Easy Home Made Pasta Sauce + Baked Mini Turkey Meatballs - Dairy/Soy/Egg/Wheat Free

 We signed up for a food Co-op! We pay $15 every two weeks to get a laundry basket full of assorted fresh in-season fruits and vegetables! (You can find out if there's one in your area here BountifulBaskets.org).

 Anyway, with that said, we've ended up with some produce that we normally would not purchase, namely tomatoes. I hate tomatoes (HATE them!!), but I can eat them once processed, like in pasta sauce. Pasta sauce is so cheap that I usually just buy it in a jar, but since we a. are trying to get away from pre-packaged and processed foods and b. have a bunch of tomatoes to get rid of, I decided to try to make my own. It turned out to be surprisingly easy and so much tastier than purchased sauce. I think I may try to make some in a larger batch and can it. Hmmm...

Easy Pasta Sauce

1 tsp  olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 Tbsp minced garlic
2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp chopped fresh basil (or 1 tsp dried)
1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper
1/8 tsp sea salt
1 8 oz can tomato sauce
7 medium tomatoes, coarsely shopped and juices retained

In a medium sized saucepan, heat olive oil over medium high heat. Add onion and garlic and saute until onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Add in the remaining ingredients, including tomato juices, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer about 30 minutes.

Baked Mini Turkey Meatballs

16 oz 85% ground turkey (you can use leaner meat but you will have drier meatballs)
2/3 cup quick cooking oats (use GF oats if you choose)
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 Tbsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp chopped fresh basil

Pre heat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix all ingredients together in a bowl until just mixed. Do not over work the meat mixture or your meatballs may get tough!
Spread about 1 cup pasta sauce on a baking sheet.
Form the meat into balls about the size of large grapes (about 1 Tbsp meat each), to form about 30 meatballs, and place them evenly on the sauced baking sheet. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

You can then either serve this with your pasta sauce and pasta, or once cooled, place the entire cookie sheet in the freezer. After the meatballs are frozen you can place them in a freezer bag and reheat them in the oven, in boiling pasta sauce, or in the microwave!