Turkey Meatballs With Cheese And Apple (Slow Cooker, Gluten-Free - cooking recipe

Ingredients

1 1/2 lbs lean ground turkey
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
3/4 teaspoon sodium-free seasoning or 1 teaspoon onion powder
1 small tart apple, peeled and shredded
1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 cup unsweetened dried cranberries (optional)
breadcrumbs (optional)

Preparation

Grease interior of slow cooker bowl.
In a large bowl, mix all of the ingredients. I found that this was easiest with my hands.
Form into meatballs, I ended up with about 24.
Place in the slow cooker, stacking as necessary. My 3 quart crockpot was about half-filled with meatballs.
Cover, turn on LOW and cook. Mine were done in 3 1/2 hrs, possibly earlier, but only a few were brown. The originator cooked hers in a 6 qt crockpot for 4 hrs on High, hers were browner than mine. If you do make these, comments on the cooking time would be very helpful. The first time I made these, I accidentally turned the crockpot on high, and five hours later i had a pot full of round cinders. Be warned!
I made a lemony cream sauce and served over rice. These are pale little morsels, so they work best when covered with a sauce.
Note; The originator is a celiac, and her recipe has no breadcrumbs. I made half without breadcrumbs, but then added a couple of spoonfuls of breadcrumbs to the rest of the meat mixture. The meatballs with the breadcrumbs kept their shape better. I would suggest using breadcrumbs.
Amazingly, these do not turn into a big meatloaf. The ones on the bottom, without breadcrumbs, did tend to lose their shape a bit, but the meatballs all separated from each other easily.
Note2: There is no liquid in this recipe, but you will end up with some broth. I used for soup.