Parmesan Quinoa Turkey Meatballs

Sounds fancy, don't it? I wanted to make a sophisticated meatball recipe that was healthy, yet full of flavor and also exciting enough that I wouldn't get tired of eating it repeatedly. I made this recipe for our meal prep this past weekend. And I outdid myself.

Here's what you need to do to make this meatball situation happen in your life:

Mince a red bell pepper. 

You'll want a sharp knife for this (if you don't already have a sharp knife, invest in at least one good knife. It's so worth it). A dull knife is going to smash the bell pepper and you will have bell pepper mush instead of minced bell pepper. Gross. Toss those tiny minced pieces of bell pepper into a very large bowl.

Mince 5 cloves of garlic.

Or do what I almost always do and scoop 5 teaspoons of minced garlic (sold in convenient glass containers in the produce isle) into the bowl.

Still with me?

Mince a medium onion. 

If you're not a big onion fan you can use a small onion. And again, you want to really get those onion pieces as small as you can. Big chunks of vegetables will make the meatball fall apart. We don't want that to happen. That upsets us. 

Add 1 cup of cooked quinoa.

Oh dang, we're getting fancy.

Add 3 pounds of ground turkey.

Oh, did I mention this makes 12 servings? Like I said, I made this for our meal prep this past weekend. We make several servings of a few different meals. Click Here for more details about how I meal prep. If you don't want 12 servings I suggest cutting the recipe in half to make 6 servings. 

Add 2 eggs.

Dos huevos.

Add 1 and a half cups of grated Parmesan cheese.

That's a lot of cheese! The cheese really helps give these meatballs an amazing flavor.

Add 1 teaspoon of salt and 1 teaspoon of pepper. 

Keep in mind that the Parmesan cheese also contains salt, so if you want to keep the sodium level low (or if you prefer food with less salt), use less salt or just omit the salt altogether. You can always add it later when you're eating it if you need to, right?

Add 1 cup of freshly chopped parsley.

I love this part. 1 cup is ridiculous, right? This beautiful green and flavorful parsely is going to give your meatballs so much color and flavor.

Mix.

This is the messy part. Use your clean hands to mix all the ingredients together. You want to really get in there and make sure everything is combined.

Form meatballs, 3 heaping tablespoons in size.

They should be about the size of 3 heaping tablespoons. Don't drive yourself crazy trying to measure them perfectly. I used a tablespoon measuring spoon (and, full disclosure, I got a little obsessive trying to get exactly 36 of them because I wanted to have 3 per meal for our meal prep). The important thing is that they are all about the same size. So, with this recipe (if you did not cut the recipe in half), you should aim for about 36 meatballs.

Put meatballs in the freezer for 20-30 minutes.

This step is important. The meatballs are prone to falling apart, so you want to let them cool and even freeze just a little in order to maintain their round shape as you cook them. Place them on a tray or baking sheet lined with waxed paper and put them in the freezer.

Cook meatballs in olive oil over medium heat in a skillet.

This is the part where you babysit. First of all, you need a very large skillet in order to cook as many meatball as you can. You don't want to crowd them in the skillet. You will need to cook more than one batch. I used two large skillets and cooked a total of 4 batches of meatballs. Keep the rest of the meatballs in the freezer while you are cooking the ones that fit in your skillet (s).

Okay, now the babysitting part: like I said, these meatballs are prone to falling apart. I had 3 meatballs fall apart because I did not freeze my first batch and also because I moved them too much while they were cooking. So the key to babysitting is watching them closely to make sure they don't burn BUT to not flip them until they are brown and cooked enough to survive being flipped without falling apart. You may have some meatballs that fall apart as you are getting the hang of babysitting, but do not worry, deconstructed meatballs still taste great.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Remove meatballs from skillet when browned on all sides. Place on prepared baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes.

I used two baking sheets in order to bake all 36 meatballs at the same time. If you only have one you can certainly let half of the meatballs sit and wait on a plate while the other half is in the oven.

We served our meatballs with grilled asparagus and sautéed garlic balsamic mushrooms. Interested in meal prep? Check out my post about how to meal prep.

Clap for your damn self. You just made some fancy meatballs.

Okay, now try them. Do you love them? I hope so!

