Spaghetti & Meatballs
Who doesn’t love spaghetti and meatballs? Well, I’m sure there are a few of you and come to think of it, my son is a member of that crowd. This post isn’t for them, it’s for you, the person living a low-carb lifestyle but missing spaghetti and meatballs.
Let’s get this straight right from the start, NO I am not talking about traditional spaghetti. Don’t get cranky, you KNOW that won’t work as part of your new, healthy, low-sugar lifestyle so don’t pretend, even to yourself that you thought I was going to give the o.k. for flour based pasta.
Low-Carb Spaghetti
My go-to, low-carb ‘spaghetti’ is spaghetti squash. Another great option is zoodles, spiralized zucchini. It is zucchini season and this is a great way to use up all that fresh zucchini. If by chance you aren’t growing zucchini check your local grocery store, I do believe you can buy pre-zoodled zucchini these days.
Meatballs
The recipe for this post is really about the meatballs. Low-carb meatballs. I always think meatballs are low-carb but then I remember that traditionally people put breadcrumbs or flour or some grain based thing in meatballs. Those would not necessarily be low-carb. Turns out, you don’t need breadcrumbs or flour or whatever in your meatballs. They are super tasty as just MEATballs. I tend to change up my meatball recipe regularly. It really depends on what I’m in the mood for and what I have hanging around in my fridge.
Mediterranean Meatballs
Todays recipe is for what I call my Mediterranean meatballs. Anytime I add kalamata olives and feta cheese to something I refer to it as ‘mediterranean’ ; ) You can make these meatballs or use this recipe as a guide and make up your own meatball mix. In this particular mixture I also added flax meal. I do that sometimes when working with ground meat. It’s a nice way to easily add a little flax meal into the diet without anyone knowing you added it.
Here are a few tid-bits about flaxseed or flax meal (ground flaxseed):
- loaded with healthy omega 3 fats which help to reduce inflammation in the body, improve brain function and may even be protective when it comes to cancer and diabetes.
- full of healthy nutrients like thiamin, magnesium, phosphorus, manganese
- full of both soluble and insoluble fiber
- 1 tablespoon contains 1.3 grams of protein
- there are studies showing that eating flaxseeds may have a positive impact on both cholesterol and blood pressure
- flax helps you feel full, reducing the feelings of hunger
Instant Pot – Favorite Cooking Method
I make these meatballs in my Instant Pot Pressure cooker but you can cook them in a pot on the stove in sauce or bake them in the oven. Basically, make them the way you like to make meatballs. I like the Instant Pot because it’s quick and easy. If you don’t know what an Instant Pot is you can click on my Amazon affiliate link and check it out. We love the this pressure cooker so much we actually have two, an 8 quart and a 6 quart. The 6 quart is probably good for 2-4 people unless you’re big eaters and also like a lot of leftovers. We are both of those things hence the 8 quart. I often use both at the same time. 6 quart for the meatballs and 8 quart to quickly cook the spaghetti squash while the meatballs are cooking. Below is my blurb about my affiliate program.
Often I will add a link to a product/item that I love. This link is typically an amazon affiliate marketing link. If you choose to follow one of my links, I will earn a small commission from Amazon at no additional cost to you. Please don’t feel pressure to buy through my links, they are there for your convenience. If they help point you to a product that you prefer to buy from a favorite retailer that also works : ) If you do click through, thank you, I truly appreciate your support.
Finally, The Recipe
Low Carb Mediterranean Meatballs
Serving of 3 meatballs: 435 calories, 33 g Fat, 4.2 g Carbs, 1.8 g Fiber, 2.4 g Net Carbs, 31.5 g Protein
Sorry about the ingredients being by weight. This is the only way I can really get close to accurate nutritional information.
The data above is for the meatballs alone. You need to add carb counts for the spaghetti squash and the tomato sauce.
