What would a healthified comfort food blog be without home cooked sauce and meatballs? Back home, we're famously known for our our sauce and meatballs so for me, and most of my family nothing is more comfort food than that. I owe a lot of my love and pride for food, cooking and feeding people I care for to my NaNa. To us, and our culture, feeding people is a hands on way of showing your love. My NaNa was one of those people so rare, so special that she just left people in awe. She had a way about her like nothing I have ever seen, and her love was so powerful and infectious that she lit up everyone she knew. She herself strengthened us all, and we all harbored a comfort in her that was unexplainable. She was the most incredible person I've ever been blessed enough to know and learn from, not to mention a cook like you can only dream of. It always amazed me how she could make a meal out of anything, and it was always so delicious. Much of her love was shown through making sure we were all fed, fed a lot and fed well. To this day no person has had as big of a hold and impact on me and my life as she has and not a day goes by I don't think of her and whole heartedly miss her. Nine years ago today, my life was forever changed. It is with great love and pride and a new fueled passion for health and healing I dedicate today and the rest of my life to helping people prevent such devastating diseases like cancer.RIP my NaNa, love and miss you with all my heart.
Sauce:
1/2 Onion
Olive Oil
Mild Italian Chicken Sausage (or any kind of sausage that's not pork based and has no nitrates)
2 28oz Cans of Organic Kitchen Ready Ground Peeled Tomatoes
4 6oz cans Organic Tomato Paste
4-6 cloves of Garlic
1/2 tsp Black Pepper
1/2 tsp Sea Salt
2 tablespoons minced garlic
Instructions: Coat the bottom of a sauce pan (stock pot) with olive oil on low heat. Cut half of an onion in half and instead of salt pork place however many sausage links you want to flavor it (3-6), and your garlic cloves in the bottom. Allow time for the ingredients to brown up and catch. As they are browning, add salt and pepper. Once the garlic has softened, you can mash it down with a fork if desired.
Before adding the tomato in, you can either remove the garlic or leave it in. Open and add in both cans of kitchen ready ground peeled tomatoes. Fill one of the emptied cans with purified water and add into the pan. Stir and bring to a slow boil, not changing from low heat. Once the acid is boiled out (you'll see a lighter collection at the top of the sauce as shown below), add in your tomato paste. Fill up two of those cans with purified water and add to the sauce. Add two heaping spoonfuls of minced garlic. Continue to stir occasionally for about an hour until cooked through, making sure it doesn't catch and burn on bottom.
Meatballs
1lb of Ground Grass-fed beef or Natural Ground Turkey
Parmesan Cheese
Dried Parsley
2 Vegetarian Fed Eggs
Minced Garlic
Optional:
almond flour & italian seasonings
I did this two ways, both were good but I prefer the just cheese one.
Meatballs without bread crumbs:In a medium or large mixing bowl place 1lb of meat down. On each side, add in parmesan cheese to a little over the thickness of the meat, generosity can never go wrong when it's cheese ;). Take about one or two handfuls of dried parsley and crush it in your hand as you sprinkle it over the mix. Scoop two tablespoons of minced garlic, and do the same, making sure to spread out evenly. Crack and add two eggs. If you want, you can sprinkle with a little garlic salt, but not really necessary. Mix with hands until evenly distributed. Roll into meatballs and drizzle with olive oil and bake at 350, or fry in coconut or grapeseed oil.
Meatballs with home made "bread crumbs":In my taste testing, the ones above were preffered but both were delicious. If you don't like the idea of meatballs without bread crumbs, try this. In a medium or large mixing bowl place 1lb of meat down. On one side add in parmesan cheese to a little over the thickness of the meat, on the other do the same with almond flour seasoned with italian seasoning. Take about one or two handfuls of dried parsley and crush it in your hand as you sprinkle it over the mix. Scoop two tablespoons of minced garlic, and do the same, making sure to spread out evenly. Crack and add two eggs. If you want, you can sprinkle with a little garlic salt, but not really necessary. Mix with hands until evenly distributed. Roll into meatballs and drizzle with olive oil and bake at 350, or fry in coconut or grapeseed oil.
Pasta options:
-With a spiraler, grater or carrot peeler cut zucchini into pasta strands, cover in sauce, meat balls, sausage and parm cheese. Surprisingly accurate pasta substitute, very delicious!
- spagetti squash
Why not pasta? Pasta, even wheat pasta turns directly into sugar in your mouth within seconds. Sugar is like throwing gasoline on a fire when it comes to cancer, and everyone has cancer cells in their body so the more exposure to sugar and carbs, the more you are spreading and growing those cancer cells. Sugar is also the primary cause of obesity, dibetes and at the root of nearly every disease because it is inflammatory and makes the body acidic, all disease thrives in acidic conditions. Good news is, this alternative is super delicious and satisfying, my best friend didn't even know the difference. You can make chicken as a base too, see instructions below and look out for an upcoming chicken parm recipe :)
Chicken: Cut hormone free, vegetarian fed chicken breasts thinly. Whip a few eggs with salt and pepper. Season almond flour with garlic powder, onion powder, parsley, salt and pepper. Dip chicken in egg then bread in almond flour, bake or fry in coconut or grapeseed oil. Serve with sauce over it and melted motzerella for a quick healthy chicken parm!
