Turkey Meatballs and Whole Wheat Spaghetti

Healthy Meal Alert!  This is a popular meal in my home - my family does love meat, so meatballs are always on their list!  Homemade meatballs are SO easy to make!  You can certainly use pork, beef, turkey - whatever meat you would like, but I usually stick with ground turkey for my family. 

These work well served as an appetizer too!  Once cooked, let the meatballs simmer in a red sauce for several hours - your guests will be very happy!  You can always make them more bite sized if serving as an appetizer - you will then have more meatballs in your batch. 

This recipe makes about 25 meatballs.  I do freeze the leftovers - my little one goes to a preschool where I send his lunch with him every day.  Happily, I can send something for the school to heat for him - meatballs are in his lunch at least twice a week - he loves them! 

Ingredients:

Turkey Meatballs
Makes about 25 meatballs.

1 1/4 pounds ground turkey (or meat of your choice!)
2 eggs
3/4 cup Italian style bread crumbs
4 cloves minced garlic
1/2 cup grated Romano cheese
2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley (either flat leaf or curly)
Salt & Pepper to taste
1-2 tablespoons olive oil (happily used extra virgin olive oil from my friends at the Queen Creek Olive Mill!)
Freshly chopped parsley, to garnish

For serving:

Whole grain pasta
Pasta sauce (store bought works just fine!)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Add ground turkey, eggs, bread crumbs, garlic, Romano cheese, Italian seasoning, parsley, salt, and pepper to a large bowl.   Take off your rings, and mix with your hands.  Do NOT overmix or your meat will become tough.  If the mixture seems too wet, add more bread crumbs, if it seems too dry, add another egg.

Once combined, sprinkle 1-2 tablespoons olive oil to the bottom of a roasting pan.  Shape the meatballs and gently roll, then place into the roasting pan.  Make sure you make the meatballs all about the same size so that they cook evenly. 

Cook for 20-25 minutes, take out of the oven, turn each of the meatballs, and return to the oven to cook another 20-25 minutes.  Depending on the size of the meatball, this could take up to an hour, keep turning if they are not cooked.  You can always cut into them and make sure the meat isn't pink to check their doneness. 

Meanwhile, start your water boiling for your spaghetti and cook pasta according to package directions - typically 10-12 minutes.  Heat your pasta sauce over low heat as well.  Toss your pasta in the sauce to coat. 

Once out of the oven, cover in sauce and serve on top of spaghetti......just make sure no one sneezes! : )