Another crock pot meal! There is nothing better than coming home after a long day and having a healthy, hot dinner ready for you. I am such a morning person, so crock pot meals were basically made for me since I have all the energy in the world first thing in the morning, then it slowly dwindles are dinner approaches. Anyone else?! I also love coffee, which may be why I love morning so much.
I’ve been trying to create more crock pot meals for you guys, and this one is pretty delicious. I love Italian sausage so instead of seasoning ground beef or turkey with Italian seasonings, I thought I would just buy the pre-spiced sausage. I added egg, almond meal and fresh parsley to the ground sausage and then created little meatballs. I seared them on each side for a couple of minutes just to get some extra flavor and help them hold up in the crock pot all day and they were SO good.
We served ours over spaghetti squash noodles, but use what you have on hand! Zoodles would be great (sweet potato, zucchini) or your favorite gluten free pasta. You guys will love this perfect kid and adult friendly meal!
- 1 lb ground, uncooked italian sausage (see notes below)
- 1 egg
- 1/3 c almond flour (see notes for a nut-free option)
- 1/2 c fresh parsley - chopped
- 2 garlic cloves - minced
- 1 tbsp coconut oil
- 1 1/2 jars of your favorite marinara (see notes)
- In a large bowl, combine your whisked eggs, ground sausage, parsley and almond meal (using your hands makes this very easy, but a wooden spoon works too)
- Using a large cookie scoop, or your hands, create 1 inch wide meatballs and place onto a cookie sheet or plate
- Preheat a large skillet on medium-high heat and allow the coconut oil to melt (but don't let it get too hot)
- Add the meatballs to the pan and sear them on both sides, until golden brown (about 2 minutes on each side)
- Add the jar of marinara, minced garlic cloves and the meatballs to your crock pot and cook on low for 8 hours
- Serve over gluten free pasta, spiralized zucchini or sweet potatoes or spaghetti squash
- To make the meatballs nut-free, use a gluten-free flour mix instead of the almond meal - my favorite is Bob's Red Mill brand
- If your grocery store doesn't have bulk raw italian sausage, buy raw italian sausage that is already in casings, and remove the sausage. (kind of gross, but it works!)
- I said to use 1 1/2 jars of marinara because I noticed my sauce cooked down a lot while it cooked all day and I wanted more.
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