Swedish-y Meatballs: the grown up version of Gramma's delight. That sounded bad.
So, as 30 approaches, I am finally understanding what people mean when when they say, “I can’t eat like I used to.” It’s true! On one hand, I will NEVER sacrifice flavor for the sake of a smaller belt notch, but on the other hand I am realizing that I simply can’t expect to eat the richest, cheesiest, creamiest dishes every night of the week and not feel like wearing my pajama pants to work everyday. So, in the spirit of compromise, I am researching ways to mimic my favorite rich dishes in a more healthy, non-artery clogging, heart-stopping way. It’s a lesson in food science.
Tonight I made one of my favorites: Swedish Meatballs. Traditionally, this dish comes with a few cans of Cream of Mushroom soup. Instead of that, I used milk, veggie broth, butter and flour. Add some nutmeg and all-spice and when I closed my eyes I was almost back at Gramma’s house eating meatballs and being called a schiester while Grampa cheats at a game of cribbage. Ah family.
I also used ground turkey instead of ground beef or pork.
Meatballs:
2 slices whole wheat bread, in small pieces (soaked in 1/2 c. milk)
2 lbs. ground turkey
2 eggs
1/2 c. breadcrumbs
nutmeg and allspice
Sauce:
3 T blsp butter
1/4 c. flour
1 c. milk
3 c. veggie/chx broth
spinach
nutmeg and allspice
Eats
TAT
What says comfort food like chicken pot pie?!? Biggest Loser AND chicken pot pies!!! One of my favorite food-ventures lately has been the chicken pot pies Sarah and I made for TAT #2. As you can see, they were out of this world.
Chicken Pot Pie: Chicken, peas, carrots, celery and delicious gravy (snatch that gravy up!) baked inside of a buttery crispy crust. YUM!
The recipe can be found on one of my favorite blogs, smittenkitchen, here http://smittenkitchen.com/2008/11/chicken-pot-pie/.
After a few attempts at figuring out how to make and affix dough to a tin foil mini pie tin, we got it down and now have a freezer full of the homemade food version of a mom hug. Yay.
Eats
TAT
Feta Cheese Stuffed Roasted Red Pepper and Rosemary Turkey Burgers with Crispy Prosciutto and Pesto Toppings with Rosemary Roasted Potatoes and Yellow Tomatoes with Cottage Cheese
Sarah instigated Tuesdays are Taken in an effort to never again let a whole week go by without seeing each other…we live under that same roof afterall! So for this season of TAT, we are watching The Biggest Loser and cooking anything and everything that will get us on that show eventually. Tonight we fired up the grill for these delicious turkey burgers. Tuesdays are Taken are also fast becoming the night of the week that I get to cook with meat. 🙂 These burgers were as good reheated as they were the night of. Turkey surprisingly makes great burgers and meatballs too! It has the same texture of ground beef, but seems to absorb the flavors of the complimentary ingredients better than beef. It also doesn’t feel like a greasy brick after scarfing it down.
Sarah gives the meal a “best burgers I’ve ever eaten, but didn’t like the prosciutto as much 8.7”
Alyssa gives it a “9.4 for the turkey burger surprise sneak attack and an extra point for the bacon… bacon always gets an extra point.”
Eats
Burgers, TAT, Turkey
