Carrot Oven Roasted Meatballs

I prefer to cook the meatballs in oven instead of frying them on additional oil in a skillet. I like this recipe because it can be also made into small meatloafs (in the muffin tray) or maybe even converted to a full size meatloaf which I haven't tried yet.

Carrot Oven Roasted Meatballs

1 lb ground beef

2 carrots shredded

1 yellow onion chopped

2 cloves of garlic minced

1 cup of breadcrumbs

1/3 cup milk

1 egg

1/3 cup ground parmesan cheese

3-4 pieces of sun dried tomato in oil chopped (remove as much of the oil as possible)

1/2 cup chopped fresh herbs chopped (basil is my favorite, but parsley works as well)

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

Salt and pepper

Head the oven to 400F. In a small bowl combine the breadcrumbs and milk and let stand for about 3-4 minutes. In the meantime, in a large bowl, combine the meat, carrots, onion, garlic, egg, and parmesan cheese. As you start mixing, add the soaked breadcrumbs and milk. Add the chopped sun-dried tomatoes and basil, Worcestershire sauce and salt and pepper. Mix well.

Roll the meatballs and place on a cookie sheet. Bake the meatballs for 15-20 minutes; time depends on the size of the meatballs.

The flavor of the meatballs is very much the sun-dried tomato and basil but I love to see the color of the carrots mixed in, so I call them carrot meatballs.

NOTE: I've stopped buying breadcrumbs from the store. Now, I save old bread and butts from the sliced breads in a Ziploc bag in the freezer. When I need the breadcrumbs, I toast the frozen bread and stick them into the food processor for some freshly made breadcrumbs.