Easy Crockpot Meatballs

Get your crock pot out today! This is a super easy recipe and the leftovers are wonderful.

Ingredients
1 ½ lb ground beef
½ crushed spelt or kamut flakes
2 eggs
¼ cup raw milk
2T grated Parmesan cheese/or 2T finely shredded raw cheese
salt

1 Tablespoon Italian seasoning
¼ teaspoon pepper
1 t minced garlic
1 (6 oz) can tomato paste
2 cups beef broth
salt
½ t dried oregano
½ t dried basil
1 red, yellow, orange bell pepper-sliced in slivers

Instructions:
In large bowl, combine beef with spelt flakes, eggs, milk, cheese, ½ teaspoon salt, pepper, and garlic and Italian seasoning. Form into 2-inch balls. Place meatballs in bottom of slow cooker. Combine tomato paste, broth, 1 teaspoons salt, oregano and basil. Pour mixture over meat. Cover and cook on Low 4 ½ to 5 hours. An hour before the meatballs are done, add the peppers on top. Serve over Kamut noodles or brown rice noodles. Yummy!

Tips: Where can you find these spelt/kamut flakes (Arrowhead Mills) and noodles (Eden organic pasta company) Spelt and Kamut flakes can be found at HEB, Krogers (in the health food section), and Whole Foods. They are in a box and look similar to corn flakes. Crushed up they are a great replacement for bread crumbs in any recipe. The Kamut noodles (spirals) are found sometimes at Wal-Mart or at your local health food store. The brand of brown rice noodles that I recommend are called Tinkyada can be found at Krogers (in the health food section) as well as HEB and Whole Foods. There is a brand of spelt noodles that are great tasting called Vita Spelt and can be found at HEB, Whole Foods, and Krogers.

Something to ponder! With Easter this past Sunday I had several friends ask me "what do you put in your Easter eggs since you don't give your kids candy?" We always have a fun Easter egg hunt for our kids and they are always so excited to find the eggs and then eventually open them. So, my answer to her was the following "This year I found some cute small toy animals from Target in the dollar aisle, stickers, tattoos, and loose change." My oldest is three years old and it was so thrilling for him to get spider man tattoos and he loved all the little farm animals. I am finding that it does not take much to thrill little ones. I was impressed with Casons classmates this year because he came home from his Easter egg hunt with eggs filled with plastic bugs, play dough, and stickers.

I recently found an article that stated that "Americans now consume 2-3 pounds of sugar a week! In the last 20 years, we have increased sugar consumption in the U.S. from 26 pounds to 135 lbs. of sugar per person per year! Prior to the turn of this century (1887-1890), the average consumption was only 5 lbs. per person per year!" If you look at the trends of obesity and childhood illnesses, these statistics make perfect sense. Yes, I know that sweets taste so yummy, but lets get real here. Thats alot of sugar that our bodies don't need. Many of my friends are trying to change their families eating habits because their health has been declining and they are wanting to make a change in their lifestyles. This is a great tip to remember for holidays where candy seems to be the highlight. Honey, maple syrup, and agave nectar are wonderful substitutes for refined sugar. Avoid sugar substitutes...the ones in the blue, yellow, and pink packets!

Have a blessed week and enjoy the meatballs.