DEWPS: A Dietary Journey Part 2 Spaghetti and Meatballs

I recently started a dairy free, egg free, wheat free, peanut free, soy free diet with my 1 year old who is allergic to all of these things, (You can read that whole story, here). The only reason I started it was because he was still nursing. Then about 5 days into the diet, he decided he was done nursing. Gee thanks, kid, for making me go through the withdrawals from wheat and dairy just to quit nursing. However, instead of going to attack the block of cheese in my fridge, I decided I liked how I felt and to stick with it for at least 4 weeks.

Today is day 11. (Update: I procrastinated getting this posted so it's actually Day 16, but who's counting, eh?) (Update #2: My computer wasn't cooperating and I couldn't get the pictures to upload so it's actually day 17 #bloggingfail) So far it's been the hardest since I got over the withdrawal hump. I just really really want some rosemary olive oil bread, or a cheesy pizza, or a cheeseburger from The Pharmacy. Oy. In an effort to scratch the pasta/bread itch, we are having spaghetti and meatballs for dinner. We are using gluten free spaghetti made from rice and quinoa. As far as the meatballs go, I had a hard time finding a recipe online that was DEWPS friendly. It seemed like if you took out egg, they added wheat, and vice versa.  So I concocted my own recipe.

I made a really big crockpot size batch of sauce and meatballs since we like leftovers around here.

"Mmmm, this is good, Momma!"

"If I don't eat it all in one bite, it might disappear..."

DEWPS Stupid Good Spaghetti Sauce w/ Meatballs

SAUCE:
4 big cans crushed tomatoes
1 small can tomato paste
5-6 cloves of garlic, minced
2 Tbs olive oil
1/4- 1/3 cup dry red wine (optional)
1 1/2 tsp each of parsley, basil, and oregano (fresh herbs make this even better, but I use dried most of the time)
1tsp. salt, more to taste
3/4 tsp pepper, more to taste

Dump all of this is your crockpot with seared meatballs (recipe below) and cook on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 4 hours, stirring occasionally.

MEATBALLS:
3 1/2 (ish) pounds of ground beef (for added flavor, sub a pound of the beef with Italian sausage)
1/8-1/4 cup chicken broth
2 TBS olive oil
2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
11/2 tsp. each of parsley, oregano, and basil
1/2 tsp. onion powder (next time I want to try grated fresh onions)

In a large bowl, mix ground beef with chicken broth and olive oil with your hands until you can form a meatball that holds together well. Mix salt, pepper, parsley, oregano, basil, and onion powder in a separate small bowl and incorporate into the meat with your hands. (You could technically do all this mixing with your stand mixer but its easy to over mix and then you have tough meatballs. That would be no good). Now, roll out your meat into cute little cocktail sized meatballs.

Heat a couple more tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat in an iron skillet, and sear the outside of your meatballs, before dropping them into your sauce to finish cooking in the crockpot.

When the meatballs are cooked through and the alcohol has cooked out of the sauce, boil up some gluten free spaghetti, add a side salad, and ENJOY!

"Nom Nom Nom!"

"Can I has some more, pwease?"

Happy Eating!

-JRae