Monday, July 18, 2011

Turkey & Veggie Meatballs and Cauliflower Rice

Ingredients:
- 1 lb. ground turkey
- Veggies of your choice! I used leftover carrots, onion, and zucchini and added red bell pepper. Original recipe also recommends green pepper and mushrooms.
- Fresh parsley (forgot to put that in the picture!)
- Garlic powder
- Italian seasoning
- Black pepper

Instructions:
1. Cut your veggies and place into a food processor. Blend until well chopped. (I'll spare you the picture I took of the diced veggie glop)
2. With the ground turkey in a large bowl, mix in the diced veggies. Add generous portions of the seasoning to keep the meatballs from turning out bland (no joke about the seasoning.. the more the better!)
3. Cook in a pan with a touch of oil.
How theirs turned out
How mine turned out. I decided to make little patties instead of balls because I didn't know how to cook it through without burning the outside.
These were AWESOME with cauliflower rice (see below) and spaghetti squash. Since they are full of protein AND veggies they make a great snack by themselves or wrapped in lettuce with some Paleo toppings.

Cauliflower Rice
All you need is a head of cauliflower!
1) Microwave in a covered dish until tender, do not add water! I think I put mine in on high for 2 minutes.
2) Process the cauliflower in a food processor until it is the size of rice (I processed mine a little too much!)
If you have a little baby processor like mine, I recommend only putting in a little bit of cauliflower at a time. I kept having to pick out chunks to re-process.
3) Saute the cauliflower in a pan with oil or butter and any additional seasonings you feel like. I kept it simple with a dab of butter and a ton of pepper.
A super simple and tasty veggie side dish. Not to mention a cure for a rice craving!

Microwaved Spaghetti Squash
Spaghetti squash has become a regular in my eggs in the morning so I've been making quite a bit of it. I finally got around to microwaving this guy and I'm so glad I did!
1) Pierce the squash with a knife at least 5 times.
2)  Microwave on high for 10-12 minutes, turning occasionally.
3) Let it cool for at least 5 minutes, cut in half lengthwise and prepare as usual.

Pros of Microwaving the Spaghetti Squash (as opposed to baking it)
1) It's fast.
2) It's A LOT easier to cut... no machete is required.
3) It's easier to "rough up" the insides for maximum spaghetti yield.

The only con is that it's hard to not waste the good stuff while taking the seedy stuff out.. it's hard to distinguish between the bad and the good. 
Seeds removed on left; not yet removed on right.

These little guys have been waiting so patiently for me to play with them. Until next time, bye bloggers!

1 comment:

Alli said...

LOVE your puppies! I'm going to have to try the cauliflower rice.... I loveeee cauliflower!