Meatballs are a good choice when eating lunch at a deli or when friends order take-out pizza, but I love my homemade meatballs. I used to say I never met a meatball I didn't like, but a few years ago that changed when I had a friend's mother's meatballs with a secret ingredient: jelly. Jelly? Why would anyone put jelly in meatballs? They were the worse meatballs I ever had. Here's my version of my mother's meatball recipe, which never had and never will include jelly...
Mom's Meatballs made Key-friendly
10/24/16 Update
The Key Weight Loss Program has evolved since I started my journey in January 2011. So I've adapted recipes like this, which I used to add breadcrumbs and Parmesan cheese, but are are no longer allowed. I updated this meatball recipe to make it key-friendly and guess what, I don't even notice the lack of breadcrumbs and Parmesan.

Ingredients
  • 1 1/2 lbs ground beef 
  • 1 pound sausage (sometimes I use Jimmy Dean's Sage Sausage. You can mix the sausage in with the ground beef or put whole sausage links in the sauce.)
  • 3 large eggs, slightly beaten
  • 6 -8 cloves of fresh minced garlic
  • 1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano*
  • 1/4 cup chopped parsley*
  • 1/4 cup chopped basil*
  • 1 small onion finely chopped
  • 1/2 cup chopped celery (optional)
  • 1 whole bell pepper, red, yellow, or both (optional)
  • 1 (24 oz size) jar or can of your favorite tomato sauce
*Herb options: substitute all spices with fresh herbs or a package of Italian Seasoning.

Note: for ready-to-go meals to take to work, make a double batch of this recipe and freeze them in one-serving size containers.

Directions
Cover the bottom of the crock pot with a thin layer of sauce.

Beat the eggs and add all ingredients, except the peppers and tomato sauce, in a large bow, use your hands to mix all ingredients.

Shape mixture into meatballs and drop each ball into the crock pot. Add a small amount of sauce to each layer of meatballs.

Tips for rolling meatballs
  • To help make them consistent in size, use a 1/4 measuring cup to scoop the meat from the bowl.
  • If you prefer bite size meatballs (as I do) take half of the meat mixture from the measuring cup, roll it into a firm ball and the repeat with the other half in the spoon. Bite size meatballs take longer to roll, but they cook quicker, so you may want to be at home when cooking these unless you have a crock pot with a timer.
Add any remaining sauce to the crock pot.

Cut the peppers into large pieces and add to the crock pot.

Once all the meatballs are all in the crock pot, cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours. If you're home while they're cooking, you can turn the temperature up higher to cook them faster.

Do not stir meatballs until they are almost done or you will risk breaking the meatballs.

Quicker Meatballs

If you don't want to wait all day for meatballs to cook in the crock pot, bake them in the oven instead. I ate these meatballs hot from the oven without sauce. If you make a double batch you can freeze them without sauce and add your favorite sauce when you reheat them. Another option, which a key-friend told me about, is to buy Angus meatballs from the freezer department at the grocery store.
Hungry? Bake your meatballs for quicker a meal.
 
Baked Meatballs

Sauce Recommendations
  • Capa di Roma - the owner of Roma Restaurant in East Hartford, Connecticut, is a one of our key-friends who followed the key program many many years ago and has kept her weight off. Roma sauces can be found in your local grocery store.
  • Newman's Own Sockarooni Sauce
  • Francesco Rinaldi Hearty Tomato & Basil - last year I made a triple batch of meatballs with this inexpensive sauce. I added added tons of garlic and the sauce was delicious.
  • Your homemade sauce - of course!
Related Recipes
January 16, 2012
Yesterday I made some eggs and sausage for breakfast, a nice weekend treat. I made a video along the way. It's not perfect, but neither were the eggs. I figure I'll start with this video and I'll improve over time. I've a lot to learn, but I have to start somewhere.

I stopped the video a couple of times, only to discover I accidentally switched to camera mode instead of video, so I lost some of what I hoped to include. You might have appreciated seeing the egg drop into the water. I've never done that before, but it still tasted wonderful.

A few months ago when I made the meat crust pizza with my friend Aime, we made a video with the intent of putting it up on this blog. Part I is missing, so that video may not make it onto this blog. We also made a mean vodka tonic video. If these missing videos show up, I will post them.

I hope this will be a fun process for me and I that it's fun for you to watch as well.

In the Kitchen with Theresa: Sausage and Eggs

Ingredients: (adjust to the number of eggs and sausage you want)
  • 3 round sausage patties (I used the Johnsonville brand)
  • 3 eggs - poach or cook them over easy on the stove
  • Coffee
Process:
  1. Get your coffee brewing first, so it's ready when everything else is.
  2. If you froth your milk, you should do this now as well.
  3. Cooks eggs in poacher on top of the stove until desired firmness.
  4. At the same time, cook 3 sausage patties in a separate pan.
  5. Optional: make a Hollandaise sauce from a package mix while the above items are cooking; add fresh squeezed lemon juice to  mix even if recipe does not call for it.
  6. When the eggs are done, plate them and then top with sausage and optional Hollandaise.
  7. Pour coffee and enjoy your breakfast.
  8. Move over DnD, my coffee and sausage with eggs is far better than yours!

