This post brought to you by LIBBY’S Pumpkin. All opinions are 100% mine.

I’ve been mixing up our routine meals a lot lately. We love meatballs- it’s a go-to for this family. But we’re always having them the same way.  I thought we’d mix things up a bit and try something different.  We added pumpkin to the meatballs and sauce and came up with these recipes!

Pumpkin Meatballs w/ Pumpkin Sauce

Pumpkin Meatballs

Ingredients –

½ lb. Lean ground beef

½ lb. Ground pork

1 egg

¼ C. milk

½ C. breadcrumbs

¼ C. LIBBY’S 100% Pure Pumpkin (15 oz.)

1 tbs. parsley

¼ tsp. Salt

¼ tsp. Pepper

¼ finely chopped onion

Pumpkin Sauce

Ingredients –

½ C. finely chopped onion

½ medium red bell pepper

2 tbs. minced garlic

2 tbs. butter or margarine

1 C. LIBBY’S 100% Pure Pumpkin (15 oz.)

1/2 C. water

1 chicken boullion cube

½ C. milk

½ lb. Rotini pasta

 

Pumpkin Meatballs

Directions –

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9 x13 baking sheet with foil.

In a large bowl combine all the meatball ingredients and mix well using your hands. Roll the mixture into small 1-2” size meatballs and place on the foil lined baking sheet

Bake the meatballs for 20-25 minutes until cooked through.

Pumpkin Sauce

Directions

While the meatballs are cooking, prepare the rotini noodles according to package directions.

In a separate medium saucepan combine the ingredients for the pumpkin sauce and bring to a small boil, stirring frequently. Turn down on low and let simmer.

Serve the meatballs and sauce over the noodles.

*Makes 4-6 servings. Store unused portions in an airtight container in the fridge up to 1 week.

 

Pumpkin is a superfood. Pumpkin adds extra fiber and Vitamin A to recipes. It’s packed with Beta Carotene. It can be used to replace the fat in some recipes and cut the amount of sodium per serving in others. When used as a replacement for butter, eggs or oil it can also reduce calories. It can be incorporated in breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack and beverages – all that taste great.

Check out the#PumpkinCan website where you  can share your favorite #PumpkinCan fact via Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest for a chance to win weekly prizes!

Don’t forget, if you love pumpkin recipes  to follow LIBBY’S Pumpkin on Facebook! You’ll find a lot of great ways to use pumpkin in recipes- from sweet to savory, and everything in between.  Pumpkin has a lot of benefits that make it part of the superfood team- it’s a good source of fiber (we ALL need fiber) and a great source for Vitamin A. It can also help to lower sodium and fat content in recipes. That’s a win in my book!