Enchilada Meatballs - SRC

Happy Belated Mothers Day to all of you dedicated, terrific moms.  I hope your day was full of blessings with your family.  

We have a Mother's Day tradition of going out for Mexican food around dinner time. It all started the first year we were in Virginia, which was my first Mother's Day as a mom.  We were originally going to the Outback for dinner, but upon discovering the wait was 2 hours, we changed our mind real quick on that one.  

A quick drive around that part of town revealed that all the restaurants were packed to the gills.  

We had a 6 month old with us....and waiting super long was not an option.  We ended up deciding to try this small Mexican restaurant in another part of town and were delighted to get seated right away, served quickly, had a delicious meal, and even got 1/2 price for my meal.  Oh, and a free dessert for me.  :)  And I just remembered - Corban drank from a straw for the first time at the restaurant that night.  We were so impressed at such a young baby doing that.  

We were out of there and home watching the season finale of Survivor (yes, I'm an addict) before we even would have been seated at the Outback.  

So our tradition has continued to this day.  And I love it! 

This year we got the pleasure of being with my parents and younger sister also, which made it even better.  

Tex-Mex cuisine has always been a favorite of mine, and fortunately Grant and the kids agree.  So it wasn't hard to pick something fun like Enchilada Meatballs for my Secret Recipe Club feature this month.

  

My assigned blog was Angela's Kitchen, which is an amazing resource for anyone looking for gluten-free or dairy-free recipes.  Angela is quite the expert in gluten and dairy free recipe development and living and teaches classes, consults, and speaks in various outlets.  

She has lots of recipes that interest me......such as Sundried Tomato Stuffed Chicken,  Teriyaki Chicken,

and Better Than Nutrigrain Bars...and even plenty of baked goods, although most of those required specialty ingredients that I don't have on hand.  

I did not make these meatballs gluten free or dairy free - I had my regular cornbread leftover from dinner the night before and I used real cheddar cheese on top, but Angela's recipe will tell you how to do it if you desire. 

We loved the meatballs - they are moist and just a little spicy - which can be altered depending on what kind of enchilada sauce you use. They make a great dinner served with Mexican rice and a salad, or they would be a fun appetizer or hor d'oeurve for a party as well.  

Enchilada Meatballs

adapted from Angela's Kitchen

2 pounds ground turkey or beef

2 cups crumbled corn bread (I used leftovers of this recipe)

1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro (I omitted - hubby doesn't like it)

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. ground black pepper

2 cups enchilada sauce, divided (I used homemade from this recipe)

Shredded sharp cheddar cheese - optional

Preheat oven to 350°F.  

In a large bowl, mix together, ground turkey, corn bread, cilantro (if using), salt, pepper, and 1/2 cup enchilada sauce. Form into 1-inch meatballs with your hands, or use a medium cookie scoop, which I prefer.   Put meatballs on a rack on a rimmed baking sheet, or just line the sheet with foil and place the meatballs on that.  Bake for 15-20 minutes, until cooked through.  Put in a serving dish.

Heat remaining enchilada sauce and pour over meatballs.  Sprinkle with cheddar cheese and snipped cilantro if desired.  

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To freeze: After cooking, allow meatballs to cool completely.  Place in a large freezer bag, remove as much air as possible, seal, label, and freeze. Put remaining enchilada sauce in a smaller freezer bag, removing as much air as possible, seal, and freeze. Package both bags together.

To serve: Thaw.  Pour sauce over meatballs in a baking dish or sauce pan. Heat through.