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While I am a carbivore, my daughter is a total carnivore.  Luckily, there are some meals that we can agree upon.

My goal is always to get T to eat what we are eating.  I’d rather make one great meal than two time-pressed dinners.  And I love recipes that make multiple meals, are easy to portion and are portable.  These meatballs fit all of those prerequisites.

The first recipe comes from one of my favorite food blogs, Smitten Kitchen.  These meatballs have so much flavor.  It’s comfort food without feeling really heavy.  This is the perfect dinner, any night of the week, that the whole family will enjoy.

Lamb Meatballs with Feta and Lemon

Meatball Ingredients

• 3 to 8 tablespoons water (8 if you are going to brown them, 3 if you are not)
• 2 pounds ground lamb
• 1 large egg
• 1 1/4 cup breadcrumbs, fresh or plain, such as Panko
• 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
• 3/4 teaspoon table salt
• Pinch of red pepper flakes
• 2 small garlic cloves, minced
• 3 tablespoons chopped parsley
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• Zest of half a lemon
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

Sauce Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cup breadcrumbs, fresh or plain, such as Panko
• 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
• 3/4 teaspoon table salt
• Pinch of red pepper flakes
• 2 small garlic cloves, minced
• 3 tablespoons chopped parsley
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• Zest of half a lemon
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• Pinches of red pepper flakes (to taste)
• 1/3 cup pitted, chopped kalamata olives
• 1 tablespoon thinly sliced mint leaves, plus more for garnish (I omit)
• 2 tablespoons roughly chopped parsley, plus more for garnish
• Juice of one lemon
• 1/4 cup crumbled feta, for garnish
• *I also added an extra 16 oz can of tomatoes

Directions

If you plan don’t plan to brown the meatballs, use only 3 tablespoons water.  If you do, use all 8 tablespoons (1/2 cup).  In a large bowl, combine all meatball ingredients except oil, using a fork/hands.  Using wet hands, form mixture into small (1 1/2 to 2-inch diameter) meatballs; A large cookie scoop works well for easy sizing.

Brown meatballs

Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add olive oil and heat it through. Evenly space meatballs in pan and very carefully turn and roll them so that all sides become brown. Don’t worry if they don’t remain perfectly round or pieces become stuck to the pan; they will deliciously infuse the sauce. Drain meatballs on a paper towel-lined plate.

(If you prefer not to fry your meatballs before cooking them in the sauce, you can cook them right in the sauce — it will take about 10 minutes longer.)

Make sauce and finish cooking meatballs

Pour out all but 1 tablespoon fat from skillet and return to medium heat. Add onion and garlic and cook until they begin to soften, about 5 minutes. Add wine or vermouth and scrape up any bits stuck to the pan. Cook until the liquid almost disappears. Add tomatoes, oregano, lemon zest, salt, pepper flakes, olives, mint and parsley, and tomato paste. Bring mixture to a simmer and return meatballs to the pan. Cover with a lid and cook at the lowest simmer for 20 to 24 minutes, until meatballs are cooked through. Squeeze lemon juice over meatballs and sauce.

Serve

Sprinkle with additional olives, feta and herbs. I’ve served over orzo as well as cavatelli (pictured here).  I loved the texture of the cavatelli with the meatballs.

Via Self.com

The next recipe comes from Gwyneth Paltrow’s It’s All Good (pictured above). These meatballs are healthy, yet flavorful, and I love eating them over a bed of arugula with a shallot dressing.  For T, I just serve her the meatballs along side some veggies and she gobbles them up.

Turkey Meatballs

Meatball Ingredients

• 1 small onion, coarsely chopped
• 1 cup arugula, coarsely chopped
• 1/4 cup Italian parsley
• 2 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
• 8 fresh sage leaves
• 8 fresh basil leaves (fresh is ideal)
• Leaves from 4 sprigs thyme (fresh is ideal)
• Leaves from 1 sprig rosemary (fresh is ideal)
• 1 lb ground turkey
• 1 teaspoon coarse sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 4 cups Go-To Tomato Sauce* or store-bought spaghetti sauce
• 3 tablespoons olive oil

Directions

In a food processor, pulse onion, arugula, parsley, garlic, sage, basil, thyme and rosemary until finely chopped. In a bowl, combine onion-herb mixture with turkey, salt and pepper; mix with hands. Roll turkey mixture into 24 golf ball-sized meatballs. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, heat oil. Cook meatballs in batches in the skillet, flipping until browned on all sides (about 10 minutes).  If you aren’t making the sauce, I transfer the meatballs to a paper towel to drain.  After draining, I place them on a wax paper lined baking sheet and bake at 375 for 10/15 more minutes to make sure they are cooked through.

