Baby Meatballs

Ingredients

2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil

1/2 cup white mushrooms finely chopped

1 medium carrot finely grated

1 pound lean ground beef

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1 large egg

1/3 cup old-fashioned oats

Directions

Steps 1 + 2:

Start by getting your produce chopped and grated. Then preheat the oven and begin sauteing your mushrooms and carrots in the olive oil.

Steps 3 + 4:

Add the cooked veggies into the ground beef, spices, and egg bowl. Mix together, then add in the oats.

Steps 5 + 6:

Once meatball mixture is combined, spray baking sheet or large casserole pans and roll meat mixture into ½-ounce meatballs (yielding about 42 mini meatballs.) Place in oven and cook until internal temperature reaches 160 degrees F (or about 18 to 20 minutes.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a medium sauté pan, sauté olive oil with chopped mushrooms and. grated carrots over medium heat for about 5 minutes. Remove from heat.

Transfer to a large bowl and mix with the ground beef, spices, and egg. Mix together until uniformly combined, then add in the oats and mix again.

Spray two large baking sheets, or two 9 x 13-inch casserole pans, with a light olive oil mist. Portion meatball mixture into ½-ounce balls and place on sheet. Repeat until all meatball mixture is used (this should be about42 meatballs give or take based on the ½-ounce portion.)

Place in the preheated oven and cook for 20 minutes, or until internal temperature reads 160 degrees F. Remove and let cool before serving.

For beginner eaters following the baby led weaning approach, serve1 to 2 meatballs with a slice of avocado covered in hemp seeds. Consider serving with my Avocado Pesto Sauce for a fun, flavored-filled, nutrient-rich dip.

While I haven’t tested this without the egg, if your child has an egg allergy, consider making a flax egg to provide a similar result.

Baby Meatballs are best stored in the refrigerator or freezer in an air-tight container. If in the refrigerator, use within 5 days; if in the freezer, use within 3 months.

Expert Tips

This Baby Meatballs Recipe is pretty simple so for my exhausted mamas out there, you don’t have to worry about messing this up. The biggest thing to remember is making sure the mushrooms and carrots are finely chopped and grated so they are the appropriate portion sizes in the meatballs.

If you prefer to use a varying binder other than the oats, I suggest using either infant fortified cereal or garbanzo bean flour.

You can make this in a bigger batch, too, and freeze for later so you can just pull out and enjoy!

Notes

Serving Size Notes:

Per Child: 2 Baby Meatballs

Per Adult: 6 Baby Meatballs