Stress Busting Gluten-Free Turkey Meatballs with Sun-Dried Tomato Sauce
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Flax meal binds these babies together the way eggs might (sub in an egg for the flaxseeds if you don’t have any). In small amounts, eleuthero and ashwagandha help the body regulate stress and maintain balance (happy adrenals make for a happy mama). In these amounts, they don’t add any discernible taste but improve my health in ways I can feel.
Author:
Serves: 4 servings
Ingredients
Sun-Dried Tomato Sauce
  • 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 large onion, chopped
  • Reserved chopped chard stems
  • 6 garlic cloves, minced
  • 2½ pounds vine-ripened tomatoes, chopped
  • 6 or 7 oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, drained and chopped
  • ½ cup thinly sliced fresh basil, plus more for garnish
  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano
  • 2 teaspoons ashwagandha
  • 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
  • ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
Gluten-Free Turkey Meatballs
  • 1 pound ground turkey
  • 1 cup finely chopped baby spinach
  • 1 small carrot, peeled and finely shredded
  • 1 shallot, minced
  • 5 garlic cloves, minced
  • ¼ cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
  • 2 tablespoons flax meal
  • 2 teaspoons salt-free Italian seasoning
  • 1½ teaspoons dried (not ground) eleuthero (see herb note in post above)
  • 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
  • ½ teaspoon ashwagandha (see herb note in post above)
  • ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • Cooked brown rice spaghetti noodles or other organic gluten-free noodles (such as spiralized sweet potatoes or "zoodles"), for serving
Instructions
For the Sun-Dried Tomato Sauce
  1. In a 4-quart saucepan, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring, until translucent, about 6 minutes.
  2. Add the chard stems and garlic and cook for about 2 minutes.
  3. Add the tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, basil, oregano, ashwagandha, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover, and simmer until the sauce thickens, about 15 minutes.
For the Gluten-Free Turkey Meatballs
  1. In a large bowl, combine the turkey, spinach, carrot, shallot, garlic, parsley, flax meal, Italian seasoning, eleuthero, salt, ashwagandha, and pepper and mix well.
  2. Form the mixture into walnut-sized balls.
  3. In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Working in batches, brown the meatballs until golden, turning occasionally, 5 to 6 minutes total.
  4. Gently lower the gluten-free turkey meatballs into the simmering tomato sauce. Simmer until the meatballs absorb some of the sauce and soften, about 50 to 60 minutes.
  5. Serve over the noodles.
Notes
Recipes and Photography from TWO MOMS IN THE RAW by Shari Koolik Leidich. Copyright © 2015 by Shari Koolik Leidich. Used by permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Recipe by Go Dairy Free at https://www.godairyfree.org/recipes/low-stress-gluten-free-turkey-meatballs