Quinoa Meatballs with Tomato Sauce

This recipe is a modified version of a recipe I found on Dr Ozs website. I like it because it reduces the amount of meat used by adding quinoa, my favorite grain. And the tomato sauce was yummy, nothing like the stuff from a can or jar!

Sauce

1 large onion, diced
3 celery stalks, sliced into small pieces
1 large carrot, sliced into small pieces
1 can tomatoes, chopped with juice
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbs. balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper
I also added corn and chopped spinach

Heat the oil in a pan and add onion, celery, and carrot. Cook until tender. Add the tomatoes, garlic, vinegar. Simmer about 20 minutes. Add spinach and corn during the last few minutes of cooking.

Meatballs

1 small onion
1/2 lb lean ground beef (or turkey)
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1 egg
1 cup cooked quinoa
salt pepper

Preheat oven to 425. Heat the oil in a small skillet and cook the onion until soft. In a large bowl combine beef, quinoa, cheese, egg, salt, pepper, and cooked onions. Still until very smooth. Roll into meat balls and bake 20 minutes.

Serve over angel hair pasta or linguine.