Turkey Meatballs

I’ve wanted to get back to eating healthier and have been searching for recipes that are low fat, low calorie and low carb….recipes that are especially diabetic friendly. One day while sitting at the car dealership for two hours waiting for my car to have some repairs done, I was catching up on reading my magazines and I was going through my Woman’s Day trying to find some interesting recipes. I have been getting Woman’s Day for the past year and I don’t’ know why….I know I didn’t subscribe to it. It’s not my style magazine….too much about beauty, families, children and pets….none of which have much to do with my lifestyle. The only saving grace is that there are always a few recipes and some information on health. It just so happened that the issue I was reading that day contained an article titled, “Comfort Food Without the Guilt” by Joy Bauer who is a nutritionist. There were four or five recipes in the article and all of them looked very good (that is unusual, most of the time I may find one or two in articles like this, if I'm lucky) so I pulled out that section and saved it to use later.

Last week after the Fourth of July weekend and days of eating a diet loaded with fat, sugar and carbohydrates and delicious as it all was, I decided it was time to try something new and healthier. I pulled out the pages that I took from the Woman’s Day magazine on healthy comfort foods and decided to make the Turkey Meatballs and a marinara sauce. I followed her recipe for Turkey Meatballs, with the exception of the ground turkey, I used ground turkey breast instead of just plain ground turkey and since her marinara sauce recipe was similar to mine, prepared mine instead.

Turkey Meatballs
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Marina Sauce or store bought sauce*
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 medium carrot, grated
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
3/4 cup grated Parmesan
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 1/4 pound ground turkey breast
2 large egg whites, lightly beaten
1/4 cup old-fashioned or quick cooking oats (not instant)

In a 5 quart saucepan, prepare marinara suace or bring store bought sauce to a gentle simmer.

In a large mixing bowl, stir together the onion, carrot, garlic powder, Parmesan, Italian seasoning, salt, pepper and crushed red pepper flakes.

Add the ground turkey breast, egg whites and oats. Mix thoroughly until ingredients are well combined.

Shape the meat mixture into approximately 20 meatballs.

Carefully place all meatballs in the marinara sauce. Do not stir, stirring will cause the meatballs to break apart. If meatballs are not completely covered with the sauce, don't worry. Cover the pot and simmer gently for 20 minutes.

Remove the lid and gently stir the meatballs to thoroughly coat them with sauce. Simmer uncovered for 20 minutes.

*If using store bought sauce you'll need two jars (26 oz. each)

Chopped onion, grated carrot, garlic powder.

Add grated Parmesan.

 

 Add Italian seasoning, salt, pepper and crushed red pepper flakes.

Mix in ground turkey breast, oats and eggs.

Shape into balls...should end up with about 20.

Place in marinara sauce .... do not stir.

Place lid on pan and simmer gently for 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes, remove lid, gently stir meatballs coating completely with sauce and simmer uncovered for another 20 minutes.

Even though I was looking forward to trying this recipe, I had a few reservations…were the meatballs going to be as satisfying as the ones I make using meat? When making meatballs, I always bake mine in the oven….were these going to be completely cooked by just simmering in the sauce? Well, I was worried for nothing….the turkey meatballs were incredible! They had a wonderful flavor and were moist…..probably because they “were” cooked in the sauce along with addition of the grated carrot in the meatballs and yes, they were completely cooked.

These would make great meatball sandwiches but I decided to continue with the health conscious theme and served them over whole grain pasta. The pasta was an added plus….it cooked in less time than regular pasta and it too had a wonderful taste and texture. Who would have thought that healthy could taste so good!