Here is are some suggestions, you can adjust the numbers based on your serving size: 1 cup cooked/baked spaghetti squash = 8 net carbs, 42 calories AND 1/4 cup of Rao's Sensitive Formula Sauce = 1 net carb, 55 calories
Notes
Go crazy, spice these the way you like. Use meats you like. I often do a mix of ground beef, ground lamb and ground turkey. Be creative.
The pressure cooker only takes 8 mins. but it does take some time for it to come to pressure so your meatballs will take more than 8 mins. Good to keep in mind when you're planning when to eat ; )
The serving size and nutritional info. is, again, for 1 meatball. I think this makes it easy to figure out your carb, fat, protein count - decide how many meatballs you want and then do the math.
Ingredients
- 2 lbs. Ground Lamb (use whatever meat you like)
- 3 ounces Feta Cheese
- 2.5 ounces Pitted Kalamata Olives
- 2 ounces Baby Spinach
- 3.5 ounces Chopped Red Onion (shallots work well too)
- 1/2 ounce of Minced Garlic
- 2 1/2 Tablespoons of Golden Flaxseed Meal
- 1 tsp. Dried Thyme
- 1 tsp. Dried Rosemary
- 1 tsp. Dried Oregano
- Salt & Pepper to taste
- 1 tablespoon of Olive Oil (optional)
Instructions
- Mix all ingredients together
- Roll into Golf Ball sized Meatballs - I usually get about 22 meatballs
- Turn Pressure cooker to Sautee (optional)
- Add the tablespoon of olive oil and allow to heat up
- Brown meatballs in batches
- Once all meatballs have been browned, add them back to the instant pot and turn pot to manual, high pressure for 8 minutes.
- Pour a jar of Rao's Homemade Sensitive Formula Marinara Sauce all over the meatballs
- At the end of 8 minutes, manually release the pressure
- Open pot and serve the meatballs and sauce over cooked spaghetti squash, sautéed zoodles or just eat and enjoy
- The olive oil & sauté is optional, you can just place all the meatballs in the pressure cooker, cover with sauce and cook. I cook them both ways, sometimes browned, sometimes not. Delicious either way.
Nutrition Facts
Low Carb Mediterranean Meatballs
Serves:
|
Amount Per Serving: 1
|
||
|---|---|---|
| Calories | 145 | |
| % Daily Value* | ||
| Total Fat 11 | 16.9% | |
| Saturated Fat | 0 | |
| Trans Fat | ||
| Cholesterol | 0 | |
| Sodium | 0 | |
| Total Carbohydrate 1.4 | 0.3% | |
| Dietary Fiber .6 | 0% | |
| Sugars .4 | ||
| Protein 10.5 | ||
| Vitamin A | Vitamin C | |
| Calcium | Iron | |
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.
The Simplicity of Wellness
This recipe is yet another small change you can make to start moving toward a low-sugar, low-carb lifestyle. The more small steps you take to remove sugar from your diet the easier and easier it is to make the choice to not eat foods high in sugar. Again, we all know eating cake, cookies and candy isn’t good for us but what’s I’m talking about is the high sugar foods that we’ve all been told ARE good for us like whole grains, fruit, beans. Not necessarily bad foods BUT if you are trying to kick a sugar habit or if you are battling a health condition those foods are not good for you. They raise your blood sugar which raises your insulin and too much insulin is inflammatory. If you want to get better, quit the high sugar foods.
If you’d like more information about what to eat to avoid high sugar foods please download my free guide: 3 Key Tips on How to Low Carb for Life. You’ll learn which foods you need to eliminate and which foods you should enjoy, like fat. You’ll also learn a little bit about fasting. Fill out your information below and your download will magically appear in our email : )
Be well,
I’m Amy a board certified holistic nutritionist, certified functional nutritionist and lifestyle practitioner and certified Life Coach. I help women in midlife understand the changing needs of their body so that they can stop dieting and lose weight permanently. At 56 I live what I teach. Don’t believe the story that your best years are behind you. They are not. Your best years are just starting!