It has been a few days since I last posted, to be honest it has been a bit of an emotional rollercoaster. The reason I am making mention of this is because we are all being put into situations out of our comfort zone and it helps to know that you are not alone at this time; even if you technically are. You will have ups and downs but don’t let the downs consume you. I committed to do yoga today and make time for my writing, as I know those things will lift my spirits.
We all need to plan at the minute, this will also reduce some anxiety or stress that you may be experiencing. I have drawn on some of the food prep we did before having the twins. In the weeks before going into labour I made a huge batch of meatballs and froze them, 50 meatballs in total. You can use them with tomato sauce and pasta, with noodles for an Asian twist or in a wrap with houmous. I mean there are probably more you can do but the above ideas demonstrate their versatility.
Ingredients:
| Pack of Mince (we use Turkey or Pork, but you can use Beef in you prefer) | Honey |
| 1 Small – Medium Onion finely chopped | Soy Sauce (Reduced salt or regular) |
| 1 slice of bread soaked in milk | Sesame oil |
| Fresh or dried parsley finely chopped | Coriander leaves |
| Paprika | Sesame seeds black and white |
| I didn’t add more spices, but you can add some cumin, graham masala | Dried Chilli flakes |
| Broccoli florets and carrot ribbons | Pepper |
This is a very straight forward recipe; feel free to add other flavors with spices or garlic powder if you prefer. You can also add some hidden vegetables such as red pepper, carrots or spinach. These are for the entire family and we will be using them in different meals so I kept it simple for us.
Method:
Add all the ingredients together in a bowl; the mince, bread, paprika, teaspoon of sesame oil and soy sauce and grind of pepper. We didn’t add salt as there is plenty of flavour without it and the glaze we used for the adult meal was salty enough. Mix it all with your hand until combined. I set it in the fridge until I had time to make the balls while Aria and Austin ate later in the day.
When forming the balls, I did a mixture of coating my hands with olive oil but then also wet them with water during to keep the meat from sticking to my hands. Take a spoon and scoop an amount that you are happy with and try keep it the same throughout. Ours were about the same as a 50p coin in diameter.
Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper, this reduces the amount of washing up and the balls will not stick to the tray. I also did a light spray of non-stick but that is not strictly necessary. Place your balls on the tray as you shape them, we chose to cook them all before freezing but you can also cover the tray with cling film and freeze them before bagging them up. With the babies we often need the food quickly so heating them through in a pan once defrosted works better for us.
Heat the oven to 190 degrees and cook for 15minutes, I turned mine and drained/ dried the juices halfway through, so they weren’t too wet. When it was the babies time to eat, I warmed them in the microwave and served with broccoli and Potato wedges. Confession a little bit of tomato sauce is a tasty treat now they are a bit bigger.
We made our dinner later and flash fried them in a pan to warm through. Put a bit of sesame oil, soy sauce and honey and chili flacks in a small pot and reduce till it becomes a sticky glaze, I rolled the balls in that and set them aside and mixed pre-prepared wholewheat noodles through the remaining glaze. Serve this with stir-fried carrots and broccoli or just plain. Top the noodle with our glazed meatballs and garnish with coriander and sesame seeds. It was super delicious and quick to prepare one the babies had gone to bed.
Create You Coaching 