Pesto-Turkey Meatballs

Hooray for balls!  Hehe.. Couldn't help myself.  My friend Colleen and her hubby hosted an awesome BBQ party recently, and I brought my favorite homemade turkey meatballs with basil for an hors d'oeurve.  I was very complimented by her rave reviews (and she makes an amazing healthed-up buffalo chicken salad! I think I will snag her recipe and post it here soon if she'll let me.) and she just asked for my recipe.  I was happy to oblige and emailed my recipe right over, and thought I'd post it here for you fine people as well!  These yummy meatballs are low in calories and high in protein and flavor, and very versatile.  You could serve them alone with toothpicks and a dipping sauce, mix them in with marinara sauce, in a mushroom sauce atop some high-fiber noodles, in hoagies, or tossed into an escarole soup.  I'm literally getting hungry as I'm typing this.. I better get on with it so I can get dinner cooking!



My recipes are usually from-the-hip, meaning I might toss in a little of this, a little of that as I go, but this is as simple as I could get it, for sharing purposes.

Mallory's Healthy Pesto-Turkey Meatballs


Ingredients:
10 oz 93/7 lean ground turkey
1/4 cup whole wheat bread crumbs
1 tbsp wheat germ
little less than 1/4 cup egg beaters (enough to wet everything)
little less than 1/4 cup plain steel cut oats
about 1/2 tbsp Gourmet Blends Basil tube (found it at Wegmans in the produce section)
Optional:
about 2 cups your favorite pasta sauce (enough to cover all the meatballs, or as much as desired) or to stay clean, try fire roasted canned diced tomatoes by Muir Glen

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray cookie sheet with Pam or other nonstick spray.
2.  Here's the really hard part: put everything except the sauce in a big bowl and squish it together with your fingers!  Oh, very ladylike.
3.  Spray hands with Pam and form 20 meatballs from mix and bake until brown and cooked through.
4.  Warm sauce or tomatoes on stovetop or in microwave-safe bowl. (If using.)
5.  Immediately mix meatballs with sauce and let rest for at least 5 minutes to let sauce absorb a little to soften the meatballs. 

Makes 5 servings of 4 meatballs with the following nutritional content:
Calories 115, Fat 5g, Cholesterol 40mg, Sodium 115mg, Carbs 6g, Sugar 1g, Fiber 1g, Protein 13g

I hope you enjoy this clean protein-ified recipe and find ways to use it as a replacement for other not-so-healthy full-fat meatballs.