Turkey Meatballs

Turkey Meatballs

Meatballs are one of the few meals that everyone in my house eats. There’s no complaints, no whining and generally very little encouragement (i.e. EAT your dinner!) needed when I make them. I need more meals like this is my arsenal! Even though the general recipe is the same (or close at least), I love meatballs but despise meatloaf. Seriously…even saying the word in my head is enough to make me gag. Brett LOVES
meatloaf – although unfortunately for him, I rarely make it. Come on…a loaf of meat that’s all congealed and oily?(here comes the gagging again…) So meatballs are as close as our family usually gets to “baked meat”. Sorry Brett…maybe for your birthday dinner?

Where this recipe came fromI received an Italian cookbook from my boss’s wife at my very first post-college job. If you know me (and my “fair” complexion), you know that there isn’t a drop of Italian blood in my body. So I was so excited when she handed down this authentic cookbook. The meatball recipe had a “really good” in pencil next to the title, so I decided to give it a try. They were amazing…and have been my base recipe ever since. Over the years, I’ve developed my own recipe (healthier) based off of this original (that doesn’t involve a piece of hot milk soaked bread? or frying the meatballs), but these are still amazing!

Making the recipeAfter I baked the meatballs, I tossed them into the crockpot with my sauce. I think meatballs are one of these things that totally benefit from a day in a sauce bath. Plus, it’s so nice on a Saturday to have dinner done by 11 am!

The resultsDid I mention everyone in my house eats meatballs? Enough said!

The recipe1 pkg ground turkey
1 pkg sweet turkey sausage
2 tbsp finely chopped onion
2 tbsp finely chopped parsley
1 egg, beaten
½ cup breadcrumbs, plus more for rolling
1/3 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
Pinch of ground nutmeg
2 cloves of garlic, minced
Salt and pepper
2 tbsp olive oil

Preheat oven to 425. Mix all ingredients

and shape into balls (whatever size you like). Roll into a shallow dish of breadcrumbs

and bake for 20 minutes.

Marinara sauceOK, so this recipe I’m slightly more ashamed of. I have no idea how to make “real” sauce. This is my attempt, and while I think it’s pretty good, I certainly realize there is room for improvement.
2 cans crushed tomatoes
1 can diced tomatoes with basil and garlic
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp. sugar
½ cup red wine (I left it out this time because I didn’t have any…yikes!)
2 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper
1 tsp. Dried oregano
1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
1 bunch fresh basil chopped
Crushed red pepper, if desired

Put everything but the fresh parsley and basil in the crockpot on low, add cooked meatballs and cook for 6-8 hours, adding parsley and basil about 30 minutes before serving. We enjoyed ours on toasty multigrain rolls with melted mozzarella…yum!