Parmesan Quinoa Turkey Meatballs

Yield: 12 servings, 3 meatballs each

1 red bell pepper, minced

5 garlic cloves, minced

1 medium onion, minced 

1 Cup cooked quinoa 

3 pounds ground turkey

2 large eggs

1.5 Cups grated Parmesan cheese

Salt, to taste (I used 1 Teaspoon)

1 Teaspoon ground pepper 

1 Cup fresh parsley, chopped 

Olive oil for cooking

1. Add all ingredients except for olive oil to a large bowl and mix very well with hands to combine.

2. Form approximately 36 meatballs, 3 heaping tablespoons in size, and lay on a wax paper-lined baking skeet or tray.

3. Place tray of meatballs in the freezer for about 30 minutes until meatball are slightly frozen on the outside.

4. Cook meatballs in olive oil in a nonstick skillet over medium heat until brown on all sides, turning carefully when they are browned with plastic tongs.

5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Place parchment paper on a two baking sheets. Place meatballs on prepared baking sheets and bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

If you like ground turkey recipes, you'll love my Turkey Taco Salad.

Follow me on Instagram @howtogetawaywithcooking for more instructions and inspiration for cooking healthful and delicious foods.

Questions? Feedback? I would love to hear from you! Leave a comment below or email me at HTGAWC@gmail.com

How To: Meal Prep

People choose to meal prep for many different reasons. As for me and my little family, we find that it helps us to:

1. Eat healthfully,

2. Avoid overspending on food, and

3. Use the time that would be spent on daily cooking and cleaning the kitchen on doing other awesome things.

I'm going to share with you one example of meal preparation. Depending on your needs/wants/diet/budget/lifestyle/etc., there are several different ways to tackle weekly meal prep. This is how my husband and I prepped all of our meals for this week.

First of all, this week's prep was soooo much easier than our prep from last week. Last week our meals were great, they just took way too long to prep. My handsome husband had the marvelous idea of having chicken with every big meal and pairing it with different vegetables.

Here's our Meal Plan:

2 people

6 days

12 breakfasts

24 big meals (lunches and dinners)

24 snacks (2 snacks daily)

BREAKFAST: full fat yogurt sweetened w/Splenda, Crunchy Cranberry Almond Granola, banana

SNACK ONE: carrots & celery, peanut butter, cuties

SNACK TWO: strawberries & pineapples, turkey slices & sharp cheddar

We have 3 different options for our 2 big meals (lunch and dinner) each day.

To get 24 big meals, we prepared 8 servings of each of the following delicious entrees:

1. Grilled Chicken Thighs, Grilled Asparagus, Sautéed Balsamic Garlic Mushrooms and Brown Rice

2. Grilled Chicken Thighs, Steamed Broccoli and Brown Rice

3. Grilled Chicken Thighs, Collard Greens and Brown Rice

This is how we made it happen:

First, I made a meal plan and a shopping list. Then I went shopping to purchase the ingredients.

Then my husband and I high-fived each other and started cookin': 

My husband seasoned the boneless skinless chicken thighs and grilled them outside on the flattop grill, along with the asparagus. 

Meanwhile, I was inside cooking the vegetables, rice, and prepping the breakfasts and snacks.

I sautéed the mushrooms in a wok on the stove (with olive oil, onions, garlic, balsamic vinegar and a little salt and pepper).

I steamed the broccoli with a steamer basket in a large pot on the stove.

And the collards pretty much cooked themselves in a large pot on the stove (with olive oil, onions, garlic, chicken bouillon powder and water).

(Psst...there's a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar in these greens).

I steamed the brown rice in a medium pot on the stove.

Then I conquered the breakfast and snacks:

Breakfast: 

I put 1 cup of yogurt and 2 teaspoons of Splenda in each of 12 mason jars.

I baked the Crunchy Cranberry Almond Granola, and after it cooled and hardened I placed a 1/2 cup of granola into each of 12 snack bags 

Snack One:

This is the ridiculous part. Of course I have to be difficult and peel and cut my own carrots. Yes, I'm aware that they sell baby carrots at the grocery store. But I like mine better. I store my carrots and celery in water in the fridge and then put our portions in snack bags each night. I like for them to soak in the water for as long as possible to maintain that fresh and crispy crunch! So I peeled and cut my carrots and cut my celery and placed them in a big storage container full of water.

Then I grew the cuties on my cutie tree lol (one day...).

Then I placed about 2 tablespoons of peanut butter into little containers.

Snack Two: I washed, peeled and cut my pineapple into chunks and placed them into 12 snack bags. I washed and cut my strawberries in half and placed them into 12 snack bags (by the way, I buy generic brand snack bags because they are cheaper and, as you can see, I use a lot of them!)

