Spicy Bison Meatballs

it was so difficult to keep my whole30 while staying with family this weekend. First, people just don't understand why I'm doing this. They're filled with reassuring comments on my weight and how I don't need to diet. They're beyond confused when I explain that I'm not doing this to lose weight, i'm doing it to feel good, to listen to my body, to become more conscientious.

That's the big one. I've found that if you're watching what you eat (abstaining from something in particular) you're much more aware of what you're eating in general. All my life, I've abstained from eating pork. This means I'm more likely to read an ingredients label or ask someone "what's in this?"

Over the years though I've gotten very good at scanning ingredients labels for those buzzwords without noticing anything else. Giving something up makes me more aware of what I'm reading when I scan these labels. My brother-in-law is allergic to nuts. All of the sudden my sister is careful to read all labels and ask all questions to make sure that food doesn't have nuts in it. She recently confided in me that she's shocked by what's in her food that she never bothered looking at before. I've experienced the same thing since discovering that I'm soy intollerant. You'd be amazed to find out just how much of your food is loaded with soybean oil. and just how much of that soybean oil is GMO.

Sidenote: I'm not against GMO on principal. I'm against putting things in my body that haven't been fully tested. I want to be told when I'm eating it and what it could do to me before I put it in my body.

Anyway, every couple of months I go through this cleansing Whole30 in order to force myself to pay closer attention. Paying attention to ingredients forces me to look closer at what I'm eating, where I'm eating, how much I'm moving around, what I do with my free time.

I'm telling you. Healthy eating is a slippery slope to healthy living.

Spicy Bison* Meatballs

Ingredients

• 2 lb ground bison beef

• 1 tbsp cumin

• 2 tbsp salt

• 2 tbsp pepper

• 2 tsp crushed red pepper

• 1 tbsp paprika

• 1 tbsp terragon

• 2 tbsp ground almond/almond flour

• 1 egg yolk

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F

2. Place ground bison in a medium bowl. Add all seasonings. Form a well in the center for egg yolk and mix together completely. Add almond flour and mix until combined.

3. Using your hands form 14 large or 20 small meatballs. Place on foil-lined, greased baking sheet.

4. a. If you plan to simmer meatballs in a tomato sauce, bake for 5 minutes then remove from oven. Place warm meatballs in large pot and allow to simmer on low for 30 minutes.

5. b. If you plan to fully cook meatballs in the oven bake for 15 minutes or until fully cooked (turn meatballs mid-way through cooking).

*Bison meat is lower in cholesterol than other red meats. It is also lower in fat which allows it to cook more quickly. Keep an eye on cooking bison to ensure that it does not dry out.

I cooked half of my meatballs in the oven and placed the other half in a tomato sauce that was eaten over some delicious spaghetti squash.

#food #dinner #bison #meatballs #whole30 #paleo