Italian Marinara with Meatballs

My sweet friend, Lindsay Pineda, shared this recipe with me and I'm so glad she did! Lindsay told me this is an authentic Italian dish that her family has made for year and she wanted to share the recipe so I could try it out! 

When I first read the ingredients, I was nervous that all the fresh herbs would be too overwhelming, especially adding in the Taste of Italy essential oil, but it was perfectly balanced!! This was really easy to make and the fact that you make it in a crock pot made my afternoon less hectic!! I threw the marinara sauce ingredients in the crock pot, mixed up my meatball ingredients, browned them and put them in the crock pot for 5 hours. I made my gluten free spaghetti noodles 20 minutes before the sauce and meatballs were scheduled to be done and we were ready to eat!!

This recipe can be made gluten free if you use gluten free noodles and gluten free breadcrumbs.  Oh and by the way...the Young Living Essential Oil is optional but really makes a difference in the taste. Here are the ingredients in this oil:

Basil leaf oil, Oregano (Origanum vulgare)† aerial parts oil, Oregano (Origanum minutiflorum)† aerial parts oil, Oregano (Origanum onites)† aerial parts oil, Oregano (Origanum majorana)† aerial parts oil.

If you need to know where to order this oil, email me at amandasgreatrecipes@gmail.com and I'll hook you up.

Enjoy this one! It's a repeater for sure!!


Marinara Sauce: 

Ingredients 

• 2 cans crushed tomatoes 
• 1 can tomato paste 
• 2 bunches fresh basil (you will take this out at the end so they need to be whole bunches) 
• 4-5 sprigs fresh oregano (you will take this out at the end so they need to be whole sprigs) 
• ¼ c. reduced fat parmesan cheese (fresh grated)
• 1 tsp each – garlic powder, onion powder, dried oregano, dried basil, dried parsley 
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper 
• 2 drops Taste of Italy Young Living Essential Oil (optional) 

Directions

• Combine all ingredients in slow cooker, stir together. Turn crock pot on low heat. 

Meatballs: 

Ingredients 

NOTE: This makes a lot but, it’s easy in the slow cooker

• 3 pounds ground turkey (Jennie-O, 93/7 fat) 
• 1 ½ pounds (1 package) turkey sausage (hot or sweet- I buy Jennie-O) 
• ½ c. panko bread crumbs (I use Gluten Free Panko Bread Crumbs)
• ½ c. reduced fat parmesan cheese (fresh grated)
• 2 eggs 
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 
• 3 drops Taste of Italy Young Living Essential Oil (optional) 
• 1 tsp each – garlic powder, onion powder, dried basil, dried oregano, dried parsley 
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper 
• Fresh basil & oregano – as much as you want, cut or torn into small pieces 

Directions

Combine all ingredients and roll into small balls. Add 2 tsp of extra virgin olive oil to the pan and brown the outsides of the meatballs before putting them into the slow cooker (If you don’t do this step, they will fall apart in the sauce). 

Add them to slow cooker after they’ve been browned (note – the sauce will not cover them; this is okay, it will by the end of the cooking process), put the lid on and cook on low for 4-5 hours. 

When you remove the meatballs from the sauce at the end, do so with a slotted spoon to catch the basil and oregano leaves/stems to remove them from the sauce. 

Serve over your favorite noodles and add fresh parmesan on top!

Turkey Parmesan

So, for the past 7 weeks my nephew has hired me to make a weeks worth of meals for him. He's a pro level athlete and it's that time of year where he focuses on lean body mass and really trains hard. Because healthy food choices are important to me and I know a lot about nutrition, he asked me to take on this task. I end up cooking literally all weekend, but it's fun and I get to research and experiment with new recipes.

Because I am such a huge fan of The South Beach Diet recipes, I have been going to those old recipes a lot these last 7 weeks. High protein, lower carbs and good fats are the focus of South Beach.

I had never tried this Turkey Parmesan recipe before today, but I'm glad I did. I love this recipe mainly because instead of using bread crumbs, you use crushed pine nuts. OMG - amazing taste! What a fabulous substitute! This one took me a little bit of time to prep and make, so I took more pictures as I cooked. This one is Gluten free, too!

You can serve this over pasta if you want, but you could just eat this with a side salad.  If you are Gluten free and want this over pasta, use your Gluten free pasta.

Enjoy this one.  The nutritional information is below!

Ingredients:

• 2 cups low-sugar marinara sauce (you can use a jar version or make my Homemade Spaghetti Sauce recipe)
• 1/2 cup pine nuts, coarsely chopped
• 1 ounce grated Parmesan cheese (1/4 cup) NOTE:  I always buy a hard block of Parmesan and grate it myself.
• 1/2 tsp dried Italian seasoning
• 1 pound turkey cutlets, about 1/3 inch thick
• 2 tsp extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 ounces shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese (1/2 cup)
• Salt and freshly ground pepper

Directions:

• Heat oven to broil.
• Bring your marinara sauce to low simmer in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Remove from heat and cover to keep warm.
• Stir together pine nuts, Parmesan and Italian seasoning in a wide, shallow dish.

Season turkey breasts on both sides with salt and pepper. then dredge both sides in the nut mixture (make sure your pine nuts are chopped at this point), pressing to adhere.

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-low heat. Add turkey and cook until the turkey breasts reach 165 degrees. If the nuts brown too quickly, turn down your heat.

• Once the turkey breasts reach 165 degrees, place the turkey breasts in a baking pan, top evenly with mozzarella and broil until the cheese melts, about 30 seconds.
• Spoon 1/2 cup of warm marinara sauce on top of each turkey breast.  
• Serve over a plate of pasta or eat turkey breasts with side salad.

                                 

Nutritional Value:

Per Serving: 380 calories, 21g fat, 4g saturated fat, 39g protein, 10g carbohydrate, 3g dietary fiber, 650mg sodium