Slow Cooker Meatball Parm Grinders

I love having success with a new slow cooker recipe!  I found the original recipe on Pinterest and made some adaptations including the addition of herbs and red wine.  I also opted for 93% lean ground turkey rather than lean ground beef simply because lean ground turkey is lower in saturated fat.  It is true that beef has more iron than turkey meat but I'd rather save on the saturated fat and serve a spinach salad on the side of my ground turkey meatball grinder.  I guess once we loaded it with cheese all fat count considerations go out the window anyway!  Either way, I hope you enjoy these quick and easy meatball parm grinders!   

Prep ahead Plan:  I prepared the recipe the say before and let the slow cooker insert sit overnight until I was ready to bake it!  

Ingredients:

For the Meatballs:

1 pound 93% lean ground turkey

1 ¼ cups of seasoned bread crumbs

2 teaspoons basil (dried)

2 teaspoons parsley (dried)

2 eggs

2 cloves of garlic, minced or crushed for meatballs

For the Sauce:

2 cloves for sauce, minced or crushed

2 28 oz. cans san marzano whole tomatoes

¾ cup red wine

1 Tablespoon sugar

1 bay leave

1 Tablespoon fresh basil or a handful of fresh basil leaves torn up

grinder rolls

garlic powder

olive oil cooking spray

sliced, fresh mozzarella

iphone pic

Directions:

1.  Spray the inside of a slow cooker insert with cooking spray.

2.  In a large bowl combine all of the ingredients for the meatballs.  Mix with hands and form into 1 ½ inch meatballs.  Place them in the slow cooker.

2.  Open the cans of whole tomatoes and squeeze each tomato over the meatballs.  Pour any remaining juice from the cans on top of the meatballs too.

3.  Combine remaining ingredients in pot and stir making sure not to mash up the meatballs.

4.  Cook on low for 8-9 hours.

5.  To make grinders.  Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Spray grinder rolls with olive oil spray and sprinkle them with garlic powder and bake for 5 minutes.

6.  Remove from oven and place meatballs in the roll and top with sliced cheese.  bake for another 5 minutes or so until the cheese is melted. Enjoy!