Crockpot meatballs with fall veggies.

I don't know about you, but I love fall veggies. Almost as much as I love cold weather and hoodies. And ragweed dying.

The veggies in the fall are tasty as well as nutritious.  They are packed with vitamins, and come in a variety of vibrant colors.  I feel like every year I discover a veggie I never heard of before, and I fall in love all over again. Last year I found watermelon radishes which are amazing. This year.... Purple sweet potatoes stole my heart.  I love purple carrots, so I figured, why not? I wasn't wrong :)

Today I decided to make meatballs and sauce, but to put a fall spin on them.  I have some purple carrots from my South Shore Organics delivery, as well as purple sweet potatoes that I bought in their store (if you don't get delivery from them you need to stop reading and set it up, if you're in this area. You will not be disappointed!!). I also had pumpkins that I roasted and pureed.  So exciting!









First, I cut up the raw veggies and put them in the food processor with the egg and pureed pumpkin.







Then added this to the grains and rolled into balls.



After they came out, I knew I was onto something :)














Then I put them in my homemade sauce that was in the crockpot already. I put a fall spin on that too with the extra pumpkin I had left.





I can't wait until dinner time tonight.  I plan to serve this over spaghetti squash for Daddy, D and me. Anth might want them without sauce and with sweet potatoes on the side. So I put some aside for him. We'll see how that goes!




Meatballs:

1 lb ground bison/buffalo/venison/extra lean beef
1 lb ground turkey
1 cup whole oats
1/2 cup cooked quinoa
1/4 cup cooked brown rice
1 medium purple sweet potato
1 large purple carrot
1/2 cup pureed roasted pumpkin
2 cloves garlic
1 farm fresh egg
1 tablespoon dried basil
1 tablespoon dried thyme
1/2 tsp sea salt



Preheat oven to 400.
Combine meats and grains in a metal bowl. Set aside
Place veggies and egg in food processor. Process until finely ground and combined.
Add to meat mixture.
Combine by hand (with gloves if desired) until fully combined.
Roll into small balls and place on broiler drip pan.
Cook for 15 minutes or until cooked through.
Add to sauce in crockpot. (See below)





Sauce:

1 small can tomato paste
1 cup pureed pumpkin
1 cup water
2 large cans crushed or kitchen ready tomatoes
2 large cloves garlic
Salt, pepper and basil to taste

Combine paste, pumpkin and water in crockpot and wisk together.
Add crushed tomatoes and spices.
Cook on high for 1 hour prior to adding meatballs.
Once meatballs are added, turn to low for 4 hours.

Serve over pasta or spaghetti squash.

Ginger Carrot Soup, the way I like it :)

So, since having my son, I have become much more cognizant of what I put in my body because, well frankly, I'm not gonna put just anything in his.  So, I've been doing more shopping at farmer's markets, health food stores, such as Good Health Natural Foods, and Whole Foods Market.  I recently took a friend to Good Health to see how awesome their selection is, and we happened upon ginger carrot soup, and I remembered making it a long time ago, but set out to perfect my recipe.  I am done, and here it is:

Ginger Carrot Soup (of course, gluten-free, soy-free, dairy-free)

4 tablespoons olive oil
1 diced onion
3 tablespoons minced garlic (or 4 cloves, crushed)
2 pounds peeled chopped organic carrots
5 generous tablespoons minced fresh organic ginger root.
4 cups vegetable stock
*I make my own with 36 ounces water, an onion, 2 carrots, 2 celery stalks, 3 or 4 tablespoons tomato paste and salt and pepper and I let it cook in the crock pot for 10 hours or so, and then strain out the veggies but store bought is ok too*
2 cups Silk Pure Almondmilk, unsweetened

Heat oil in a skillet and add onion and garlic.  Saute til both are cooked but not burned.  Add carrots and saute only til they are coated with the oil, then transfer all of this, plus the ginger to a soup pot along with the vegetable stock.  Bring to a boil, then immediately turn down to the minimum setting.  Leave to simmer until carrots are tender, about an hour.  Allow to cool for about 30 minutes.  Place in a food processor on the puree setting in stages until all of the soup is pureed.  Return to soup pot and add almondmilk.  Simmer for another 15 minutes, and serve hot. 

*I ate it all too fast to take a picture... Next time I eat it, I'll be sure to get out the camera before I get out my spoon :)
Enjoy!!