While I have to be honest and say that I don’t eat much meat (this is one reason I love cooking quinoa), the rest of my family does. While my four and five year old boys like quinoa, but they aren’t about go vegetarian any time soon. So, what better way to get them eating healthy than put quinoa in their meat? (Pretty tricky, huh?)
I must confess that I am not above hiding healthy food in places that they least suspect it. (Hence the flax seeds here!) I know a lot of people are against this and feel we should be more honest with our children, but it has worked for me. In fact, from the time Alex and Christian were toddlers, Jessica Seinfield’s Deceptively Delicious cookbook has been a staple in my house. If you have little ones who fight eating healthy, I highly recommend that you pick it up. I made the boys Ice Cream Sandwich’s from this cookbook last week and they are already gone!
Luckily, now that they are a little bit pasted the toddler stage my boys are much more interested in eating healthy, so it is less about hiding the food and more about getting them something that they actually like. (Thank goodness for Quinoa Recipes!)
If you try these meatballs for your children, there are a couple of things to keep in mind. The chief meat eater in my house (Alex) has a very sophisticated palate. By the time he was two his dad was feeding him foods that were even too hot for me. If you have children that have simpler tastes, I would leave off the garlic and cut the goat cheese by half. Sometimes instead of adding carrots, will use shredded zucchini instead.
The inspiration from this quinoa grain recipe came from Clean Eating magazine, which is my all time healthy eating favorite! They always have great ideas for cooking with quinoa!
Quinoa Goat Cheese Meatballs
½ lb ground beef, extra lean
½ lb ground turkey
1 cup cooked quinoa ( I like to use my steam cooker or microwave rice cooker.)
1/3 cup parsley, chopped
2 oz goat cheese, crumbled
2 tsp garlic
2 T flaxseeds, ground
1/3 cup shredded carrots
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp pepper
Directions
- Combine beef, turkey, quinoa, parsley, goat cheese, flax seed, carrots, garlic, salt and pepper in a food processor. Pulse until combined.
- Coat hands with olive oil and form into 24 meatballs. Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes.
Now you can cook quinoa your kids will enjoy!
