Mozzarella Stuffed Chicken Balls

This is a very versatile recipe. Whether you use chicken, turkey or beef it is a great meal.

Today I decided to make it with green peppers following my original recipe.

Add mushrooms if you like.  It's a really good one pot meal.  Enjoy!

Today's crockpot stuffed chicken with mozzarella and green peppers.  Reminds me of my chicken cacciatore.

after making the meatballs and cleaning and cutting the peppers I placed all on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and baked at 400 for about 10 minutes and then removed them and placed them directly into the crockpot that I had placed the sauce in.

Hello and Good Morning!  I have been posting a lot of dishes with sauce involved.  Call it a red sauce overload.  Italy did it to me so please know I will certainly get into some other dishes next week.  I had bought a lot of healthy ground turkey and chicken at the grocery store this week and some beef too so this week I have been ground meat recipe crazy.:)

We ate all of the turkey stew.  It was great for us since lunch gets to be a problem since we don't eat lunch meat and salads are great but they do take time when you want lots of veggies in them so a robust stew in the fall or winter works for us.  Stews heat up well and you can portion them for weight watching and package them to take with you for lunch work meals. 

Note: Today I am making Chicken meatballs with a small piece of fresh mozzarella in the center.  I am going to add green peppers to my red sauce.  The red sauce I'm making today I'm going to use some of my fresh basil  to start it and use diced and crushed tomatoes as well as some hot red pepper flakes.

Stews are so easy and once I get everything started on top of the stove it's into the crockpot for a meal that I don't have to stand over and watch so I can be on my way.  

Ingredients for chicken balls:
1 lb. ground chicken
3/4 cup seasoned bread crumbs
3/4 cup grated Italian cheese 
1 egg slightly beaten
1 clove minced garlic
1/4 cup chicken broth **(add more if needed) mixture should be soft and easy to form the balls.

Mix with hands or large spoon to combine

 

Place small piece of mozzarella in center of meat and top with more chicken mixture and roll into a ball.

I made large and small chicken balls and baked them at 400 degrees until slightly browned, approx. 10 minutes.

For sauce:

1 large can crushed tomatoes
1 large can diced tomatoes
several carrots or 2 green peppers, cut in medium size pieces
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. red pepper optional
olive oil and garlic and basil (if you have pesto without nuts use 1 T.)
1/2 lb. sliced mushrooms (optional)

In a large pot place pesto or olive oil and garlic.  Add carrots and peppers and saute for a few minutes.  Add tomatoes, salt and red pepper. Add baked chicken balls. Cover slightly and cook mixture until carrots are tender.  Season accordingly if necessary.

Note:  I did the above and instead of simmering on top of stove I poured all into my crockpot and set it on low and let it cook for approximately 4 to 5 hours.  Perfecto!

5/27/16