I spend way too much time on Pinterest, recipe searching and frankly, just in general. It’s such a time suck. I think I’m getting on to find one thing and wind up spending an hour looking at nail polish colors. In our house, we’ve (and by we I mean my husband and me) are kind of over the same kid approved dinners (especially the gf/df ones). So I’m making an effort to find new ideas. I usually pop my main ingredients into Pinterest (“ground beef and zucchini”) and then peruse the options until I find something that catches my eye. I read the recipe and then wind up changing 70% of it, haha. I don’t know why, but I have never been good at following recipes when I cook. Even baking (which I know this is a HUGE no-no), I tend to wing it a bit. But cooking for me is feeling based. Most of the time it works out (yay me), occasionally it’s a miss. But since tonight was a success, I’m writing this down before I forget it!

Lemon Garlic Meatballs:

2 pounds lean organic ground beef

1 egg

1/2 cup parmesan cheese shreds (you could easily sub out vegan cheese and make this dairy free)

1/2 cup parmesan garlic dressing (this is my FAVORITE dressing, I get it at our local ACME grocery store – use a different dressing for dairy free!)

1/2 cup gluten free breadcrumbs

3 tbsp. minced garlic (I’m lazy and use the jar kind)

2 tbsp. fresh or dried parsley

1 tsp red pepper flakes

Lemon Sauce:

juice from one large lemon (approx. 1/2 cup)

1 beef bouillon cube

1/8 cup chili infused oil

Combine all the meatball ingredients and shape into 2 inch meatballs. Drizzle 1 tbsp. avocado oil on bottom of oven safe pan and add meatballs. Mix the ingredients for the lemon sauce well (really mush the bouillon cube) and drizzle over the meatballs. Place in oven at 350 degreed F for 30-35 min.

While meatballs are cooking, cook some gluten free spaghetti and the zucchini. I chopped the zucchini into small, thin pieces and sautéed with lemon infused oil, pink Himalayan sea salt (the only kind I use) and fresh cracked pepper.

Once the meatballs are done, remove from the oven and put the meatballs aside. Put the saucepan on the stove on high heat to cook down. Add 1-2 tsp corn starch to thicken and whisk. Take off the heat and drizzle over the meatballs. Serve and enjoy! This was a big hit with the entire gang (well minus one boy who suddenly doesn’t like zucchini anymore, surprise, surprise).

Let me know if you try this recipe and how it turns out for you!