Gluten-Free Meatballs

This recipe makes a <lot> of meatballs: mainly because I enjoy eating meatballs a lot more than I enjoy making and rolling them! Meatballs freeze well, you see. 😊

This recipe makes about 75 one-inch meatballs.

If you have copper baskets that will go in your oven, these worked better than anything else I’ve ever tried for meatballs:

If you don’t have copper baskets like these, I’d use a roasting pan.

GLUTEN-FREE MEATBALLS 

1lb ground turkey 

1lb 93% lean ground beef

1/2C Gluten Free Corn Flake Crumbs (I used the Southern Homestyle brand)

1/2C milk

4 eggs

3oz finely chopped ham 

1oz shredded Parmesan or Asiago cheese 

2T parsley

Garlic powder, to taste

Mix cornflakes and milk together in small bowl; let stand for a few minutes. Beat eggs with a fork in large bowl. Add in ground turkey and beef, ham, cheese, parsley, and garlic powder. Add cornflake-and-milk mixture. Mix all together well.

Preheat broiler. Roll into approximately 75 one-inch balls. 

Place meatballs in copper baskets on top of baking sheet. Broil 7 minutes or until cooked through and browned.

Serving Size: 4 meatballs

Calories per serving: 112

Homemade Ricotta (InstaPot)

This is absolutely so easy in an InstaPot you’re not even going to believe it. Truly. And SO good! 

I’m using it on a white pizza this week. It’d be good on pasta; in lasagna or wherever you’d buy ricotta at the store; on oatmeal with blueberries or diced almonds maybe; or as a spread with pine nuts and honey, or fresh rosemary and cracked pepper perhaps. Just some ideas off the top of my head, here. 

INSTAPOT RICOTTA

8 C milk

4 T white vinegar

Pour the milk into the Instapot and properly close the lid. Set it to Yogurt/Boil.

When the Instapot beeps, remove the inner pot to a trivet. Stir in the vinegar until you see the curds forming. Let sit ten minutes.

Drain in a colander covered with cheesecloth. Add salt if desired.

InstaPot Mashed Potatoes

 No pictures for the blog post this week, I'm afraid! But I wanted to get this blogged anyway, tonight, because I've got a new steamer basket for the Instapot and it worked bea-YOU-ti-fully for mashed potatoes!

INSTAPOT MASHED POTATOES

3lbs "waxy" potatoes (red or Yukon gold)

Water, to cover potatoes

Broth base or bouillon, optional

1/2 - 3/4C milk

Butter or margarine, to taste

Clean the potatoes and cut them into about 2" chunks. Add to the steamer basket inside the Instapot; add enough water to cover the potatoes. I like to add broth base to mine, too, I think it makes for more flavorful potatoes.

Properly close the lid and the exhaust. Start cooking under 'Pressure Cook' mode on high pressure for 10 minutes.

When cooking is done, release the pressure before opening the lid.

Pull the steamer basket out of the Instapot to drain. Add the butter and milk; mash with a hand potato masher or a handheld mixer. 

InstaPot Beef Stew

Seriously, if you’ve got a community college or culinary school that offers a knife-use class, you need to take it.

Two pounds of red potatoes, a pound of carrots, and a pound of beef ready for stew: not a scratch or cut did I GET. *Which is positively astounding, with my usual track record!

I olive-oil pan spray’d my Instapot before adding the garlic on the ‘Sauté’ function. Let that beat up, then add the beef, grind your salt and pepper, and I added parsley, crushed rosemary, and thyme. Brown all that together.

Add the beef broth (or water and broth base/bouillon) and use a wooden spoon to scrape up the brown bits from the bottom, if you have any. My InstaPot is so super-nonstick that I didn’t!

Add your carrots, potatoes, tomato sauce, and onion, if using. Stir well. Close the lid and the exhaust, and cook on ‘Manual’ on high pressure for 35 minutes.

Let the Instapot release pressure naturally for 10 minutes after the pressure cooking is done, then quick release. Make a slurry of 3 heaping tablespoons of cornstarch and half a cup of water. Pour that into the hot stew, and stir until thickened. 

INSTAPOT BEEF STEW

1 pound beef, cubed

2 pounds red potatoes, cubed

1 pounds baby carrots, halved

5 garlic cloves, minced

Onion (optional)

6 C beef broth, or broth base/bouillon equivalent 

Salt and pepper

1 t each parsley, crushed rosemary, and crushed thyme

1 C tomato sauce 

3 T cornstarch

1/2 C water

Prepare your beef and all your vegetables into bite-size pieces.

Spray your InstaPot with pan spray and add your garlic. Sauté until sizzling; then add beef, salt and pepper, and your herbs. Continue sautéing until browned, scraping up and browned bits if there are any.

Add broth, vegetables, and tomato sauce. Close the InstaPot lid and the exhaust. Set on Manual, high pressure, for 35 minutes. Let pressure release naturally for ten minutes, then quick release.
Make a slurry by whisking the cornstarch into the 1/2 C water. Stir into the hot stew until thickened.