May 1, 2012

Sweet and Spicy Greek Meatballs

There is something about the smell of cinnamon that I find intriguing. It is one of my favorite spices to cook and bake with both for the great flavor and the delicious smell. However, since I have two currently very picky young boys they can be hit or miss with eating dishes heavy on the cinnamon. If a dish is sweet such as raisin bread or coffee cake, they love cinnamon, but meat dishes can be another story entirely. The last time I made cabbage rolls they told me that they were spicy (as in a strong cinnamon taste), so I stopped making dishes with large amounts of cinnamon. In the last couple of months though, I have been politely encouraging my sons to broaden their bacon oriented horizons to new foods. I really don't know how they stay in the 5th percentile for weight since they are always eating, thank you to my dad for his great genetics! I was happy to find a recipe for Sweet and Spicy Greek Meatballs in a recent issue of Redbook Magazine, which looked full of flavor from a number of spices including cinnamon.

This recipe has 16 ingredients. It takes 15 minutes of prep and 18 minutes of cooking time and makes 4-6 servings. I did make a few ingredient modifications. Thanks to my kids helping my memory I completely forgot to buy parsley, so I left it out of the recipe completely. Additionally, I still haven't bought more oregano so I substituted Italian seasoning (I will actually buy oregano one of these days, I promise!). For the meat I chose to buy lamb and grind it myself. Grinding your own meat is very easy and the texture and taste is so much better than pre-ground. The cooking times in this recipe were pretty spot on and I followed the instructions as written. I ended up with 15 meatballs total.
My husband and oldest son really enjoyed this recipe. I was worried that my sons would turn up their noses at this dish since it uses a large amount of spice, but my 6-year-old ate his entire serving. I thought that the mint flavor was a little strong. I think if I make this recipe again I would reduce the amount of mint to a teaspoon and a half. As written the tablespoon of mint made the meatballs a little strong on the mint taste. I thought that the meatballs tasted like the inside of a cabbage roll, which I love. It was nice to try a different type of meatball other than the regular pork and beef varieties. Overall, a dish full of flavor and only takes a little over a half an hour to prepare. 

For the recipe go to Sweet and Spicy Meatballs.

15 comments:

  1. I LOVE Greek food!! I've made Greek meatballs, but not with this recipe. Can't wait to try it! Do you think tahini sauce would work with these? Thanks, Frugal!

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    1. I love Greek Food :) I would say that these meatballs would work best with a yogurt sauce since they are strong on the mint, of course if you did them that way you would leave out the marinara, which would work fine. I thought about doing that if I make this recipe again also, great minds think alike!

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    2. Hey Frugal! I made this recipe over the weekend, swapped out rice for the Couscous and used the tahini sauce. LOVED it!! Next time, I'll try it with the marinara sauce. :)

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    3. I'm glad that it turned out so well! I will keep that in mind for the future, I love tahini sauce!

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  2. Yum!!! they look delicious!

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    1. Thanks :) They turned out well and had a great flavor from all the spices!

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  3. Thank you for joining my blog. :-) I'm coming over to check out yours and I'm already so in love. Looks amazing. :-) Can't wait to try some of your food out.

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    1. Thanks :) I hope you find some recipes that you like!

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  4. delicious meat ball recipe !!!!the dish looks divine !!!!

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    1. Thanks :) They did turn out really well and were delicious!

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  5. Yummy yummy in my tummy! I LOVE meatballs! They look scrumptious!

    Thanks for stopping by my blog! I am following you back :)

    Best Wishes,
    Mia at The Muses Circle

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    1. I love meatballs also, yum! Thanks for the comments and for following, come back again soon :)

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  6. Going to link up now :) Hope you have a great week as well!

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  7. thanks for linking in - we have a pretty good collection of meatball recipes.

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