Personal Training
Turkey and Beef Meatballs with Spaghetti Squash and Roasted Brussels Sprouts
Even when prepping for a show, I try to get creative as I can with ingredients, flavors, dishes. Dieting for a show does NOT mean food has to be bland and boring! With that said, closer to a show it does get harder to motivate myself to get so creative. I just want to eat and be done! The Sunday right after the Boston show, I decided (with the help of my roommate) to whip up some delicious turkey/beef meatballs. We were going to serve the meatballs with spaghetti squash (since we are both obsessed with squash) and roasted Brussels sprouts which I hadn’t had in a couple of weeks! This dinner was absolutely delicious. Clean, healthy, filling and SO easy!
Depending on how many people you are cooking for or live with, you will have a lot of leftovers! You can easily freeze the cooked balls to have another time or even freeze half of of the raw meat. All you would need to do is take it out of the freezer in the morning of a day that you want to cook them at night! They will have all day to defrost.
We decided to make half lean ground turkey and half lean ground beef meatballs because…why not? I love meat and never discriminate so I figured the more the merrier. I used 1lb lean ground beef and lb lean ground turkey
I used about 1T dried basil and a few sprigs of the real stuff since we had a basil plant.
Just about 1 tsp of red pepper flakes (I am not the biggest fan of ‘spicy’ so feel free to add more!)
3/4 C frozen chopped spinach, 1 T oregano
1 1/2 T dijon mustard
1 T nutritional yeast
I combined all of the ingredients with a fork until all ingredients were well incorporated
I formed meatballs that were about 1 inch in diameter
After about 30 minutes at 350 degrees (flipping halfway)
While the meatballs were cooking away, a spaghetti squash was cooking as well. We popped it in the microwave for about 10 minutes (cut in half prior to microwaving) When it was done, we scooped out the goods which were piping hot
Dinner is served!
Turkey and Beef (Paleo Friendly!) Meatballs
Yields: ~40-1 inch meatballs.
Ingredients:
- 1 lb lean ground beef
- 1 lb lean ground turkey breast
- 2 T Dijon mustard
- 1 1/2 T oregano
- 1 1/2 T basil
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 T red pepper flakes (more if you want it spicier)
- Olive oil spray (for the cookie sheet or pan)
- 1 T nutritional yeast (You can also use Parmesan cheese here!) <--omit for PALEO
- 3/4 C frozen spinach
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Grease a cookie sheet, baking dish with olive oil spray and set aside
- Place the turkey and beef meat in a large bowl. Add in the spices, mustard, spinach and nutritional yeast. Mix well with clean hands or a fork until all ingredients are evenly distributed
- Form 1 inch balls and place on your cookie sheet or in your baking dish.
- Place in the oven and cook for 30 minutes (or until cooked through) flipping halfway through.
- Let cool and serve with sides of your choice! Brussels sprouts and squash made a PERFECT fall meal!
**The leftovers were eaten the entire week. I always have a protein source at each meal and I had these meatballs at least once a day for the week! They were THAT good.
Here are some examples of how I incorporated the meatballs into some of my meals for the week
-LUNCH: Large salad (tons of veggies) with cold meatballs and 1/3 of a sweet potato
-DINNER: Kale chips and meatballs (reheated) with sliced avocado and spaghetti squash
-BREAKFAST/LUNCH OR DINNER: Mashed meatballs with with 2 eggs, served over arugula
-LUNCH/DINNER: Meatballs served over organic pumpkin and Brussels sprouts dusted with nutritional yeast.
Looking for more meat options?
Turkey meatloaf (clean, healthy-one of my favorites)
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Some other great meals I have been enjoying lately:
Skillet cooked shrimp with baby portobello mushrooms and broccoli rabe. The shrimps were marinated in fresh lemon juice, orange juice and some orange zest. The veggies were simply cooked stove top with a little olive oil and white wine.
Fresh, big salad with leftover shrimp and chicken. Avocado, sprouts, baby lettuce, red peppers and cucumbers. I also made a DELICIOUS salad dressing:
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 1 T rice wine vingar
- squirt of honey
- 1/2 T dijon mustard
**It was so simple but perfect combination with the shrimp and avocado
And finally, can we talk about these beautiful roasted tomatoes? They were on the brink of going bad. We spread them out on a cookie sheet with about 10 cloves of garlic and some fresh parsley. Drizzled the little guys with olive oil and cooked them for about 45 minutes at 325 degrees. Low and slow! They became buttery and rich and would be perfect on toasted french bread. (Think bruschetta!)
This was my first FULL week post show and I have to say I am getting back into the swing of things in the gym. I always go through a phase of “whats next” and I finally have found a happy balance knowing its okay to not ‘always have a plan’ I have been more focusing on other aspects of my life this week; friends, family, work and relationships. Staying healthy and happy is of utmost importance to me right now.
Keep up to date on new workouts, tips and recipes on my
What have you cooked up lately?!
Mmmm those meatballs look soooo delish! I’m the same way while in show prep and haven’t make meatballs in way too long! I see some spaghetti squash and meatballs in my near future (typed with fire roasted tomatoes perhaps!?)…
love youuu! XOXO
Oh my goodness, what a fantastic recipe/dish!!! Yum.
These were so good!! Thank you!! 🙂
I love that you incorporated spinach into your meatball recipe. What a great way to boost the fiber content!
Thanks for this post! I can’t wait to make the meatballs… I need to make something new and this is perfect!
I just started eating meats again and my first batch of turkey meatballs gave me heartburn haha. I will definitely try these for my daughter and I! I love things that I can freeze and this recipe seems perfect! Thanks, Naomi!
Yummm….thanks for sharing! I’ll definitely give your meatballs a try. Plus, you combined them with my two other faves, brussel sprouts & spaghetti squash! My boyfriend HATES when I make brussel sprouts (thinks they’re stinky), but I can pop them like candy. 😉
I need to look for nutritional yeast. I can’t seem to find it in my stores.
Your other meals look delish, as well. 🙂
I made these turkey meatballs last night and served them on top of spaghetti squash with some pasta sauce. It was amazing! My boyfriend loved it too! I may never return to regular pasta now that I know the wonders of spaghetti squash!