Of Meatballs and Mason Jars

I love comfort food. You love comfort food. We all love comfort food.  If I can’t have Sichuan, then warm and tomato-y is the call. I’ve perfected my gluten free meatballs, but adding them to a huge bowl of pasta is a bit heavy, so I like making a veggie-bake. Its like a pasta bake, but with innocuous vegetables. In the past I’ve used fresh cabbage, but lately I’m into frozen cauliflower.  Frozen cauliflower is cheap and easy. With a meatball cauliflower bake, you get filling food for far fewer calories and carbs. Its a win-win. Even if you layer it with some noodles, the veggies displace some of the pasta and it is just as satisfying.

I partnered* up with Classico and their CLASSICO® Italian Cuisine Kit for this dish and it turned out perfectly.  Classico is my all time favorite sauce. In my early 20’s, my favorite breakfast was a slice of toast with Classico sauce and sliced olives.  I’m still digging the Classico and olives, but my  toast is long gone. It is time for something a bit more sophisticated now.

Gluten Free Meatball Cauliflower Bake

Meatballs

• 2 lbs ground beef
• 1/4 cup tapioca starch
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup dried basil
• Olive oil for browning

Plus:

• 1 24oz jar Classico red sauce (I used the spicy tomato basil.)
• 1 20oz package frozen cauliflower florets
• 1/4 cup grated parmeseana
• 1/2 cup sliced green olives
• 1/4 cup kalamata olives

Mix beef, salt, garlic, tapioca,  eggs, basil in a bowl. Form mixture into balls by hand. Should make about 14 balls. Add a drizzle of olive oil to frying pan a brown meatballs in two batches. Lay cauliflower on bottom of roasting pan and line up meatballs over the top. Scatter olives among meatballs.  Top with Classico sauce and parmesan. Fill 1/3 of empty Classico jar with water and add it to the roasting pan.

Cover with foil and Bake at 375ºF for 90 minutes.

We paired this with a small portion of gluten free brown rice spaghetti.

I like the spicy tomato and Basil blend since it is close to my own homemade sauce, without all of the work of blanching all those tomatoes. Classico is one the few red sauces I can find that contains no soybean oil, which is a big plus. I really dislike the taste and mouth-feel of soybean oil.

And Now Reuse and Enjoy!

As a bonus, your Classico jar is so pretty, you can reuse it with a  reCAP top! (ReCAP is compatible with the 24oz Mason jar style of Classico.)

ReCAP has tops for creating pour spouts, spray bottles, pump bottles, and more! I filled a plastic food storage container with warm water and soaked my Classico jar overnight. The next morning the label peeled right off and a kitchen sponge easily took off the adhesive residue. I can use a spray ReCap for my homemade pest solution to keep my houseplants healthy. I also made my dish soap more convenient by putting it in a mason jar pump bottle. Pretty nifty! In fact, the mason jar pump bottle is far more attractive than our usual hand soap dispenser, so I am thinking of doing one for each bathroom as well.

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*Disclosure: I’ve partnered with CLASSICO® and reCAP® and received product, coupons, premium items and reader giveaway coupons as part of my participation. However, no payment was given or expected for posting about the program, and as always, all opinions given here are fully my own

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