I cut the sharp cheddar cheese into about 1 ounce chunks. 

(my math: the whole block was 8 ounces, so I cut it in half, then cut those halves into halves, then those halves into halves to yield 8 1-ounce chunks. That explanation was a blessing to someone, I just know it).

Then I cut each 1 ounce chunk into 4 little squares.

I placed 4 little squares into each of 12 snack bags with 4 folded slices of turkey.

Breakfast - done! 

Snacks - did that!

As I prepared our breakfasts and snacks I kept an eye on the mushrooms, tossing and stirring them as needed.

I set a timer for my rice so we don't have to eat mushy rice like we did last week (which actually wasn't so bad, but still...)

Then when all the foods were finished cooking and mostly cooled, we portioned out everything into our food storage containers.

So that's how we did it. Everything tastes amazing, I don't have to cook during the busy week, we are eating healthful, delicious foods, we are staying on our clean eating path, and it was fun working together. It was like a romantic meal prep date. Kinda.

My meal prep tips to you:

1. Keep it simple. When cooked well, leftovers are such a beautiful thing! Prepare one or two of your favorite big meals to last for the week. This week we prepared 3 big meals, as you can see, but we made foods that didn't require too much work.

2. Plan. Decide on the few foods you want to prepare, then create your shopping list. Remember to write down the amounts of ingredients you'll need so you'll have enough. Shop at a store that will give you the best value for the amount of food you plan on buying. If possible, create a plan that incorporates some of the foods that you already have. You can plan to prepare as much as you need/want. For example, prepare only your breakfasts and lunches for work; or only your dinners; or only your snacks; or prep for only 2 or 3 days out of the week instead of the whole week. Do what works best for YOU right now.

3. Teamwork. It makes the dream work. Two sets of hands get twice as much done than one. A third set of hands can bust some suds (a.k.a. do the dishes). And there will be lots of dishes. But four people...that's too many cooks in the kitchen! ;)

I hope this was helpful!

Follow me on Instagram @howtogetawaywithcooking for more instructions and inspiration for cooking healthful and delicious foods.

Or on Twitter @HTGAWC, even though I don't quite understand how to use Twitter...

Questions? Feedback? I would love to hear from you! Leave them in the Comments section below or you can email me at HTGAWC@gmail.com.

Have fun!

Snack: Apple & Nut Butter & Cheese

One of my fav snacks. The sweet apple, the salty peanut butter, and the cheese. Cheese goes with everything as far as I'm concerned. Choose from several varieties of apples, nuts, and cheeses. Oh, the possibilities! ;)

Note on nuts: Prefer your nuts roasted and salted? While the roasted, salted ones might better satisfy your taste buds, raw nuts can be more satisfying for you appetite. Something about that added salt in the salted ones just makes them hard to stop eating. For me at least. 

Snack: Apple & Nut Butter & Cheese

1 apple

1 Ounce of raw almonds

1 cheese stick 

Strawberry Granola Breakfast Parfait

When it comes to yogurt, fat is my friend. I love me some rich, thick, creamy, tart full fat Greek yogurt. Yum. This simple, healthful, and beautiful recipe is a great way to "break the fast" and start your day. 

I prefer just a 1/2 Cup serving of yogurt because I eat a snack about 2 hours after breakfast. However, if you find that a 1/2 Cup doesn't keep you satisfied until your next meal/snack, try making this with a whole cup of Greek yogurt (and add more sweetener if you like). 

Speaking of sweetener, I use Splenda granules to cut some of the yogurt's tartness and to just add to the overall sweetness of the recipe. In this picture I used frozen strawberries. I made this breakfast last night (minus the granola) and placed it in a sealed container in the refrigerator. So this morning the strawberries were unthawed and my yogurt was ready to eat. I sprinkled the granola on right before eating it.

This is a great breakfast to make at night and take to work with you the next morning.

Strawberry Granola Breakfast Parfait

1/2 Cup Greek yogurt (full fat)

5 Strawberries, chopped

1 Teaspoon Sweetener (I use Splenda granules)

1/4 Cup Granola 

Place strawberries and yogurt in a bowl. Add sweetener (and a swirl of honey just for fun). Top with granola. Savor each creamy bite.

Not sure if your Greek yogurt is full fat? Check the nutrition info on the back of the container. Full fat yogurt will have about 200 calories per 1 cup serving.

What are your favorite fruit & yogurt combinations? What toppings do you like? Please share them in the Comments section below!