Chicken and Sun-Dried Tomato Meatballs

I recently participated in a 21-Day Daniel Fast. The fast involved giving up all animal protein, alcohol, caffeine, sugar/honey, yeast and all things processed/chemicals. I altered it slightly, adding some occasional lean animal protein (mostly sole and mahi) and yogurt in my daily smoothies - mostly to keep my thyroid from freaking out. For those who don't know I was diagnosed with Graves' Disease almost a year ago. Too much soy can be a bad thing.

The lessons learned:

• It's easier to do this than you think. 
• It forced me to plan ahead in a whole new way.
• It resulted in creativity.
• It is possible to make too much ratatouille.
• I missed cheese more than anything.
• I did not miss caffeine and was absolutely shocked about that. However, I did miss a good cup of coffee here and there.
• Hummus can fill in for a host of condiments.
• Sugar is in EVERYTHING (even mustard and salad dressing!)
• I felt healthier and while it wasn't my goal, I lost weight (my jeans fit better now!)
• I slept better. 
• The spiritual lessons and results were wonderful and eye opening - particularly the parallel of intentionality.
• One can sustain oneself fairly easily on veggie wraps on whole wheat tortillas with hummus (of course.)

While I was on this fast I would go on Pinterest to be inspired for vegan-style, fast-friendly meals...and would post some things that I could cook/enjoy once the fast was over.

This. This is one of those recipes. Simple, healthy and delicious!

I follow Cook's Illustrated on Pinterest - and I highly recommend y'all do so as well. Though, to be fair, I do not subscribe to the magazine but I do subscribe to their website and many of the recipes they pin require said subscription. This recipe is not one of them [Note: as of Sept. 2017 it has since become password protected so the recipe is listed below. Cooks is still a wonderful resource I recommend].

This is actually a recipe for burgers, not meatballs. And part of the magic is they only require 6 ingredients.

What? Mom's in the kitchen and didn't invite me?

1 lb Ground chicken
1/4 to 1/3 cup chopped Sun-dried Tomatoes (proof that God loves us)
2 ounces Goat Cheese (more proof that God loves us)
2 TBS chopped Fresh Basil (um....see above)
1 shallot (minced) and breadcrumbs (torn up hamburger rolls!) round it out.

Tear up the roll (or bread) and soak in 2 TBS water, mash up with a fork.

Add the sun-dried tomatoes, basil and shallot.

Add 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper, chicken (or turkey), goat cheese.

Mix it up with your hands until well mixed. There will be chunks of cheese, bread etc. It's all good.

You can either then form four burger patties and fry in a grill pan (or cast iron) in about a TBS of the sun-dried tomato oil or...form into meatballs as directed below.

Here is what I did that was a little different - I decided not to make burgers. I made meatballs, baked them for about 20 minutes in a 350 degree oven and then placed them on a sheet pan (lined with foil) and placed in the freezer for about 30 minutes. Then put them in zip loc bags and back in the freezer. Freezing them on a sheet pan first keeps the balls separate rather than frozen together in a big block of meatballs.

Whenever I want I can remove as many meatballs as I need and heat in microwave for a minute/minute and 20 seconds depending on how big they are and how many meatballs I'm heating.

These end up super tender and each bite is packed with flavor. 

You had me at "goat cheese."