Want to know a fun fact about me? I didn’t try a meatball until I was 26 years old.

Growing up, I was the PICKIEST eater. My rotation consisted of chicken cutlets, french fries, watermelon and pasta with butter.

Balanced, no?

I had it in my head that I was scared of textures. And, I do think there is something to this but it wasn’t until I started slowly pushing myself out of my comfort zone (mostly because I found myself in social situations that forced me to expand my palette), did I start to see what I was missing out on. A whole world of food with different textures that I had been closed off too for so long.

For anyone who’s a picky eater, I get it! Start slowly, and try things more than one time! It might take a few attempts to decide if you like something and remember that different people and restaurants prepare foods differently so always try something more than once!

Pro tip: If you’re really nervous about trying new foods, have a glass of wine or a cocktail first, grab what I call a “chaser food”, AKA, something you can quickly shove down your throat if the taste test goes awry.

Anyway, now that I like meatballs, I wanted to get original with them.

Most recipes use bread crumbs but I know that many of my clients are looking for lower carb alternatives and I found that almond flour works really well to bind the meatballs in place of bread crumbs. And, it makes them gluten free!

I also bake my meatballs rather than pan frying them to save on oil. I’d rather save the fat in the cooking process and add cheese after!

Mangia!

Easy Low Carb Chicken Meatballs

Serves: 5

Ingredients:

• ¼ cup Almond Flour

• ¼ cup Unsweetened Original Almond Milk

• 1 egg

• 2 tbsp Fresh Chives, Chopped

• 2 tbsp Fresh Parsley, Chopped

• 2 Garlic Cloves, Minced

• ½ tsp Oregano, Dried

• ½ tsp Kosher Salt

• ¼ tsp Ground Black Pepper

• ½ cup Grated Parmesan Cheese

• 1 small onion, diced

• 1 zucchini, shredded

• 1 Carrot, Shredded

• 1 lb 99% Fat Free ground chicken breast

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F

2. In a bowl, combine almond flour and almond milk and mix.

3. Add the egg, chives, parsley, garlic, oregano, salt, pepper and parmesan cheese. Whisk together until combined.

4. Mix in the onion, zucchini and carrot.

5. Add in ground chicken breast and use spoon to break up chicken until mixture is well combined.

6. Spray large baking sheet with propellant-free nonstick cooking spray

7. Form the mixture into meatballs (about 2 tablespoons each) and place on prepared baking sheet. Recipe makes ~15 meatballs.

8. Bake for 30 minutes, or until meatballs are cooked through and have browned.

Notes:

1. This recipe makes ~15 meatballs

2. The meatballs freeze well so feel free to portion these out and freeze in individual servings

3. You can substitute any meat in place of turkey if you’d like

4. If you don’t have almond flour, you can use bread crumbs instead

Nutrition Facts (per 1 Serving, 3 meatballs): 195 Calories, 6 g Fat, 4 g Carbohydrate, 1 g Fiber, 28 g Protein