Shallot Dressing

This is my dressing and I just kind of wing it.  Please note, I am heavy-handed on the vinegar, so you may want to use less.

• 1 cup of olive oil
• 1 small shallot diced small
• ½ of a juiced lemon
• ¼ cut apple cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon honey
• Pinch of salt and pepper

*Check out Gwyneth’s book to make with her tomato sauce.

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I never imagined how much time and energy feeding a baby/todler would require.  My daughter’s next meal is always on my mind: What should I make?  Will she eat it?  Is it balanced?  Do I need to go back to the grocery store?  And I know a lot of other mothers feel the same was.  I’d love it if T ate everything that my husband and I eat, but unfortunately, she isn’t there yet, so her meals often involve preparing something separate.

Here are my two go-to meals that my daughter loves, but are also nutritionally balanced and make extra so that I can freeze the reserves.

Cecily’s Bolognese

My sister gave me this recipe and T LOVES it.  When she was a baby, I spooned it to her and then she started using her hands to feed herself (very messy), and now she is on to using a spoon (sort of).  This dish is really standing the test of time.  And, sometimes, my husband and I will eat it for dinner too (minus the immersion blending…)

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 lbs 85% lean ground beef
• 3 carrots, chopped
• 3 celery stalks, chopped
• 1 28 oz can diced tomatoes in sauce
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/2 med onion
• 1 tbsp tomato paste

*optional to add in 1/2 a cup of lacinato kale

P.S. I often double this recipe.

DIRECTIONS:

– Sweat the onions, garlic, carrots, and celery together.  Add in the meat and brown.  Stir in the tomatoes and tomato paste.  Simmer for 15-20 min, stirring.  Remove bay leaf.  Roughly purée with immersion blender.

* I serve with alphabet pasta (I buy at Whole Foods).

* Now that T is older, I add parmesan cheese on top.  I waited until she was older, due to the salt content.

* I freeze single size portions in this.

Sweet Potato Quinoa Patties

There are so many variations you can make with these patties and all of the combinations I have tried turned out; I’ve subbed baked chicken for the quinoa, added shredded carrots – you can’t go wrong. Instead of frying them, I have also tried baking them, but I don’t find them nearly as good.  These are also very portable, which is perfect when you need a meal and are on the run.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 large sweet potato – skins removed
• 1 cups cooked quinoa
• 1 cup cooked broccoli – then chop
• 3 eggs
• 3/4 cup parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup breadcrumbs
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1/4 cup yellow onion, diced
• 2 large cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh thyme (more to garnish)
• dash of sea salt/pepper
• 1 tbsp olive oil, plus more as needed

DIRECTIONS:

–  Prepare quinoa according to package instructions (I let the quinoa sprout first.  See here.)

– Preheat oven to 400 degrees, rub sweet potato with olive oil and pierce with fork.  Bake for 45 minutes or until soft.  In a large bowl, mash with a fork to remove all chunks.

– Add all other ingredients except for the olive oil, and combine well.

–  Form mixture into balls golf ball sized, flatten into a patty.  Cook in olive oil or grape seed oil.  Brown on both sides.  Remove and let drain on paper-towel lined plate.  Transfer to non-stick coated foil sheet for 15 minutes at 350.

*I serve topped with sour cream, which my daughter also loves.

*These freeze well.

Here is another take on the patties I found on Baby Led Weaning Ideas:

Zucchini Patties

Ingredients:

• 1 cup grated zucchini
• 1/3 cup shredded cheese
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 egg
• 2 tbsp chopped onion
• olive oil

DIRECTIONS:

– Grate zucchini until you get 1 cup’s worth

– In a bowl, mix all the ingredients except the oil

– Heat some oil in a pan on medium-low heat

– Scoop the mixture into the hot pan

– Fry in olive oil until golden brown