One of my New Year’s resolutions for 2017 is to eat less processed foods. So what to do when I’m craving something like turkey meatballs?
Well learning how to make them (and make them healthy!) is a good start!
In fact, I should likely just add “learn to cook” as one of my stated goals for the upcoming year.
To be fair, I do a lot of meal prep already. I whip up a smoothie each weekday. I also make some pretty yummy salads, tossed with my own salad dressings.
Plus I can cut up fruits and veggies for snacks like no one’s business.
But cooking- like dinner- that feels like a totally different animal.
I think the main thing holding me back from cooking is fear. Until recently, I felt like some people are just good at cooking and others simply aren’t.
But maybe, like most things in life, there is an extremely small percentage of people that were born to cook and it just comes naturally to them.
Then there is the overwhelming majority of us that don’t have a natural God-given ability for cooking. We fall into the category of the people that learn and work at it (those that don’t have the gift), while those naturally talented cooks make it look like child’s play.
Right now, I fall into the “those that don’t” category.
My husband and I only eat out about twice a week, so the majority of the time we are eating at home. And 99% of that time, my husband is making the meals.
He’s an awesome cook, but as I flip through cookbooks and blogs, I see a million recipes that I think would make a great meal.
And I really don’t think it’s fair to print out the recipe, hand it to my husband, and tell him to get busy in the kitchen.
So with that in mind, I started my New Year’s resolution a little early and tested out a turkey meatballs recipe last night.
And guess what? It actually turned out to be pretty good! I even made my own marinara sauce.
(Note from my husband: He says it was AWESOME!)
Here is my recipe for super simple, anyone can make it, turkey meatballs in marinara. This made enough for dinner for my husband and me, plus leftovers for him to have dinner the following night (which he says he enjoyed, even more, the second day).
Ingredients for the Turkey Meatballs:
20 oz (1.3 lb) ground turkey breast
1/4 cup seasoned breadcrumbs (whole wheat if possible)
1/4 cup Reggiano Parmigiano cheese
1/4 cup parsley, finely chopped
1 egg
1 large clove garlic, crushed
1 tsp kosher salt + fresh pepper
For the Marinara Sauce:
2 tsp olive oil
4 cloves garlic, smashed
2 28-oz cans crushed tomatoes
1/2 small onion, keep whole
1 bay leaf
1 tsp oregano
1/4 cup fresh chopped basil
1 tsp garlic salt
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp Italian seasoning
salt and fresh pepper to taste
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees for meatballs.
For the sauce, in a medium-sized pot, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add garlic and sauté until golden. Add crushed tomatoes, onion, salt, pepper, oregano, basil, garlic salt, onion powder, Italian seasoning, and bay leaf. Stir and reduce heat to low. Cover and let simmer.
In a large bowl, combine ground turkey, breadcrumbs, egg, parsley, garlic, and cheese. Using wet hands, mix all the ingredients well until everything is combined. Form small meatballs, about the size of a ping-pong ball (1/8th cup each) and place 2 inches apart on a lightly greased baking sheet.
Bake in the preheated oven until they are browned on the outside, and no longer pink in the center, generally 15 to 20 minutes. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the center should read at least 165 degrees.
Five minutes before serving, add the meatballs to the sauce. Discard the bay leaf and the onion before serving. Pour meatballs and sauce over whole wheat pasta or on whole wheat Italian bread for a meatball hero.
And that’s it! It doesn’t get much easier than that. Perfect for a chilly night, and easy for a weekday meal.
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