Ridiculously Practical Meals: Turkey Meatballs

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When I don't know what to make for dinner, the first place I turn is Joy The Baker. Yesterday her new Baked Turkey Meatballs caught my eye and I knew I had to have them.

I ran to the grocery store and picked up the ingrediants I didn't already have. This took me approximately 1 hour to make. It probably would have been faster if I were more organized, or a better chef. I slightly altered her recipe so I could be a little more lazy and use what I already had around the house.

1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs
2/3 cups whole milk
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1.25 pounds ground turkey
1/2 cup egg beaters
1 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, or more to taste
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1/3 cup coarsely chopped fresh parsley
3 to 4 cups tomato-basil pasta sauce

Using these ingredients I then followed her instructions exactly (just skip the part about soaking the bread if you use bread crumbs like I did). I also made my meatballs a little bit bigger than she did, but they were still cooked all the way through by the end of 25 minutes at 375 degrees. You can stab them with a fork when done, if the fork comes out clean they are ready to eat! The reason I made my meatballs bigger was that I don't have two 9x13 pans, just one, and I only had 1.25 pounds of turkey instead of the two pounds she uses, so the bigger balls fit in one pan. Less dish-washing to do, too. Didn't I say I'm lazy? I mashed up one meatball and mixed it in with my puppy's kibble, which he loved, and there are so many left over that Hubby and I will get at least one more meal out of them, if not two. For dinner I cooked up spaghetti noodles, poured some sauce over them, and added three (large) meatballs. All done! For complete instructions visit Joy's blog.