It's All Greek to Me Meatballs

This is from the May 2004 issue of Prevention Magazine. I added extra feta so the initial point of reducing the fat content by using less feta cheese has been thrown out the window. The recipe calls for brown rice, an ideal way of using up leftover rice or you can use cooked orzo if you wish. Update: per the excellent advice of Chef Geist, I added 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon to the meat mixture. Good call, Chef Geist and thank you!

• Ready In: 25 mins
• Serves: 4-6

Ingredients

• 2  cups cooked brown rice
• 1⁄2 tablespoon  fresh Greek oregano or 3⁄4 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1⁄4 cup  finely minced onion
• 1  garlic clove, minced
• 1⁄4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1⁄2 cup feta cheese, crumbled (for this recipe I use feta with basil and sundried tomatoes)
• 1  lb  organic ground beef or 1  lb ground lamb
• 1  small eggs (read NOTE) or 1 -2  tablespoon egg substitute (read NOTE)
• 2  medium zucchini, cut into thin slices
• 1  cup  marinara sauce
•  salt or  fresh ground pepper

Directions

1. *NOTE: If meat mixture does not want to bind, add a small egg or a little bit of egg substitute.
2. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
3. In large bowl, combine rice, oregano, onion, garlic, cinnamon and 1/4 cup feta cheese. Stir in beef until combined. Do not overstir.
4. In 13" x 9" greased baking dish arrange the zucchini slices in single layer. Grease a small ice cream scoop with olive oil then shape the meat mixture into sixteen 1 1/2" balls. Place the meatballs on top of zucchini and drizzle with the marinara sauce. Season with salt and pepper.
5. Cover baking dish with foil. Bake 20 minutes or until meatballs are cooked through and no longer pink.
6. Uncover, and top with remaining feta cheese.
7. Let sit in oven for about 1 minute or until the feta melts.