meatballs for "omnivores"

We're moving in a new direction soon with food therapy. It will be up to us to keep the boy on track as we are moving into the parent phase of training. As in, we have to be trained to introduce new foods and maintain newly added foods to the boy's eating. Deep breath.

Our boy has been more adventurous lately - the willingness to try new things is continually amazing to me. After years of "no, I don't like it" without even a taste, a lick or a sniff, even. Apple cereal bars " can I try them Mum?" They got an ok, good even. Lavender honey at the market. A taste and a "can we get some?" I'll take it all.

We've moved on to meat during food sessions. Easy, portable, reheatable meat options. For me this has meant our version of meatballs or mini meatloaf muffins. Recently the boy decided that lamb was going to be his next meat option (instead of turkey or chicken). So initially I went with a lamb mixture I used to fill eggplants with for us (loosely based on a recipe from Ottolenghi's Jerusalem) but the boy balked at the nuts. So I made lamb meatballs and it worked a treat. Now I've got bags of beef, lamb, pork and turkey meatballs or mini muffins in my freezer. I guess parent training starts with those.

Mini meatleaf muffins
1 lb ground meat (beef, turkey, pork, lamb)
1/2 small onion, finely diced
smidge of garlic
salt and pepper
1 egg, beaten
1/2 c breadcrumbs
2 tbsp ketchup, chili sauce, pesto sauce or other flavoured sauce (for pork meatballs, I use BBQ sauce)

Add the ingredients to a bowl and loosely mix with your hands until all ingredients are incorporated. With a teaspoon or a teaspoon scoop, fill mini muffin tins with the mixture. I usually get 24 mini muffins with about 1 pound of meat. Bake at 400 deg F for 18-20 minutes. These freeze and reheat well.

pork and lamb meatballs from the freezer