Just Another Meatball Monday

It was just another meatball Monday
I wish it was Sunday
'Cause that's my funday
My I-don't-have-to-run day
It's just another meatball Monday

So if you don't get the joke, you need to watch this video immediately.

Now that you've done that and laughed at my hilarious reference, take a look at my Valentine's Day dinner. I have been craving beef for a few days and I finally decided to make some penne and meatballs with arrabiata sauce. It was amazing.

Yield: 5 servings (about 15 meatballs if you make them pretty big)


Ingredients: 
1 lb lean ground beef (93% lean)
Jennie-O hot italian turkey sausage (3 links)
1/3 c breadcrumbs with Italian seasoning
2 eggs
1/4 c shredded Parmesan
18 oz jar pasta sauce (I used Safeway brand arrabiata)
Salt and pepper to taste



Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Remove turkey sausage from the casing and set aside.
2. Pour breadcrumbs into a large bowl and add 1/3 cup of hot water. Stir until moistened and let sit until the water is fully absorbed. Add eggs, Parmesan, and salt and pepper.
3. Mix in beef and turkey sausage - don't be afraid to use your hands! Form the meatballs, making sure they are equally sized so they will cook evenly.
4. Brown the meatballs in a skillet over medium-high heat for about 2 minutes on each side, or until some of the fat drains off.
5. Spray a large baking dish with cooking spray and place the meatballs in the dish. Make sure there is a little room between the edges. Pour the sauce over the meatballs.
6. Bake at 425 degrees for 35 minutes until bubbling. Serve with penne and mozzarella or Parmesan on top.

This was so good, and I'm definitely planning on freezing these for when I get another craving! In case you're curious, I used Barilla Plus pasta since it has extra fiber and I hate the taste of whole wheat pasta.

Stuffed Bell Peppers

This was a recipe I made last week and never got around to posting, probably because it just turned out okay. It was a little bit tricky. Next time I make it, I'm definitely going to make some edits, the first of which will be to pre-cook the rice. Mine turned out a little too al dente (can you use that for rice?) and if it was all the way cooked I think it would've tasted much better. Other nitpicks I had include cutting the peppers the wrong way (whoops) and not having any foil to cover them when they went in the oven. That said, this recipe is really low calorie, pretty low carb, and filling!

Yield: 3 servings with leftover filling (I split the "filling" in half and froze it so I only used 3 peppers for this one, so if you don't want to do that, use 6 peppers, and it will make 6 servings. A little confusing.)

Ingredients: 
3 green bell peppers (or 6 if you want to use all the filling)

1 pound ground turkey

1/3 cup chopped onion

salt and pepper to taste

1 can whole peeled tomatoes, 14.5 oz, chopped

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1/2 cup uncooked brown rice

1/2 cup water

1 cup shredded 2% Cheddar cheese (or you can use Mexican blend)

2 cans condensed tomato soup, 10.75 oz

water as needed

Preparation:

1. Cook rice according to instructions on package (I didn't do this step, but I would use my rice cooker. Remember, brown rice takes MUCH longer to cook than white rice, so factor that into your prep time).

2. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cut the tops off the peppers, and remove the seeds. Cook peppers in boiling water for 5 minutes; drain. Sprinkle salt inside each pepper, and set aside.

3. Saute turkey and onions in a skillet until turkey is browned, about 5 minutes. Drain off excess fat, and season with salt and pepper. 

4. Stir in the tomatoes, rice, 1/2 cup water and Worcestershire sauce. Cover, and simmer for 10 minutes. 

5. Remove from heat, and stir in the cheese.

6. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a baking dish with cooking spray (pick your dish carefully; you don't want the peppers to fall over, so the dish should be just big enough to fit all the peppers side by side). Stuff each pepper with the turkey and rice mixture and place peppers open side up in the baking dish. 

7. Combine tomato soup with just enough water to make the soup a gravy consistency (if you're only making half the recipe, only use one can of soup). Pour over the peppers.

8. Bake covered (I didn't cover them...next time I would use foil) for 30 minutes.

These made great leftovers and work lunches. As I said above, pack up half of this yummy filling and put it in the freezer. Next time you want this meal, it's as easy as prepping the peppers and popping them in the oven!