Fairwell Family Secret Meatball Recipe

"The secret is pumpkin. Yes, you heard that right, sweet delicious pureed pumpkin! This is a great recipe to cook if you have finicky eaters that don't want to eat healthy. I created this for my husband who actually happens to love pumpkin. Great for cooking in a crockpot and leaving for 8-10 hours to cook. Easy, healthy and rich in nutrients. Great novelty item to serve at Thanksgiving."
 
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Ready In:
4hrs 25mins
Ingredients:
10
Serves:
12
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ingredients

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directions

  • Mix tomatoes, pumpkin and butter in bottom of crockpot. Turn crockpot onto low with lid off.
  • Mix the remaining ingredients together in a mixing bowl and form large 1-2 inch meatballs.
  • After forming each meatball, place on top of sauce in crockpot. Will eventually have a pyramid of meatballs.
  • Cover crockpot and leave to cook on low for 8-10 hours, or on high for 4-5 hours.
  • I like to drain a little of the fat after 3 hours of cooking.
  • Serve over your favorite pasta or rice mix. Thick enough to serve alone as main course.
  • Feel free to try different variations of your favorite herbs such as Italian seasoning, etc. The flavor from the meatballs will seep into the sauce.
  • Thick enough to make meatball sandwiches.
  • Enjoy!

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Reviews

  1. Had this yesterday (a Sunday, I love the slow cooker for Sundays!) served over rice with broccoli and a salad for sides. I was looking for a way to use up some canned pumpkin, and although I was a little hesitant when I saw this recipe, it smelled and turned out great. I really liked the texture and flavor of the sauce. I would not add the sugar as FurryLoo suggested. We liked it as is. The meatball part of the recipe comes out to about 3 "medium-smallish" meatballs per person if you are going by the suggested 12 servings. I was OK with just 3 meatballs, but if I was having guests or using this for meatball sandwiches I would probably make a little extra.
     
  2. I halved the recipe (kept the spice amounts in the meatballs the same though). I also lightened the recipe a bit by using only 1 T of olive oil and using half beef and half turkey. Still needed to have some of the extra fat skimmed off the top. The sauce is very interesting, and I liked that it was less acidic than the usual all tomato sauce. The meatballs had a nice flavor to them. Cooked just fine in 4.5 hours on high in a crockpot.
     
  3. This smelled wonderful while cooking. I used frozen premade meatballs and cooked them in the sauce on the stove. The sauce was very thick and rich. Went well over noodles. The 5 year old thought the meatballs were great. My S.O. thought it was Ok, adult daughter didnt care for them and I liked them.
     
  4. Forgot one crucial ingredient! Add 1 tablespoon sugar to the pumpkin/tomato mix.
     
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RECIPE SUBMITTED BY

I love to find recipes that are addictive and yet healthy at the same time. I am a SAHM and I am always looking for easy and yummy recipes to cook. My mother's side of the family is lebanese, so I cook quite a bit of middle eastern foods. When I rate foods, I only give five stars to foods that taste addictive, are healthy and look attractive and appealling.
 
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