Spaghetti Squash Bake with Turkey Meatballs

I have developed a true love for spaghetti squash, although I will admit having it the same way over and over again can get a little redundant and boring. So with that I ended up switching it up a bit, using the same ingredients but adding some cheese atop. It turned out absolutely perfectly. The spaghetti squash crisped up just slightly on the outside and the cheese was a perfect touch. Considering this was using some of my leftover meat sauce I had made it was also a great way to use up some leftovers in a new and unique way.

My meatballs are actually frozen turkey meatballs from Trader Joe’s.  I pick these up every once in a while at Trader Joe’s because my boyfriend and I just genuinely like these! I’m usually not a frozen meatball fan (I prefer homemade) but these are tasty and perfect for a quick meal. I’ve heard from a few that the sodium level is too high for their liking – but I feel as though these aren’t an item I eat all the time, so a higher sodium level isn’t going to be a damper.

To make my spaghetti squash bake, I layered spaghetti squash into the bottom of a small baking dish. I layered ½ cup of homemade meat sauce over the top, then sprinkled the top with 1/3 cup of fat free mozzarella.  I then baked it in the oven for roughly 15-20 minutes until the cheese was nice and melted.

The greatest part was my entire meal was only 9 points plus!

QUESTION:

Have you ever had spaghetti squash bake?

Mama Mancini’s Turkey Meatballs

While at the grocery store I was hungry and considering I didn’t really want to end up in a drive thru before heading home I decided to just pick something up I could heat up quickly. I ended up grabbing a pack of Mama Mancini’s Turkey Meatballs to heat up and have with some spaghetti squash.

I have never had this brand of heat and eat turkey meatballs before, but considering the nutrition facts weren’t terrible I opted to give them a try. Heating them in the microwave, I topped my spaghetti squash with some sauce and 2 meatballs and I have to say… they’re not bad! They’re not the greatest meatball I have ever had, but they’re decent for a quick on-the-go type of meal. The outside of the meatballs are softer and they are mildly flavored. The sauce is good but it’s very thin and a bit watery.

2 meatballs are 110 calories or 3 points plus values.

QUESTION:

Have you tried any of the Mama Mancini’s products?

Carba-Nada Pasta with Sauce & Turkey Meatballs

Who says dinner cannot be on the table in 20 minutes or less? Certainly not this girl!  That’s even with making TWO different types of pasta (Carba-nada for myself and regular Barilla pasta for the boyfriend).

We didn’t quite have dinner plans in place.  Trying to refrain from ordering take out I scanned the cabinets and decided pasta with turkey meatballs would suffice.  Quick, easy, filling and it would allow me to use up the leftover roasted peppers and onions from dinner the night before.

Putting two separate pans of water on to boil, we retrieved the turkey meatballs from the freezer, spritzed a little non-stick cooking spray into the pan, tossed in the meatballs and into the oven they went.  I had purchased these Lean Turkey Meatballs from Target a while back (Market Pantry brand) while they were on clearance.  I paid under $4 for the bag and I have to say they are pretty good tasting meatballs!  I’m not a big fan of frozen meatballs (I love homemade – nothing beats a homemade meatball) but these are delicious.  I’ve served these up alongside some homemade sauce (because I didn’t want to eat sausage) and my family all tried some (since I cooked extras) and everyone thought they were good.

Once my water was boiled, I added in my last remaining 1 ½ cup serving of Carba-nada Roasted Garlic noodles into the water, tossed ½ a  box of pasta in the other pan and let them cook until done.  When the noodles were done, I added in the roasted peppers and onions into each pot and simply measured out a ½ cup serving of Francesco Rinaldi Tomato, Garlic & Onion pasta sauce into my dish. The noodles are 3 points, the sauce was 2 – making the whole plate of pasta only 5 points plus!  Amazing, right?

Once the turkey meatballs were done, we took them out of the oven.  A serving (6 meatballs) is 4 points plus, but after calculating 1 ½ servings, I found it was only 1 point more … so since I was quite hungry, I decided to have 5 points plus worth of meatballs.  Delicious and only 10 points plus!

QUESTION:

What is your “go to” quick and easy meal when dinner plans weren’t quite thought through?

Dinner: Homemade Meatballs & Sauce on fettuccine

 I ended up making a large family-style dinner a couple weeks ago.  I had originally planned to make this meal on Sunday – but my brother, sister-in-law, niece & nephew came down on Saturday so I decided to make this then.  I’ve made sauce a number of times in the past but never made my own meatballs.  I’ve always helped my mother make her meatballs when I was younger so I had a general idea of what I needed.  Because I’m a Weight Watchers member I measured my ingredients out and converted them into PointsPlus Values so I’d know how many points my dinner would be.  Overall – I’d say the meatballs came out quite well.  Next time I’d add a little more garlic and a hair more parsley.  How about my sauce? Perfect!

Here’s my recipe:

1 ¼ pound lean (93%) ground beef
1 ¼ pound lean ground pork
½ cup wheat Italian breadcrumbs
2 large eggs (beaten)
3/4 cup reduced-fat parmesan cheese (1/2 cup into the meatballs, the other half goes in the sauce)
Small handful fresh Parsley
~4 tablespoons minced garlic (2 tablespoons in sauce, the other half in the meatballs)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/3 cup skim milk
3 large cans crushed tomatoes
1 can diced tomatoes (with garlic) – Drained
Large onion (cut in half)
Dried Italian seasoning
Black pepper
Sea Salt
Crushed red pepper flakes
Garlic powder

Instructions:

Mix the ground beef, pork, eggs, parsley, minced garlic, breadcrumbs, milk together in a bowl.  Season with some black pepper, salt, Italian seasoning (I added extra even though the breadcrumbs were already seasoned). Season appropriately to obtain the smell you’d want.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes.  Cooking time varies based on your oven – my oven cooks very quickly.  Make sure to shake the pan halfway through to turn the meatballs.

In a large sauce pan, add in 2 tablespoons of olive oil and heat through.  Add garlic and halved onion.  Let the flavors marinate then add in cans of crushed tomatoes, can of diced tomatoes, parmesan cheese, and season with salt, black pepper, garlic powder, Italian seasoning, crushed red pepper flakes.  Let simmer.

When meatballs are done cooking – add to the sauce. Cover and let simmer for 1-2 hours on medium-low.

A serving of 3-meatballs with sauce was 6 PointsPlus values.  I ate this with 1 cup of whole grain fettuccine making it an 11 PointsPlus dinner.