Gluten Free Mini Meatballs

I have a bit of a raw meat phobia.  I don't mind buying it or consuming it once it's cooked, but I avoid touching it at all costs.  Late Monday night, I picked up some Greenwise Ground Beef at Publix to make Zatarain's Dirty Rice.  On Tuesday, I changed my mind and decided to make Creamy Corn & Potato Soup instead.  Wednesday, I decided to make crab cakes for my husband and I, while my daughters ate leftover soup.  The problem - I had to use the ground meat today.  In the end, I decided to make mini meatballs that the girls and I could eat for lunch, and freeze a raw batch for beef or wedding soup.  Of course, I had to call my mom, because I have never made meatballs.

Yep, I had to put my hands in that mess, because my go to guy for this kind of stuff was at work.  

My minis were about an inch across.  

One tray went in the oven while the other one went in the freezer.  

After freezing the raw meatball tray for a couple of hours, I double bagged them before returning them to the freezer.  

Gluten Free Mini Meatballs

Ingredients

2 pounds of ground beef (I used 92% lean)

2 eggs

1/2 C lowfat milk

1 C gluten free breadcrumbs (I used The Fresh Market brand)

1/2 tsp dried basil

1/2 tsp dried oregano 

4 to 5 T of grated Romano or Parmesan cheese 

Kosher salt

Coarse ground black pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking pans with aluminum foil.

Put all the ingredients in a large bowl, and mix with your hands until everything is well combined.  Gently roll the ground beef mixture between your hands to make 1 to 1 1/2 inch meatballs.  

Place the meatballs close together on the trays without them touching.  Bake for 15 minutes, or freeze them on the tray for later use.  

Recipe Notes

Use a generous amount of salt and pepper.  I used about 20 twists of my combo salt/pepper mill, but next time, I will add more.  

These meatballs are great to use in meatball soup.  You can view my recipe here.