Great Edibles Recipes: Mama’s Medicated Meatballs

When asked, “What is your favorite home-cooked meal?”, most people can attest that the classic Italian-style meatballs are often the front-runners on their list. Even more people will vouch that their mother, grandmother or some other distant relative has the best family recipe out there. I assert that this medicated meatball recipe will give all of those people a run for their money. Packed with baby spinach, feta and fresh garlic, these medicated meatballs will be sure to tantalize the taste buds of many generations to come.

Yield: 20-26 meatballs

Here’s What You Need:

• 2 lbs organic 85% lean/15% fat, grass-fed, hormone-free ground beef
• 1 cup bread crumbs
• 1 cup baby spinach (chiffonade, which means rolled and finely sliced, or you can finely chop it, too)
• 3 cloves of garlic (finely minced)
• 1 organic egg
• 1/4 cup organic whole milk
• 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup feta cheese crumbles
• 3 tablespoons cannabis-infused extra virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon dried parsley
• 1/2  teaspoon dried basil
• 24 oz jar (3 cups) organic tomato sauce
• Organic olive oil non-stick cooking spray

How to Make Mama’s Medicated Meatballs:

To begin, preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the ground beef, egg, milk, bread crumbs, chiffonade/chopped baby spinach, Parmesan cheese, feta cheese, spices and cannabis-infused olive oil. Mix with clean hands until well incorporated.

Once all of the ingredients are mixed together, thoroughly wash your hands with anti-bacterial soap and hot water to prevent any cross-contamination that may occur from the presence of raw meat.

Next, you want to generously spray your baking sheet with the olive oil non-stick cooking spray – this will prevent the meat balls from sticking to the hot tray while they bake.

Now it’s time to form your meatballs! You want to take about 2 tablespoons worth of meat into your hands and roll the ground beef mixture to form meatballs around 1.5″-2″ in size, depending on one’s personal preference. Place each of the completed meatballs on the greased baking sheet, leaving a little more than 1/2″ of room in between each meatball.

Once you have placed all of your meatballs on the tray, wash your hands thoroughly again. If you have any leftover meat mixture, feel free to prep another baking sheet with cooking spray (or if you have limited cook-ware, you can simply wait for the original tray to be finished cooking the first batch of meatballs). Continue to roll the remaining mixture into meatballs until all of it has been used. You may find that your meatballs fit on one tray depending on the size you make them. Wash your hands once again.

Place the tray(s) of meatballs in the oven and bake for about 18-20 minutes, or until the meatballs are no longer pink on the inside when cut in half.

Once finished, remove them from the oven and set the tray to the side for now.

Next, on your stove top and in a medium-sized pot, you want to heat up the 3 cups of tomato sauce over medium to medium-low heat. Once the sauce begins to slowly bubble, toss in the appropriate number of meatballs that you intend on serving/eating for that given meal. Depending on the amount of persons you are serving, you may need to add more tomato sauce to the pot in order to ensure all the meatballs are completely submerged.

Allow the ingredients in the sauce pan to regain their heat, as adding the meatballs will detract heat from the once piping hot tomato sauce. As soon as the sauce begins to slowly bubble once again, you want to reduce the heat to low and allow the meatballs to simmer in the sauce for an additional 15 minutes (at the very least), making sure to stir the meatballs occasionally. This “steeping process” allows for the meatballs to absorb the flavor of the tomato sauce and vice versa, creating an all around more delectable dish.

After at least 15 minutes has passed, serve the meatballs atop your pasta of choice, accompanied with a slice of your favorite fresh bread. A few pasta recommendations are campanelle, cellentani and of course, the classic spaghetti. You can even choose to forgo the pasta all-together and make a meatball sandwich using a buttery, toasted bun topped with some freshly grated mozzarella cheese. The choice is yours. Enjoy!