Freezer to Slow Cooker Italian Style Meatballs

I love to double this recipe and have extra meatballs to freeze or to use throughout the week for sub sandwiches, pasta or put into soups

Yields:  22 Meatballs

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 pounds lean, ground turkey
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon onion powder
• 1 tablespoon Italian Seasoning
• 1 1/2 cups tomato or pasta sauce (natural or low sugar)
• 1/4 cup fresh, grated parmesan cheese

Prep:

1. Label your freezer bag with the name of the meal and cooking instructions.
2. In a large mixing bowl, knead the turkey together with the spices.
3. Roll meat into 22, walnut sized meatballs
4. Add Meatballs to the freezer bag. (You can add the pasta sauce to the bag but I add it the morning of cooking.
5. Remove as much air from the freezer bag as possible, seal and lay flat in the Freezer.

Cooking:

1. The night before cooking, move frozen bag to your refrigerator to thaw
2. The morning of cooking, pour meatballs into slow cooker and top with Pasta Sauce
3. Cook on “low” setting for 4-6 hours.
4. Serve with Zucchini “noodles” or Spaghetti Squash “pasta” and top with Parmesan Cheese

Note #1: These are a fairly dense meatball. You can add finely chopped or food processed veggies like zucchini or mushrooms to the mixture to soften them up a bit. About 1/2 to 1 cup should be fine, and you’ll get more meatballs out of it to boot.

Note #2: You can also Bake these at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.