Perception

Porcupine Turkey Meatballs

I recently listened to a TEDx talk about perception.  When we feel that our choices are all gone or limited our vision narrows to the possibilities around us.  Our perception of the possibilities not the reality of the possibilities suffocates us. We have limited our scope of what we find conceivable. It is so easy with allergies to hem our thinking into the thought that there is nothing out there that I can eat thinking "I am doomed" or "I will never eat the food I love again".

My perception had to change because my health depended on it.  Every time I slip, and you will slip, I think that "I will be fine this one time" and of course have a reaction.  Instead of being devastated I am trying come home with alternatives that may taste similar to what I was eating.  I think that biggest help in changing your perception to eating is possible is finding out what ingredients in food do and why.  Then you can start manipulating recipes that you are used to creating and dishes that you can eat.  

One recipe that I thought that I would never eat again was meatballs with a barbecue sauce.  The porcupine meatball recipe that is here I wanted to try because it would get my kids and myself to eat more grains.  My biggest problem was I am allergic to beef, rice, oats, eggs, onions and tomatoes.  My initial perception was this recipe would NEVER work for me.  Pretty much the whole recipe was not going to work.  

You can change recipes to a point.  Somethings you will never be able to eat again but expand your taste buds and you may find yourself falling in love with the dish again when it is made in a different way.  If you are allergic to Tomatoes I have not found a replacement for spaghetti sauce.  So I do avoid spaghetti and any similar dish.  But if you are needing more of a barbecue sauce then the plum sauce works well for this.  This recipe can be found in an earlier post.

Porcupine Meatballs

Original Recipe -- Adrie Roberts, USU Cache County Extension Agent, Family Cookbook, October 2013.

Recipe                                                 Replacement Ideas

1 1/2 lbs. lean ground beef                  any ground meat

1 cup cooked, cooled rice                    rice, quinoa, armanath or something similar

1/2 cup cooked wheat berries, opt.      bulgar, barley

1/2 cup oatmeal                                   any rolled grain - spelt, barley, wheat, kamut

1 egg lightly beaten                             This is a binder so egg replacer, or cheese

1/4 cup onion, finely chopped            You can leave this out, add chives or leeks, finely chopped celery

1 small can tomatoes sauce                      Plum sauce, Rhubarb sauce

1/2 cup dry bread crumbs                    Use any kind of bread you can eat

1/2 tsp seasoning salt                           Just sea salt

1/4 tsp black pepper                            Leave out

Sauce:

1/2 cup brown sugar                           Real maple syrup, honey, 

1/2 cup bottled barbecue sauce           Plum sauce, Rhubarb sauce

1/2 cup ketsup                                     Plum sauce, Rhubarb sauce 

1 can tomato soup                                  Plum sauce, Rhubarb sauce

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce                   

1/2 tsp seasoning salt                           Sea salt, celery salt combination

1/2 tsp chili powder

Tomato Free Porcupine Turkey Meatballs

2 lbs ground turkey

1 cup cooked, cooled quinoa

1/2 cup cooked bulgar

1/2 cup cooked rolled spelt

2 tsp egg replacer

2 1/2 TBSP water

1/4 c finely chopped leek

1 clove garlic finely chopped

1 tsp minced ginger root

1/2 cup plum sauce

1 piece of Ezikal 4:9 bread toasted and cut up or torn into fine piece

1/4 tsp sea salt

1/4 celery salt or seed

Combined all the above ingredients into a large bowl and mix with your hands until well blended.  Form into 1 to 2 inch balls.  I use a cookie scoop for the ease and uniformity.  Place in a 9 X 12 casserole or cake pan.  We did end up using 2 pans because of the quantity.  

Sauce:

1/2 cup maple syrup

2 cup Plum sauce

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1/4 tsp sea salt

1/4 tsp celery salt

1/2 tsp mince ginger root

1 clove of garlic

Mix and heat in a sauce pan.  Pour over the meatballs and bake at 375 degrees for 25 -35 min.

When the meatballs were done there was no sauce left.  It had all absorbed into the meatballs.  So I would recommend making double the sauce and put half on at the first and let the rest simmer while the meatballs cook.  I would then either pour over or have on the table to dip in like you might ketchup.

We served this with some quinoa or bulgar that we had made as extra, spinach, canned pears, and mini pumpkin muffins.

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