January 16, 2012
Jan. 2011
Later this month it will be a full year since I started working with Julie to lose weight. I still have a long way to go, but I want to pause and acknowledge how far I have come this year.

Last January, I wore a size 32 and now I'm a size 22. I follow the rule of not weighing myself, but last week I asked my doctor if I've lost more than 50 pounds and she said yes.

In July I went to Alaska and hiked trails I could not have imagined just a few months earlier. I continued hiking the rest of the summer. In October, I started jogging and in December I ran a 5k in under 45 minutes. Today, I feel great. I'm full of energy and I'm looking for my next race, a 5k in Carlsbad, CA in April 2012.

Here's a collection of photos of my weight loss journey...



May 2009


Dec. 2009



Aug. 2010
April 2011, Encinitas, CA

July 2011, Sitka, AK

Aug. 2011

Dec. 2011
Dec. 2011,  5k Hot Chocolate Run







Jan. 15, 2012
January 15, 2012
WOW! all I can say is WOW!!! How motivating, and I am so ready to continue on!!! My mind is so overloaded with good information! It is amazing to hear other people's stories, struggles and successes! Even ended up sitting next to Wendy and I had no idea it was her!

The pizza restaurant is Roma in East Hartford. I am going to talk my husband into going!! hopefully really soon!

So many things she talked about today, I had forgotten or had been confused about. I highly recommend a refresher class.

Plateau's are good! I can't even imagine, but that was said so many times and I am so happy to hear that! I am so used to, from WW or other plans, that a plateau was not good. I am unlearning so much stuff from all the things I have done in the past. I got some fine tuning on my food choices and my journey continues...

Wendy, how did you like it?

Theresa and Aime, how did you make out?

I am happy and ready!!!!
January 14, 2012
This is one of those recipes that you make according to your taste and what ingredients you have in the house.
It's like a slice of live, this meat crust pizza.
When I made this recipe for five people to have with a salad, I used about two pounds of ground beef.

You can make this a small pizza for just you or a giant pizza to share by adjusting the amount of beef. Anyway you make it has the potential to be your favorite new recipe. 

 Ingredients
  • 6-8  cloves of garlic
  • black pepper
  • 2 pounds of ground beef
  • tomato sauce
  • Mozzarella or Parmesan cheese, shredded, or Feta cheese
Topping Suggestions
  • sliced mushrooms
  • sliced bell peppers (any color)
  • Italian sausage, cooked ahead
  • sliced pepperoni
  • sliced onions 
  • chopped green onion
  • chopped fresh basil 
  • chopped garlic
Preparing the Pizza
  1. Pre-heat oven to 400.
  2. Chop garlic and mix into ground beef; add black pepper at this point too.
  3. Flatten the ground beef as thin as possible into a circle; this will be the pizza crust.
  4. Place the meat on a baking pan.
  5. Bake the crust until the meat is cooked all the way through; do not let it get hard and tasteless by overcooking.
  6. Remove the crust from the oven and use a paper towel to dot off any moisture or oil on top.
  7. Spoon on favorite tomato sauce.
  8. Sprinkle cheese over sauce.
  9. Add veggies.
  10. Add pepperoni and/or sausage.
  11. Top with chopped fresh basil.
  12. Bake until toppings are bubbly hot.
A variation of this recipe is to use ground chicken instead of beef and to use Alfredo sauce (from a jar or fresh) instead of tomato. I haven't made this yet.

Meat Crust Pizza in Restaurants?

I took photo of the pizza slice above and below at a restaurant Julie recommended, Roma, which is in East Hartford. The owner Emilia was a client of Julie's and she will make this pizza for you but you must call and order it a day or two ahead. There are two size options, we chose the largest and had plenty of leftovers to take home. Excellent service.

Meat crust pizza.
January 11, 2012
I am a little discouraged today. I still feel like I am on a plateau. I have been on the program for 11 weeks - and for the past few weeks I feel like I am going no where. I am still down the sizes - but it feels like I am stuck. How long do these last? Does everyone eat meat until they are full? Or do you watch your portions? I know we can have meatballs, are the frozen ones from the store ok? or should I be making my own? I know I need to watch the veggie meat ratio, does it really impact the program that much? and if and when I have eaten more veggies it isn't a huge amount past. bite for bite works sometimes, but not in all situations.

Today I will be only eating meat, no veggies. Also, no added fats whatsoever,though I hardly use fats anyway.

Not hungry so I won't be eating breakfast. Do you eat breakfast or do you just eat when you are hungry? What is a typical day of food and eating for you?

I will be calling to make an appointment today and see when they can get me in. I just feel like I must be doing something wrong to be stuck for so long?

