(A Slightly Late) Simple Supper Monday, Vol 45: Beef and Quinoa Meatballs

I had an absolutely CRAZY weekend! Hubby and I took Little Chica to visit some great friends, Brad and Amanda, in Charlottesville, VA. Brad and Hubby have been friends for many years (we all went to high school together), and were both in each other's wedding. There are far too many stories involving the two of them, most of which are not appropriate to share on this blog. Amanda came into my life when she married Brad. And she is a keeper! Amanda is a fun, smart and extremely hilarious friend.

Brad and Amanda. Aren't they cute?

I stole this off of Amanda's Facebook profile. I couldn't resist.

Quintessential picture of Hubby (front) and Brad (next to/behind Hubby). I'm not sure what is happening here, but I'm sure there is an inappropriate story behind it.

Yeah. We love them.

So, we set out to get to Brad and Amanda's on Friday evening. Thinking it would be easy to transfer her from car to bed once we arrived, we started the road trip around Little Chica's bedtime. Our hope was that she'd fall asleep during the ride, and seemlessly stay asleep when we arrived and put her in her pack-n-play.

We were wrong.

We arrived, bleary-eyed, at 12:30am. And, for whatever reason, Little Chica woke up. I mean woke up. And would not go back to bed. For several hours. It took a lot of finessing, but finally around 4:30am, I got her to fall back asleep. I felt like I was back to having a newborn! Augh!

You can imagine this lack of sleep on the first night threw off the rest of the weekend: a cranky toddler, sleepy parents, and a toddler completely off of her schedule in unfamiliar surroundings.

To top it off, Saturday night, our dear friend (and host), Brad got food poisoning and spent the better part of the night/early morning puking his guts up. We are thankful that after Saturday night, he woke up feeling better (and Little Chica got a good night's sleep). Sunday was much better (despite another round of bad night sleep for Little Chica) and the ride home was perfect.

I am exhausted.

All that to say, I did not get to post a Simple Supper recipe yesterday. So I will make up for it today (and check back later this evening or tomorrow morning for a Meatless Meal recipe as well).

This recipe was served to us by Brad's wife, Amanda, while we were visiting. She actually made this for dinner Saturday night, but Brad was too sick to eat it. I can't say enough what amazing hosts Brad and Amanda were: Brad was sick for an entire evening, and they had to deal with a crazy 18 month old who never quits. They were generous, gracious and a lot of fun. Thank you, Brad and Amanda! We love you guys!

So, Amanda (who is a fantastic cook) got this recipe from Whole Food Markets, who sends out recipes via their e-newsletters. I was skeptical at first, but after tasting this meal, I COULD NOT GET ENOUGH. I just got back from grocery shopping, and will be making this meal again later this week. I also might experiment in making this a meatless meal, but let's not get ahead of ourselves.

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Simple Supper Monday

Whole Food Market's

Beef and Quinoa Meatballs

• Nonstick cooking spray
• 1 pound (95-percent) lean ground beef
• 3/4 cup cooked quinoa
• 1/4 cup finely chopped onions
• 1/4 cup grated carrots
• 1/4 cup grated zucchini
• 2 tablespoons ketchup
• 1 tablespoon chopped garlic
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 egg

Preheat oven to 500°F. Line a large baking sheet with foil then grease with cooking spray; set aside.

In a large bowl, mix together beef, quinoa, onions, carrots, zucchini, ketchup, garlic, soy sauce, pepper, salt, oregano, thyme and egg until well combined. Shape beef mixture into 16 balls and transfer to prepared baking sheet. Roast until cooked through and golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes. Serve hot.

(Note: To cook quinoa, bring 1 cup water to a boil in a small pot. Pour in ½ cup quinoa, cover and simmer until water is absorbed, 10 to 12 minutes. Set aside off of the heat for 10 minutes then fluff with a fork. Makes about 1 1/2 cups.)

(Nutrition facts per serving (about 4oz/113g-wt.): 150 calories (45 from fat), 5g total fat, 2g saturated fat, 75mg cholesterol, 470mg sodium, 8g total carbohydrate (1g dietary fiber, 2g sugar), 17g protein)

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These meatballs smell amazing as they are cooking. I love that they are chock-full of healthy ingredients, and much better for you than regular meatballs. This might taste good shaped into a meat loaf as well!

Amanda served this alongside spaghetti with a homemade tomato cream sauce (which I will post in the very near future because it was so stinkin' good). The next day, we enjoyed them in hoagie rolls smothered with extra sauce. As I stated earlier, I want to experiment with some ground beef substitutes to make this into a meatless meal. As I work on it, I will post my results!

If you try this recipe, let me know how it turns out for you. I'm still on the prowl for NEW Simple Supper recipes! Please send them my way - as I'd love to try them and post them (if you send me a recipe, send me a picture of yourself or a bio paragraph so I can post a bit about you - we love knowing where/who my food is coming from)!

Stay tuned for more recipes and posts throughout the week!

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