Filed under Turkey …

Dec 04 2011
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1P+, Appetizer, Create your own serving size, Turkey

Turkey Sausage Cheddar Balls

Hey guys, I don’t think I’ve mentioned this yet, but, this one time, I lived in North Carolina.

Ok, so I lived there for two years. I guess that doesn’t qualify as “one time.”

I loved North Carolina. It had warm winter weather, Chick-Fil-A, beautiful landscapes, kind strangers, affordable real estate, and sprawling dog parks for Rowdy.

I dare you to tell me he's not cute.

There were some things that North Carolina didn’t have: NY Pizza, NY Bagels, my mom, my dad, my brother, familiarity, and my childhood friends. So I returned to Long Island.

I didn’t leave North Carolina without any remorse. I left some great friends there who I definitely do not get to talk to enough. And I also left Chick-Fil-A and Zaxby’s. However, that is a story for another day.

One friend, whose name is Christy….

…well…

…what would I have done without Christy? She really stood by me when things got tough, and I just couldn’t get enough of her brand of matter-of-fact sass, her sweet little girl, and her love of Harry Potter.

Or her delicious treats. One Christmas Break, during my ten-hour-drive home to Long Island, with Rowdy snoozing in the back of my Jeep, I ate an embarrassing amount of Peanut Butter Balls and Sausage Balls. Not at the same time.

When I saw this recipe on MarthaStewart.com (how the HECK did I get there? I am SO anti-Martha) I had an out-of-body experience: suddenly I was back in the Jeep, popping sausage balls and stressing about how I was going to ration them in order to have popped the last one in my mouth as I traversed the Verrazano Bridge.

This recipe is not quite Christy’s Sausage Ball, but it’s very P+ friendly, and a great holiday-party appetizer. Yum.

So, I guess this one’s for you, Christy. Miss you.

Turkey Sausage Cheddar Balls

Recipe adapted from MarthaStewart.com

Ingredients

  •        cooking spray
  •        1 ¼  cups all-purpose flour
  •        ¼  teaspoon ground pepper
  •        ½  teaspoon cayenne pepper
  •        1 ½  teaspoons baking powder
  •        2 cups reduced fat sharp grated cheddar
  •        1.25 pound sweet Italian turkey sausage, casings removed (I used Shady Brook Farms)
  •        3/4 c finely chopped sweet onion (I used my food processor)
  •        3 tablespoons butter, melted

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a large cookie sheet with nonstick cooking spray.
  2. In a large bowl, combine flour, pepper, cayenne pepper, and baking powder. Add cheddar cheese and toss to coat.
  3. Add sausage, onion, and butter.
  4. With your hands, mix until well combined and roll mixture into balls. You WILL get messy! (I used 1 round tbsp per ball.)
  5. Place balls about ½ inch apart on cookie sheet.
  6. Bake on high until balls are golden and cooked through, about 35 minutes. Makes 45 sausage balls.

I need to buy myself some nice, white plates and stop shooting on paper!

Nutritional Information Per Serving (1P+ per sausage ball, choose your own serving size):
Calories: 55
Carbs: 3
Fat: 3
Protein: 4
Fiber: 0
Sodium: 139
Nutritional Information from myfitnesspal.com
Oct 29 2011
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8P+, Pasta, Sauce, Turkey

Rotini with (Turkey) Meat Sauce

Wednesday, I felt like being lazy about dinner. It doesn’t happen a lot.

Usually, when I’m lazy about dinner, it’s because I’m secretly hoping that my father or brother will volunteer to order in. Typically, when they volunteer to order in, we order from my favorite Italian Restaurant/Pizzeria.

Italian food is another love of mine. I like to attribute my ability to cook to my paternal genes. (I usually advertise that I’m Irish-German because I look the part, but shhhh, there’s some Sicilian blood in my veins.) I love to make sauces and fancy, cheese-laden pasta dishes from scratch. I’ve been making manicotti from scratch since I was 13.

But tonight (sorry grandma) I used jarred sauce.

I also used ground turkey. Sacrelige, by Italian standards. I can’t stomach beef. I like it, it doesn’t like me.

My faux-Italian dinner was delicious. And delightfully lazy….

Lazybones dinner.....

…..so lazy, in fact, that I forgot to take a picture of the completed dish. Perhaps those sexy little cupcakes photo-bombing will make up for it.

(Turkey) Meat Sauce

Ingredients:

  • 2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 99% lean ground turkey (1 package, or 1 1/3 pounds)
  • 1 jar Francesco Rinaldi Marinara Sauce (I used Tomato & Basil Hearty Pasta Sauce)
  • 1/2 jar water

Directions:

  1. Heat olive oil in a large skillet, adding turkey to “brown.” Break up turkey constantly with a spoon. Cooked turkey will turn white.
  2. When turkey is fully cooked, add Marinara Sauce, and 1/2 jar of water. Simmer 5 minutes, or until sauce is warm.
  3. Add ½ cup of hot sauce and simmer until slightly thickened, about 1 minute.
Want to bulk this up?
  • Add chopped onions when browning turkey in step 1.
  • Add fresh spinach when heating sauce in step 2.
**I served myself 1 cup of pasta topped with 1/2 cup of meat sauce, for an 8P+ meal. You can adjust your pasta serving accordingly.
**I used 1/2 cup of leftover sauce on 2 oz of Italian bread for a “Turkey (Sloppy) Joe” sandwich the next day.
Nutritional Information Per Serving of Sauce (3P+, makes 10 1/2 cup servings):
Calories: 113
Carbs: 7
Fat: 3
Protein: 15
Fiber: 1
Sodium: 303
Nutritional Information from myfitnesspal.com