I need suggestions. I haven't strayed off program at all and don't want to!!!
January 10, 2012
My version of coffee
Following Julie's weight loss program has been an incredible experience for me. "The first three weeks will be hard", she told us. Hard? Not for me. None of this past year has been hard at all. Well, there was one hard thing: giving up coffee.

I gave up coffee, because I couldn't drink it without sugar; I preferred no coffee over coffee without sugar. Years ago, I reduced the amount of sugar in my coffee from three teaspoons to one.  I enjoy coffee with frothed milk or cream, but I can't handle it without sugar. So, I gave it up.

Fast forward three months after I started this program. I was visiting an old friend in my favorite coffee shop in southern California (the Pannikin in Encinitas),  and I decided to try coffee without sugar. I knew if anyone could make me a nice coffee without sugar, it was my favorite coffee shop. They did not disappoint. After that,  I enjoyed coffee with hot frothed milk or cream and no sugar. When I returned home, I began making frothed milk with my own gadgets, well at least on the weekends. Most days, I stopped at Dunkin Donuts for breakfast: french vanilla coffee with extra cream and no sugar, and a bread-less meat sandwich, which confused most employees for a while, but now they have my number.

That has changed. Thanks to a Christmas gift from a friend at work, I have a wonderful Aroma milk frother. I just two minutes, while my coffee is brewing, I have thick and delicious tasting foamy milk to add to my cup of coffe.  I use every drop of it and then do it again for my second cup.

Dunkin Donuts has lost one of their best customers and they'll never know what hit them. It's often difficult to get a coffee with lots of milky foam and this gadget does the trick every time. Bye-bye DnD.

Aside from giving up coffee, following this program has not been difficult for me. This is not to say I haven't had my challenges along the way. The challenges, however,  have been more about me getting in my own way than anything being hard.

Being tempted to get on the scale has been challenging. That urge comes and goes. This is a lifestyle change and eventually I will find my way to resolving this issue. It may not happen for a few years. Change sometimes takes that long.

Wanting the process to go faster is challenging. I know it is going to take as long as it takes and I continue to work with myself to remember this. Some days I'm better at this than other days. Sometimes weight drops off quickly and their are times when I'm maintaining my weight. This is all part of the process. Julie reminds us the weight didn't come on all at once and it doesn't come off that way either.

I know that when I reach my goal, and yes-I will reach my goal, my next challenge will be to maintain my weight. I also know maintaining it is not a whole lot different than what I'm doing today. The more successful I am today, the easier maintenance will be. I'm not kidding myself, maintenance will have a whole new set of challenges, but what I'm doing now will strengthen what I need to do to maintain my weight.

Eating meat has certainly be challenging. I disliked meat and I had to get over that. I have found I do like meat now.  At first I just liked how it made me feel. I felt full and satisfied and I know not being hungry is mainly due to the fact that I'm eating so much meat. My body has been craving meat all these years and the reason I became obese is because my body wanted more nutrition (meat) and all I heard was "I'm hungry".  Eating meat satisfies for my hunger.

Cooking was a challenge too. Not only had I been eating out for most of my meals, I no longer was eating anything I ordered out, so I had to learn new things to cook. I kept eating out, but more and more started making things at home. I found a good sausage patty that I can cook while my eggs are poaching. I place the patties on my plate and top them with an egg and I have a breakfast that tastes a whole lot better than DnD ever served me. The savings is nice too. Well, I will need a new dishwasher soon, but it's due to be replaced sooner or later anyhow.

Expanding my recipes is the latest challenge. But guess what? This is really nothing new. I was tired of my recipes before I started this program. Menu changes are a part of our life cycles. We want to change things up from time to time. This time, working this program, is no different. I'm going to find a handful of new recipes, cook them to death like I always do (meaning: cook them again and again and again), and then say I need more new recipes. Or, I'll do this differently too. But for now, a handful of new recipes is a good start.

How about you - what have been your biggest challenges on this program? What are your favorite program foods? Any new favorite recipes?

Have any of you tried making Julie's meat pizza?  It has hamburg for the crust and anything else you want on top.  It's yummy.  I haven't made it for a while either.  Perhaps Aime and I can make it again, make a video along the way, and mix the older video with the new - weighing less now than last time we made the pizza and that video.

Hey Aime---time to make another pizza??


January 08, 2012
If you haven't seen Julie's recent TV interview, she's on Simply Living on fox at 6:30 pm tonight.  It's been on a few times the past few days, so if you can't catch it now. Or, you can see it right here....I added the video below.

Also, if you've been trying to get in to see Julie, be patient. Her office handles a lot of clients, but they will get back to you and give you an appointment.

I remember my frustration too. I put my name on the list for the first time in Oct. 2010 and I didn't get to see her until Jan. 27, 2011. Meanwhile, I did two sessions with the some else in Dec., as I was determined to get started.  Turns out, I wasn't so impressed with the other person, so I  when Julie's office called me in the middle of a Saturday while I was at shopping, I took the appointment with Julie. The rest is history! It's worth the wait.

January 08, 2012