{"id":16320,"date":"2013-07-09T09:05:25","date_gmt":"2013-07-09T15:05:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/foodembrace.com\/?p=16320"},"modified":"2013-07-09T09:05:25","modified_gmt":"2013-07-09T15:05:25","slug":"kale-pesto-meatballs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/2013\/07\/kale-pesto-meatballs\/","title":{"rendered":"Kale Pesto Meatballs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/foodembrace.com\/2013\/07\/kale-pesto-meatballs\/kale_pesto_meatballs\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-16321\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-16321\" alt=\"Kale Pesto Meatballs\" src=\"http:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Kale_pesto_meatballs-200x300.jpg\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Kale_pesto_meatballs-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Kale_pesto_meatballs.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/a>A little delayed but here is the last version of how I used the <a title=\"Kale and Walnut Pesto\" href=\"http:\/\/foodembrace.com\/2013\/06\/kale-and-walnut-pesto\/\" target=\"_blank\">Kale Walnut Pesto<\/a>, in meatballs!<\/p>\n<p>I was trying to think of different ways to use pesto and while I know it&#8217;s a common topper\/sauce for pasta, there had to be something else to do with it.<\/p>\n<p>And that&#8217;s when I realized we haven&#8217;t had spaghetti and meatballs in ages and why not put the pesto in the meatballs?<\/p>\n<p>So I did and the dish turned out fabulous!<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>Andrea&#8217;s Kale Pesto Meatballs<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>1lb Ground Beef<\/li>\n<li>1lb Ground Pork<\/li>\n<li>1C <a title=\"Kale and Walnut Pesto\" href=\"http:\/\/foodembrace.com\/2013\/06\/kale-and-walnut-pesto\/\" target=\"_blank\">Kale Walnut Pesto<\/a><\/li>\n<li>2 thick slices of crusty white bread, cubed<\/li>\n<li>1\/4C Red Wine (can use milk or stock instead)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Preheat oven to 400 degrees.\u00a0 Either grease\/line a baking sheet or a long casserole dish.\u00a0 In a small bowl soak the bread in the wine and let sit for a couple of minutes.\u00a0 Once the bread is soaked, add it to a large mixing bowl along with the beef, pork, and pesto.\u00a0 Mix until everything is well combined.<\/p>\n<p>Form into balls and place on the baking sheet or casserole dish.\u00a0 I made them about tennis ball size.\u00a0 Place in the oven and bake for about 20-25 minutes or until they are fully cooked through.<\/p>\n<p>Serve immediately as a main dish or along with some pasta.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/foodembrace.com\/2013\/07\/kale-pesto-meatballs\/kale_pesto_meatballs2\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-16322\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-16322\" alt=\"Kale Pesto Meatballs\" src=\"http:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Kale_pesto_meatballs2-300x200.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Kale_pesto_meatballs2-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Kale_pesto_meatballs2-450x300.jpg 450w, https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Kale_pesto_meatballs2.jpg 900w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>I served this with spaghetti dressed in a really basic tomato sauce.\u00a0 I added some of the pesto to the sauce (about 1\/2C).\u00a0 When I plated the pasta I also added a little pesto on top for color and extra flavor.\u00a0 Topped the whole dish with more grated Parmesan cheese.<\/p>\n<p>We had this two nights in a row!\u00a0 The meatballs are also great for sandwiches or crumbled on top of pizza.<\/p>\n<p>Depending on what size you decide to make the meatballs will determine how many you get.\u00a0 I did about tennis ball size so that yielded around 6, give or take.\u00a0 It will also determine cooking time, so if they are smaller they will have a shorter cook time.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s a great make-ahead dish and the cooked meatballs freeze really well.<\/p>\n<p>A nice little twist on spaghetti and meatballs for a weeknight dinner.<\/p>\n<p><em>Have fun guys, and remember, always play with your food!\u00a0 Enjoy!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A little delayed but here is the last version of how I used the Kale Walnut Pesto, in meatballs! I was trying to think of different ways to use pesto and while I know it&#8217;s a common topper\/sauce for pasta, there had to be something else to do with it. And that&#8217;s when I realized [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[33,34],"tags":[13,15],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4KYWa-4fe","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16320"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16320"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16320\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}