Gluten Free Stuffed Meatballs

As I talked about in an earlier post, we went to a holiday celebration with a group of our friends last weekend.  I already posted the delicious Gluten Free Garlic Bread I made for the pot luck.  My husband and I enjoy cooking together, so he made Gluten Free Stuffed Meatballs.  This recipe was inspired by Rachael Ray.  We have made them before, but we have never made them completely gluten free.  They were delicious, so I thought that I would share what he did.

Mozzerella Stuffed Meatballs

Ingredients:
6 slices gluten free bread
3/4 cup milk
2lb ground beef
1 1/2 tbsp chopped garlic
1 tsp dried parsley
3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 tsp allspice
1 egg
salt and pepper
32 mini mozzarella balls
Drizzle of Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Preheat the oven the 425 degrees.

Take 6 slices of gluten free bread and tear them into small pieces.  Place them in a small bowl and cover with milk.  Make sure that the bread is submerged in the milk.  Put this off to the side.

In a large bowl, combine the ground beef, garlic, parsley, Parmesan cheese, allspice, egg, salt and pepper.  Then add the bread to the meat mixture.  It is important to squeeze out the excess milk from the soaking bread.  Use your hands to combine all of the ingredients together.

Divide the meat into quarters.  Then divide each quarter into quarters, giving you 16 sections.  Take a section and form a cup in your hand.  Place 2 mini mozzarella balls in the center, and then close the top of the cup.  This should give you a nice rounded meatball.  Repeat for each section.

Transfer the stuffed meatballs onto a cookie sheet, and drizzle extra virgin olive oil over all of the meatballs.  Place in pre-heated oven for 18 minutes or until golden brown.  They should be firm when you touch them.  Take them out of the oven and serve them immediately with tomato sauce.

We did not make a tomato sauce, because the hostess made her own tomato sauce for her contribution to the pot luck.  We served the meatballs covered in tomato sauce with gluten free spaghetti, salad, and the gluten free garlic bread.

When we make this in our kitchen, we serve everything a la carte.  My mother used to tell me that I needed to eat whatever she was serving for dinner, because she was not making anything else.  The only time I could have something different was when my mother cooked something spicy.  Those are the nights I got macaroni and cheese.  So, we adopted the principle that we are not running a restaurant in our kitchen.  We try to make dinners that everyone will eat, but everyone does not have to eat everything.  We have found that this works really well for us.  For instance, I am very careful of the grains I eat.  I can eat the meatballs covered in tomato sauce, salad, and a little garlic bread and be perfectly happy.  My kids do not like tomato sauce, so they prefer to eat the meatballs and spaghetti plain.  Now my husband is the easiest one of the bunch.  He just eats it all!  The important thing is that we are all together sharing food, sharing our day, and showing each other how much we love each other.

I hope you enjoy sharing this with your family.

-Cassidy