Italian-Style Turkey Meatballs – Slow Cooker Thursday

Please, please pray for my friends Andrea and Cari.  They are both amazing women that I love dearly.

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Last night I made a gluten free/dairy free version of the turkey meatballs from Chick in the Kitchen and used extra veggies in the sauce.  I also increased the gluten free bread crumbs to extend the meat I had and to make them softer for my sweetie with braces.  I added an extra egg and cooked them on high hoping to set the meatballs sooner so less meat would be lost from the meat balls.  I seems to have worked for us.  Thanks, Dara.

For more Slow Cooking Thursday recipes go over to Sandra’s blog.

Slow Cooker Italian-Style Turkey Meatballs from Dara of Chick in the Kitchen

I adapted to what I had at home and to be GFCF…

Note: I use a 6-quart crock pot

2 lbs lean ground turkey  (I used 20 oz pkg.  ground turkey)
1 egg                                    (I used 2 eggs)
1/4 c. fine, plain dry gluten free breadcrumbs

( and I also added:  1/3 cup soft breadcrumbs – I used a Noah’s Roll bun I had)
1/3 c. fresh parsley, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, minced (instead of garlic powder)
1/2 tsp. dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme (I added)
ground black pepper to taste (about 6 turns of the grinder)
1 26-oz. jar of your favorite marinara sauce (I used homemade – about 1 1/2 jars worth -we like sauce)

Add all ingredients — except for the sauce — to a large bowl, and mix with your hands until well-combined.

Roll meat into golf ball-sized balls, and layer into the bottom of your slow cooker. (2 lbs. of meat makes about 28 meatballs, and not quite 2 layers of meatballs in my 6-quart crock pot.) (Angela’s note:  I did not have that much meat, so had less meatballs.)  Pour the jar of sauce over the meatballs so they are completely covered.  (I had 2 cups shredded zucchini laying around, so put that in the bottom of my crock, then put one layer of meatballs on top of zucchini.  I then poured one jar of sauce on bottom layer, added the rest of the meatballs, the 1/2 jar of sauce to cover 2nd skimpy layer of meatballs.)

Place lid on your slow cooker and cook on LOW for 4 hours.  (I cooked on high for 3 hours.)