pour this on to your greased pan and spread with spoon or spatula to get the shape you want. I used a cookie sheet and didn't quite get it to the edges so that I could have a slightly thicker crust.  Bake in the oven for around 10 minutes. Note that the thicker the crust the more time you'll need to bake so depending on your desired crust thickness will be your cooking time.

After your crust is done you can add your desired pizza toppings and put back in the oven for 10-15 min. I personally decided to go the primal route and add some mozzarella cheese to my pizza along with some home made marinara, onions, and pepperoni. If I thought ahead a little more I would've probably added some peppers and sausage to this! Yum!