Gluten Free Meatballs

 This is adapted from America's Test Kitchen "How Can it Be Gluten Free Cookbook Collection." On my first attempt at this recipe, many of the meatballs fell apart. I wondered if the issue was because the meat had been previously frozen and the extra moisture created the problem. I've doubled the recipe from the original and included a greater percentage of sausage from the original recipe. Another area of experimentation should be the potato flakes, which ATK says is a much better substitute for regular bread crumbs than gluten free bread crumbs, although we've also liked Aleia's gluten free bread crumbs as a substitute in our other recipe so I think either could work. I think ATK is saying that making homemade gluten free bread crumbs doesn't work in meatballs and meatloaf because they get too gummy, but store-bought are already well dried out, so hasn't been a problem for us. The flavor is definitely very different between the two.

•  1 c buttermilk
• 2 large egg yolks (I think 1-2 whole eggs should also work)
• 1 lb ground pork
• 2 oz grated Parmesan (1 C?-this seems like a typo from the original recipe)
• 1/2 c instant potato flakes (I used the four cheese flavored ones which contain ingredients other than potato flakes in it, so this will require some further experiments)
• 4-6 T minced fresh parsley
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 t salt (possibly up to 1 t if potato flakes don't have any sodium)
• 1/2 t pepper
• 1 lb ground beef

1. Whisk together buttermilk and egg. Add remaining ingredients, except beef and mix until thoroughly combined. Add beef and knead until uniform. Form mixture into 1.5 in round meatballs (better to be too small than too large, they'll make at least 24 meatballs). 

2. Preheat skillet with a little olive oil and fry or see the spinach meatballs recipe for baking in the oven.

Eggs with sausage cheese sauce

1/2-1 lb pork sausage

1/2 lb. mushrooms, chopped
1/2 c. chopped onion
1/2 c. chopped red pepper
1-2 T butter

1 T. flour

1 C. half and half

1/2 t. seasoned salt, divided

1/2-1 c. shredded cheddar cheese

4 eggs

1 T minced fresh parsley

Directions

1. In a large skillet, brown and cook sausage. Remove from pan. 

2. Add mushrooms, onion, and red pepper to skillet with some additional butter, if there's not enough grease left from sausage. Remove from pan. 

3. In the large skillet (or could be doing this simultaneously, in a saucepan), melt butter. Stir in flour, 1 cup cream, 1/4 t. seasoned salt and bring to a boil, stirring constantly until thickened 1-3 minutes. Stir in cheese and as much of the sausage and vegetables as desired. 

4. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, whisk eggs, 2 T. half and half, and 1/4 t. seasoned salt. Cook in a small skillet as an omlette or scrambled eggs or in a well greased waffle maker (being careful not to overcook). Serve eggs with sauce and meat/veggies and sprinkle with parsley.