Healthier Spaghetti and Meatballs

Healthier Spaghetti and Meatballs

 This is the 2nd of 3 recipes that I am re-working to be a bit healthier.  Spaghetti and meatballs seemed almost too easy.  --- Seemed is the important word here.  My meatballs kept falling apart and then I had spaghetti and meat sauce.  Tasty, but not the challenge. 

I tried to figure out what I was doing wrong.  Meatballs are essentially tiny meatloaves and I've never had a problem with meatloaf.  That's when it hit me- meatloaf is BAKED.  I was trying to fry the meatballs, as traditional meatballs are done.  However, because of the ingredient changes, the little patties wouldn't hold together.  So I skipped the frying step and went straight to baking.  This worked perfectly and as a bonus, made the dish a little healthier, (since they weren't fried in oil.)  Bonus!

Now about those ingredient changes.  Most meatballs are held together with breadcrumbs and milk, with a healthy dose of Parmesan cheese.  They also taste really good with a mixture of ground pork and beef.  They are mixed with spices and formed into balls.  They are then browned in oil and added to the sauce to cook.  Delicious!

To make mine healthier I removed the cheese, bread crumbs, and milk.  I replaced these items with shredded carrots, whole oats and onions.  It would be very easy to make these with ground turkey, or a beef-turkey mixture. I used 97/3 lean ground beef.

I recommend using whole grain noodles or --- and I promise this is really good ---- veggie noodles.  I love to par boil cabbage and eat my marinara sauce on top of cabbage instead of noodles.  I also like to use brown rice.  I used white flour noodles the night I made this, because it's what I had.  However, I ate mine over brown rice and it was delicious.  You can use spaghetti squash, zucchini, cabbage or any number of veggies.  Maybe even experiment with carrot noodles.  It could be very interesting.

Diabetic version of "spaghetti" and meatballs

Healthier Meatballs

1 lb of ground beef, turkey or a mixture
1 large or 2 small to medium carrots, peeled and shredded
1/2 small onion (finely chopped)
1 egg
1/2 cup oats
1 heaping teaspoon Italian seasoning, or a combination of parsley, basil, and oregano
1/4 tsp powdered garlic. (I use more because I like garlic)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper

Mix everything in a bowl.  Use you hands and get everything mixed really well.  Form the mixture into balls about the size of golf balls.  Lightly grease a 9X9 baking dish ( I recommend olive oil.)  Place the balls gently into the pan in a single layer.  Bake in a 350 degree oven for 30 min.  remove from oven and let cool for a few minutes so the meat will reabsorb some of the juices.  Add to your pasta sauce and serve over noodles, veggies or rice.