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.

Tomato Pasta Sauce with Pumpkin

 

By now you know that I love to sneak vegetables into my kids meals.  Admit it, you do it too.  I love that I am also eating more veggies.  It makes me feel like I am somehow fabulously healthy.  I also try to reduce the amount of sugar in my recipes.  I decided to take on the task of eliminating refined sugar from my pasta sauce and replacing it with natural sugars.  But unlike my Cafe Rio Style Chicken, I couldn't use a sweet fruit.  This took some research.

 When my mom made homemade pasta sauce, it simmered on the stove all day.  It was filled with chunks of beef, pork sausage and pepperoni. Soooo delicious.  My mom also added vinegar and sugar.  It combats the tangy flavor that canned tomatoes sometimes give off.  So I had to find something that would replace both the vinegar and the sugar.    I also wanted to add zucchini.


 So I chopped my onions, and 1/2 of my carrots, and my celery.  Then I grated my zucchini, and the rest of my carrots.  I opted to cook all of this with the meat, to eliminate the need for extra oil, (normally needed to saute the garlic and onion and veggies).

When this was done and I was ready to add my tomatoes, and tomato sauce, I also added pumpkin!  I know!  Pumpkin!  And with the first taste I was so sad.  I thought I had ruined my sauce.  But I decided to wait it out.  Guess what?  An hour later, no pumpkin flavor.  Just meaty, full, robust pasta sauce.  What a happy discovery. 

And my family loved it.  And I have not told them they were technically eating a squash, or at least something from the same family as the squash.  They can be squeamish about such things.  

 This makes a lot, as I freeze half.  You can halve the recipe, no problem.  Just keep the full can of diced tomatoes and skip the tomato paste.

 Tomato Pasta Sauce with Pumpkin
2 lbs ground beef (or ground turkey)
1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes
2 (15 oz) cans tomato sauce
(Normally I would also add 1 small can tomato paste, but I didn't have one. You decide.)
2-3 large carrots, 1chopped, the rest grated
1 large onion - chopped
1 medium zucchini - Peeled, grated and squeezed to remove moisture.
2 stalks celery - chopped
1 can (14.5 oz) pumpkin -- do not accidentally use pumpkin pie filling.  Trust me on this.
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp basil
2 Tbl garlic - chopped (probably 1 tsp if you use garlic powder)
2 tsp parsley
1/2 tsp white pepper
salt and pepper to taste

Add the onion, beef, zucchini, celery, carrots, to a large skillet and cook the meat.  Drain if needed, and add the tomato sauce, paste if using (along with a can full of water), diced tomatoes, pumkin and spices.  Cook over low heat for at least 30 min, but I recommend 2-3 hours.  Stir occasionally.  You could also cook the meat and throw everything into a slow cooker.  This would give you a fast and easy meal for a busy day.  I serve mine over blanched cabbage.  My family likes it with spaghetti noodles.