health to heart: Turkey Meatballs with Spaghetti Squash

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Spaghetti squash is one of my new favorite foods. I love experimenting with new ways to prepare it. It's a great substitute for pasta in Italian recipes that is gluten free and lower in calories. For this recipe, I chose to bake it in the over, but it can also be boiled or cooked in the microwave.

The turkey meatballs that I made for this recipe are stuffed with goat cheese, which adds great flavor. However, if you are following a dairy free diet that does not allow for goat cheese, feel free to it leave out and the meatballs will still come out great!

Note: This recipe makes 40 meatballs and feeds 6-7 people. If you cut it in half it would feed 3-4 people.

For the Spaghetti Squash

Ingredients

1 large spaghetti squash

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 375.
2. Prick the squash all over with a fork to allow steam to escape while it's baking and prevent it from exploding in the oven.
3. Place the squash in the oven on the middle rack.
4. Bake for 1 hour
5. Remove and allow to cool until the skin of the squash is cool enough to handle.
6. Using a large knife, cut the squash in half lengthwise.

7. Scoop out the seeds and discard.
8. Use a fork to pull out the pulp of the squash. The pulp will come out in thin strands that resemble spaghetti.
9. Put the pulp of the squash in a bowl. Cover and keep warm while you make the meatballs. Discard the skins.

Note: You could also make the squash a day or 2 ahead, keep it in the fridge, and warm it up right before you are ready to serve the meatballs.

For the Turkey Meatballs

Ingredients

2 pounds of ground turkey
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 small yellow onions (or 1 large yellow onion)
1 large yellow bell pepper
3 cloves of garlic
1 medium-sized zuchinni
1/4 cup gluten free flour (I used Bob's Red Mill GF All Purpose Baking Flour but you could also use oat flour)
2 teaspoons of salt
2 teaspoons of Italian Seasoning (or your favorite dried Italian herb, such as oregano or basil)
2 eggs
4oz goat cheese
1 jar of your favorite low-sodium pasta sauce

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 350.
2. Using a food processor, finely chop the onion and yellow bell pepper. (You can also chop by hand but I like to use a food processor to make the chopping easier).
3. Pour the olive oil into a large sautee pan and add the onions and bell pepper. Cook for about 5 minutes, then add the garlic and continue to cook until the onions are translucent. Remove from heat and set aside.

4. While the onion and pepper is cooking, put the zucchini in the food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Pour in the gluten free flour and process until the mixture is smooth.
5. Put all the ground turkey in a large bowl. Add the onion mixture and the zucchini mixture. Add the salt, Italian Seasoning and eggs. Mix all ingredients together until combined.

6. Spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray.
7. Form the turkey mixture into 2-inch balls and place on the cookie sheet.
8. Using your index finger, make a small imprint in the top of each meatball. Fill the imprint with a small amount of goat cheese.

9. Put the meatballs in the oven and bake for 15-18 minutes, or until the turkey is fully cooked.
10. While the meatballs are cooking, warm up the tomato sauce in the microwave or on a sauce pan on the stove.
11. Serve the meatballs over spaghetti squash, topped with pasta sauce. You could also add Parmesan cheese if you like.