Veggie-filled Meatballs Seasoned with Essential Oils

I love to use essential oils. But I know that if you’ve been reading my blog for anytime you already know that! One thing I wanted to try is to cook with essential oils more often. I love using peppermint essential oil (especially with chocolate). One thing I’ve never done is cook with the savory essential oils. Basil, thyme, rosemary, oregano and black pepper (the vitality oils). They are extracted from that herb and are concentrated and still taste great. I set out to make some type of meatloaf or meatballs because I knew the flavor of the essential oils would shine with a recipe like that. I also was a little scared. I didn’t want to ruin a pound of beef because I got the amounts of essential oils wrong. Can you imagine an overwhelming flavor of Oregano??

For this recipe I only had one shot to get it right. I was teaching a class about cooking with Essential Oils and I didn’t have the time to mess up. It was using the two pounds of ground beef I had or else there would be no savory meat tasting option (and never a recipe to be found). But thankfully after doing some research and looking at a bunch of other recipes I felt like I had a little grasp about how much essential oil to use in my dish.

What I learned about cooking with Essential Oils:

• Less is better. Less is always more when it comes to oils. Whether you are applying them to your body or cooking with them. They are powerful and using less is the best thing you can do
• If you only need a very tiny amount of essential oils (like in my Peppermint Mocha) use a toothpick. Think of it like adding a pinch of spice to a dish. I also use the toothpick method to individually flavor a bowl of soup or stew.

Ingredients

1 pound grass-fed beef

2 carrots, shredded or finely chopped

1/2 small red onion, finely diced

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped (or 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder)

1 egg

2 drops Basil Vitality Essential Oil

2 drops of Oregano Vitality Essential Oil (can also be substituted for Thyme Oil)

2 drops Black Pepper Vitality Essential Oil

 

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
• In a small bowl lightly mix the beef, carrots, onion, garlic, egg and vitality essential oils until combined. I usually mix this with my hands but you can also use a spatula if you are more comfortable with that route
• Form the meatballs with your hands or a cookie scoop in about 1-2 Tbs amounts
• Bake for 20-25 minutes or until done
• Serve warm