Healthy Turkey Meatballs

Last week was Valentine’s Day, and so you've probably bathed in all that candy (yes, you!) and lounged around with your loved one. Now, it’s time to get back on track. This week, I wanted to share a recipe that I stole. Yes, I know you can’t believe it. I mean, “Stealing” should never be put in the same sentence as my name. I’m such a good girl *bats eyelashes*

Anyway, I got this from a friend. Italian food gets such a bad rap because of all the cheese. But there are ways to make it healthier. Stick to whole wheat pasta, cut out some or all the cheese, use tomato-based sauces instead of heavy cream-based sauces, and add in a lot of flavor with garlic and other spices.

Ingredients (serves 4)
1 pound lean ground turkey
¼ cup bread crumbs
1 teaspoon grated parmesan cheese
1 egg
2 tablespoons soy milk (or non-fat milk)
½ tablespoon salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon thyme
2 cloves garlic
Grated vegetables of your choice (carrots or peppers)
1 pack of whole wheat spaghetti
1 28-ounce can tomato sauce
2 tablespoons tomato paste
¼ cup fresh basil leaves
1 onion
Cooking spray
1 tablespoon olive oil (or vegetable oil)
1 teaspoon hot powdered pepper

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to about 375⁰. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray or use a non-stick baking tray.
• In a large bowl, throw in the turkey, bread crumbs, parmesan, milk, egg, black pepper, thyme, half a clove of garlic (chopped), grated vegetables, and half of the salt. It may be more efficient to put the turkey in last so you can mix up the other ingredients really well.
• Shape the mixture into balls; the size totally depends on you. If you’re in the mood for huge balls, go ahead. If the tiny balls do it for you, enjoy.
• Throw the balls in the oven and bake for about 15 minutes, or until they are brown.
• While that’s happening, work on your sauce. Bring the oil to heat in a pan. When it’s hot, throw in the chopped onion and the rest of the garlic.
• Right before the onion and garlic start to brown, add in the tomato sauce, tomato paste, the rest of the salt, and the hot pepper. Why the pepper? Because that is just how we do where I’m from.    
• Let the sauce simmer for about 15 minutes so the tomatoes get that ‘cooked’ flavor. Add in the basil.
• Let it simmer for another 5 minutes. The meatballs should be ready by now, so carefully put them into the sauce one by one. Let the meatballs and sauce simmer for 10 minutes so the meatballs can absorb the tomato flavor.
• Cook the spaghetti like you usually would. Bring water to the boil, and add the spaghetti. It usually cooks in about 10 minutes depending on the heat and the amount of water.

This recipe serves 4, and is less than 500 calories per person. Isn’t that great? If you’re like me, you’ll cook the sauce a day before you want to eat it because we all know tomato sauce tastes better the day after :)

Cheers Eights & Weights!

Photo credit: FitnessMagazine.com