I love the holidays, but you have to agree that they can be a lot of work. Shopping, wrapping, Christmas cards, baking, parties… All that fun is pretty time consuming! There are some things I won’t skip like individually wrapping ever present to put under the tree for a magical Christmas morning. For other things, I love to find shortcuts to make my life easier! Here’s one holiday hack idea: Instead of buying pre-decorated holiday goodie bags, just use paper lunch sacks and get the kids to stencil holiday shapes onto them with cookie cutters. You’ll save money and keep the kids busy while you’re at it. Your friends and family will love the homemade touch! 
I especially take advantage of shortcuts when it comes to entertaining. It’s hard enough for me to keep all the toys picked up and keep the kids out of the food before guests arrive. I love serving a table full of a wide variety of party foods, but it is hard to find the time or energy to everything from scratch. There is nothing wrong with adding a few delicious frozen appetizers to the mix! 
Let me just talk about how much I love frozen meatballs for a moment. They have to be one of the most versatile shortcut ingredients I know. Sure, you can throw them in spaghetti sauce for a quick dinner, but you can also make 
These cute pizza cups are really quick and easy and are perfect for a party food or fun dinner. Here’s how to make them:Ingredients
Scale
- 1 c. quinoa rinsed
- 2 c. water
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 3 eggs
- 3/4 c. grated parmesan
- 2 tsp. Italian seasoning
- 1 c. pizza sauce plus more for dipping if desired
- 12 Farm Rich frozen meatballs any variety
- 1 1/2 c. mozzarella cheese
Instructions
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Bring quinoa, water, and salt to a boil in a small saucepan. Cover, and reduce heat to low. Cook for 20 minutes. Remove cover, fluff with a fork, and allow to cool. (I cooked my quinoa in the morning and left it on the stovetop until I was ready to make the pizza cups.)
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Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Spray a muffin tin generously with cooking spray.
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In a medium bowl, beat egg, and stir in parmesan, Italian seasoning, and cooked quinoa. Stir until well combined.
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Place 1/4 c. of quinoa mixture in each muffin cup. Scoop a tablespoon of pizza sauce in a round-bottom measuring spoon, and press the bottom of the spoon into the quinoa to make a little well. Fill with the sauce. Repeat for all 12 cups.
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Press a frozen meatball into the sauce for each pizza cup. Sprinkle about a tablespoon of cheese over the top of each meatball, and bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes. Carefully sprinkle a little more cheese on top of each one for the last 10 minutes of baking if you like extra cheese.
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Allow muffin cups to cool almost completely in muffin tin. Run a knife along the edge of each pizza cup, and carefully lift out of the muffin tin. Serve with more warm pizza sauce for dipping if desired.
Notes
As a shortcut, you could simply spread the quinoa mixture into the bottom of a 9 x 13″ baking dish sprayed with cooking spray. Make straight lines of indentations filled with pizza sauce and meatballs, and sprinkle cheese over the entire casserole.
- Prep Time: 60
- Cook Time: 30
- Category: Italian
You can use the 
22 comments
Thank you Andi. They sound so good.
Looks very very very delicious :)
Thank you so much, Chris!
Can you use freshly made meatballs instead of frozen?
Yes of course! Do you have an Italian meatball recipe you like? Just use that and make the meatballs smaller than golf balls. I hope you like it!
What an original clever idea. And fun too. And tasty too. And easy. You pinball rang up a BIG score.
Ha! Wow, I feel like I just won an award :) Thank you, Carol!
I am loving these quinoa pizza cups! As a gluten free eater, these are right up my alley! And with meatballs? I would say these are a winner :)
I didn’t realize you were GF too, Meg! We’re taking over the food blogging world! ;) Thank you so much!
Andi!! I love your little video tutorial! These look like so much fun to make! I also love that I finally got to hear what one of my bloggy buddies sounds like…I know I’m wierd! No Mississippi accent??
Thank you, Jaren! I didn’t have a strong accent even when I lived in MS, and now it’s gone completely. I don’t think you’re weird at all. I love it when I can see a video of my online friends too! xo
These are great! I didn’t know about the Farm Rich gluten-free meatballs yet! You can bet I’ll be looking for them so I can try them too!
Hope you can find them, Michelle. It’s hard to find GF meatballs that don’t cost an arm and a leg!
I love that you were able to combine quinoa, pizza, and meatballs! I think these would disappear quickly at any holiday gathering!
Thank you, Kristine! They disappeared quickly at our house for sure :)
I absolutely love how easy this recipe is to throw together and the addition of quinoa! My little cousin would devour these in a second!
Thank you so much, Christina!
It really is such a busy time of year! I am all for taking shortcuts when you can. These look delicious! I love the idea of the quinoa crust!
I’m going to try that quinoa crust for a whole pizza soon and see how it turns out. Thank you, Cate!
Yes Yes, YES! I love meatballs and there’s quinoa in it, amazeballs! For real!
PS: like that you did a video too. Now I can clearly see how easy this recipe is to make.
Thank you so much, Connie! I’m glad you love this one!