Hurricane Meatballs

What does a 1lb of ground turkey and a super windy and rainy day get you? HURRICANE MEATBALLS of course. Hurricane Irene is making quite a ruckus outside, so it's a perfect day to relax, watch movies, and cook a yummy meal.

                                     INGREDIENTS:

          1Lb Turkey                        Salt & Pepper

          1 Clove Minced Garlic            Pinch of Cayenne Pepper

          1/4 Cup Diced Onions            1/4 Cup Mozzarella Cheese

          1/2 TSP Basil                      1 Egg

          1/2 TSP Italian Seasoning      2 Spoons of Tomato Sauce
          1/2 TSP Parsley                   1/3 Cup Milk
          1/3 Cup Breadcrumbs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

These are all approximate measurements. I really just eyeballed all of it and didn't use measuring cups or spoons (oops!). Take all ingredients except the last three, and put them in a bowl. Mix together with hand or wooden spoon. Then add the last three ingredients and mix again.

[*TIP: In place of mozzarella, next time I would use hand-grated parmesan or romano cheese. Shredded mozzarella was all I had on hand.]

Then it's time to roll the meat mixture into balls.

Remember how you used to ball up play-dough into balls as a kid? Same thing. I took a small amount and rolled it. The size was in the ballpark of an inch or a little more in diameter. I placed each meatball in a mini muffin tray. You could use a broiler pan if you aren't using really lean turkey meat so that the fat can drain away, or just a simple cookie sheet. Then just pop them in the oven and wait 30 minutes. Here is what they looked like before I put them in the oven. Next time I think I would maybe brush the top with a little olive oil, but I didn't this time and they turned out great.

I served them up with some linguini pasta and vegetables. I grilled up 1/2 of a Chinese eggplant and 1 zucchini (which I got from my biweekly delivery of produce from Go Local Produce) with some olive oil in a grill pan. I sauteed one green tomato in another skillet with olive oil. Then I took the grilled veggies and cut them into small pieces and added them to the tomato. Once they were thoroughly cooked, I put a handful of spinach into the skillet and took it off the heat. The steam and heat from the veggies should wilt the spinach perfectly.

Then I put linguini on the plate, a few spoons of heated marinara sauce on top of that, laid the grilled veggies on top, and placed a few meatballs on the side and - voila!

Dinner is served! Quite healthy I might add - if you use ground turkey meat and overload on the vegetables. :)

~Pita