Hi there and happy Friday! Are you a football fan? We are big Oregon football fans here in the Sparkle household. Living in Arizona, I thought I would be the sole Oregon fan, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised with the amount of Duck love there is here. There is even a bar nearby that is decorated with everything Oregon Ducks. I mean, how could you not love the Duck?

But I digress. Last night was the Oregon vs. Arizona game, and I work with plenty of Wildcats. Discussions can get pretty heated at times, so I thought I would get people to fill their mouths smooth things over with some tasty football shaped meatballs. The best thing about these meatballs is that I used almond meal instead of breadcrumbs. The meatballs are so much moister this way, and it makes the meatballs gluten free.

You can buy almond meal at the grocery store or a natural foods store, but I prefer to just make my own. If you have a food processor or even a blender you can whip it up really quickly. Using the chop mode of the food processor, put your almonds in. Be careful not to overdo it because it will turn into almond flour and then almond butter. Once you have a good amount of it chopped up to a mealy looking powder, sift it to get out the big chunks of almond. Throw those big chunks back in the food processor and repeat. It’s so easy. You can then add italian seasoning or other spices to flavor it up. It’s perfect in place of breadcrumbs.

Yield: 28 meatballs

Touchdown Meatballs

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes

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Ingredients

• For the meatball
• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 garlic clove (minced)
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 egg (room temperature)
• 3/4 cup water (room temperature)
• 3/4 cup parmesan (grated)
• 1/2 cup almond meal, seasoned with italian seasoning
• For the sauce
• 1 29oz can of tomato sauce
• 1/2 cup parmesan cheese
• 3-4 bay leaves
• 1 tablespoon italian seasoning
• 1 clove of garlic minced
• Topping
• shredded mozzarella cheese

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 375F.
2. Place your meat into a mixing bowl, then layer the garlic, salt and pepper, egg and water on top. Then sprinkle the cheese and the almond meal.
3. Using your fingertips, gently combine all the ingredients. The less you handle the meat the better.
4. Roll your meatballs into football shapes and place on a cookie sheet that is either lightly greased or on parchment paper.
5. Bake for 20 minutes, or until the top of the meatballs begin to brown.
6. While the meat is baking, combine the tomato sauce, cheese, spices and garlic into a large sauce pan. Turn the stove top on low and let the sauce start to simmer. When the meatballs are finished baking, place them carefully into the sauce, coating the meatballs and let simmer for 30 minutes.
7. After 30 minutes, place meatballs on a platter and decorate with the shredded mozzarella cheese.
8. Serve immediately.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

7

Serving Size:

4 meatballs
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 437Total Fat: 28gSaturated Fat: 10gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 14gCholesterol: 119mgSodium: 1311mgCarbohydrates: 16gFiber: 4gSugar: 7gProtein: 32g

Nutritional information provided for recipes is a courtesy to my readers. I do my best to be as accurate as possible, but you should do your own nutrition information calculations. I expressly disclaim any and all liability of any kind with respect to any act or omission wholly or in part in reliance on anything contained in this website.

After mixing all the meatball ingredients, shape them into meatballs. (I hate touching raw meat. Slimy!)

The hardest part about the meatballs is placing the mozzarella cheese so it resembles the ties on a football. It takes patience and the cheese will melt into the meatball, so you have to act quickly.

Enjoy!

Check out some other great football related ideas from some of my blogger friends!

• Team Spirit Cake Push-up Pops (with Nebraska topper printables)
• DIY Custom Football Number Shirts
• Fried Pickles
• Football Subway Art Printable
• Stuffed Potato Footballs
• Football-themed Pizzas
• Game Day Chili Bar
• Crispy Bourbon Caesar Sausages
• DIY Football Field Table Cover