Freezer Meatballs

Before I begin my first recipe blog post, I want to start out by saying I’m not the greatest chef. Cooking does not come natural to me and it’s not exactly my favorite pastime. You may be thinking, “This lady is a dietitian and can’t cook, why is she admitting this??”. I often let my clients know that you don’t need to be a Food Network star to be able to prepare healthy meals. Some basic skills and ingredients will get you far. I promise that the recipes I share with you here will be doable and reasonably priced, and there won’t all sorts of ingredients that are hard-to-find and expensive. If I can do it, you can do it!

So here we go, freezer turkey meatballs. I came up with this recipe by some trial and error and putting together different recipes I found online. I like to make up a large amount of these guys and then throw them in the freezer. It’s a little work upfront, but then you have a supply of them to last you some time. When the time comes to eat them, all you have to do is take them right from the freezer and warm them up in a pot of sauce. Put that over some whole grain pasta and you have yourself a healthy meal!

Ingredients:

2 pounds lean ground turkey

2 large eggs, beaten

¾ whole grain bread crumbs

½ cup grated Parmesan cheese

2 cloves minced garlic*

½ teaspoon dried parsley

½ teaspoon dried basil

½ teaspoon dried oregano

½ teaspoon black pepper

*fresh is going to give you the best flavor, but I use 1 teaspoon of the jarred variety for convenience reasons

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400F

2. In a large bowl, mix all ingredients together thoroughly with your hands**

3. Roll into 40 meatballs

4. Bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes or until cooked throughout

5. Allow meatballs to cool to room temperature

6. Place them on a large baking sheets and put in freezer for one hour

7. Transfer to freezer bags for storage

**you may want to leave the ground turkey out at room temperature for 20 minutes so you don't have to put your hands into freezing cold meat, just don’t keep it out too long for food safety reasons

Serving: 3 meatballs

Yields about 13 servings

Nutrition Facts Per Serving:

Calories: 114

Fat: 5g

Sat Fat: 1g

Sodium: 136mg

Carbs: 4g

Fiber: 1g

Sugar: 1g

Protein: 15g

Vitamin A: 1% DV

Vitamin C: 0% DV

Calcium: 5% DV

Iron: 5% DV