Creating a plan of what I’ll eat for dinner for the week is one of the hardest things for me to do. I typically get home around 7 p.m., so I need recipes that are easy and healthy. We had turkey meat in the fridge, so I went for a twist on my mom’s classic meatballs this past week.
This tasty meal takes about 30 minutes of prep time and 25 minutes to bake. To me, that’s a respectable amount of time in the kitchen after a full day of work and I can make a dish that’s packed with flavor.
This will make enough for 5-6 servings.
INGREDIENTS
2-3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
1 Lb. lean ground turkey
1 Lb. spaghetti
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon peppercorn
1 tablespoon dry onion flakes
1 cup 3 Cheese Blend
1 (heaping) tablespoon garlic
1 (heaping) tablespoon tomato paste
1/4 cup water
1 cup dry bread crumb
DIRECTIONS:
Use the EVOO to grease a 9 x 13 pan. Set aside.
Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.
In a medium mixing bowl, combine the turkey meat, garlic, salt, pepper, onion flakes, egg, and cheese. Use your hands to blend the ingredients.
In a small measuring cup, combine the water, tomato paste and 1/3 of the bread crumbs. You’ll end up with a creamy tomato mixture that you can then add to the mixing bowl. Add in the rest of the bread crumbs and continue blending.
Use a large spoon or small ice cream scoop to form 1 1/2 inch meatballs. Place in the greased pan. I had to use an additional small 9 x 9 pan since I made about 20 and couldn’t fit them all together.
Bake the meatballs for 15 minutes and then flip them over to bake for another 7-10 minutes, until slightly browned and crispy on the outside.
Cook the spaghetti al dente, or to your liking. Drain and set aside. Add a few drops of EVOO to keep it from sticking.
While the meatballs are cooking, heat up 1 jar of your favorite sauce in a pan. Add meatballs to the sauce when warmed. Add sauce and meatball mixture to the spaghetti and serve. Use additional cheese on top, if preferred. Feel free to add fresh parsley as a garnish as well.
An additional ingredient I didn’t include here (because I didn’t have it on hand when I made mine) is 1 cup of ricotta cheese. Add this in when you first combine your other items. It gives the meatballs an amazing layer of texture and flavor.
While some people hate leftovers – I absolutely love them! We had enough from this recipe for lunch the next day and dinner again later in the week.
Let me know how this turns out for you!
