Spaghetti and Turkey Meatballs

Wow... what's this? 2 posts in 1 month!

Probably not enough to call it a trend, but I'm well on my way to surpassing the number of posts I made last year.

A theme in our house this new year has been trying to live a more healthy lifestyle. This isn't necessarily exclusive to any one thing like weight loss or exercising more, but more a combination of several things. Making better choices about what we're eating has become a big part of it though. So in an effort to support Christie in these goals I've started looking for lighter recipes of the things we love to eat. What better dish to start off with than Spaghetti and Meatballs?

I've found that the most common ways that people try to "lighten" pasta dishes is to substitute regular pasta with whole wheat pasta and ground beef with ground turkey. I have to admit that I've only had whole wheat pasta a few times, but it's never really tasted quite right to me. It's very al dente, no matter how long you cook it the texture is just never what I expect it to be. Maybe you all have had better luck with it, but I think for now I'm going to stick to smaller portions of regular pasta or maybe go for spaghetti squash instead.

Having said that, both Christie and I enjoyed this dish and Jonas really loved the meatballs... he ate more than Christie did. The one thing that I would change with this recipe is to add a little tomato paste at the end to thicken up the sauce a bit, even after letting it reduce it was a little too thin for my taste.

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
5 cloves garlic (4 smashed, 1 minced)
1 28-ounce can plum tomatoes, crushed by hand
1/2 cup fresh basil leaves
1 small piece parmesan rind (optional)
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
3/4 pound 93% lean ground turkey
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley, plus more for topping
1 slice stale whole-wheat bread, crust trimmed, bread chopped
1/4 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
2 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese, plus more for topping
1 large egg white, lightly beaten
12 ounces whole-wheat spaghetti

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the smashed garlic and cook 1 minute. Add the tomatoes with their juice, 2 cups water, 1/4cup basil, the parmesan rind, if using, and salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer until thickened, about 8 minutes. Discard the parmesan rind, if used.

Chop the remaining 1/4cup basil, then mix with the turkey, parsley, bread, ricotta, parmesan, egg white, minced garlic, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and pepper to taste in a bowl using your hands. Form into 4 large or 12 small meatballs; add to the sauce and simmer, turning, until cooked through, 6 minutes for small meatballs and 12 minutes for large.

Meanwhile, cook the spaghetti in a large pot of salted boiling water as the label directs. Drain and return to the pot. Toss with some of the sauce, then divide among bowls. Top the spaghetti with the meatballs, the remaining sauce and more parsley and parmesan.

Serves 4, (11 Weight Watcher points + per serving)

Adapted from: Food Network Magazine, January/February 2011

Rigatoni with Sausage and Tomato Cream Sauce

Happy New Year!

I won't bore you with false promises of making more posts in the new year or pretend that posting more is a resolution of mine, but hopefully I can find it in me to make more than the 6 posts I made last year... It's much easier to meet and exceed goals when the bar is so low.

Most people start the new year with thoughts of losing weight and getting in better shape, so I thought it appropriate to start with a recipe that will guarantee you the opposite. For every person that's hoping to lose weight there's plenty more that are freezing in the dark of winter and are dreaming of something warm and creamy to keep them going. So for all those people I have the following dish, which will likely be followed by some soups and stews until the weather turns for the better.

I think the highest praise for anything that I make is that those that eat it are willing, or actually happy, to eat it again as leftovers. We're not big fans of leftovers in this house, but for some reason pasta dishes almost always seem better the second time... I think the sauce has had time to come together by then and the flavors have turned into something new...

Anyhow, I bring this up because you can see the dish that Christie used to take this for lunch in the picture. We've been pretty bad about taking pictures of the things coming out of our kitchen... maybe that can be my resolution for this year.

1 tablespoon(s) olive oil
1 1/2 pound(s) mild or hot Italian sausage, casings removed
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 cup(s) dry white wine
1 1/2 cup(s) canned crushed tomatoes in thick puree (from a 15-ounce can)
1/2 teaspoon(s) salt
1/2 teaspoon(s) fresh-ground black pepper
1/4 cup(s) chopped fresh parsley
1 cup(s) light cream
1 pound(s) rigatoni
Grated Parmesan, for serving

In a large frying pan, heat the oil over moderate heat. Add the sausage and cook, breaking up the meat with a fork, until it is no longer pink, about 5 minutes. With a slotted spoon, remove the sausage from the pan. Discard all but 1 tablespoon fat.

Reduce the heat to moderately low. Add the onion and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the wine and cook until it almost evaporates, about 5 minutes. Stir in the sausage,tomatoes and salt. Simmer, covered, for 10 minutes. Add the pepper, parsley and cream.

In a large pot of boiling, salted water, cook the rigatoni until just done, about 14 minutes. Drain the pasta and toss with the sauce. Serve with grated Parmesan.

Serves 4

Adapted from: Recipe on delish.com