Mini Meatballs and Arugula Pasta
Trying to keep dinner fresh and delicious can be difficult for any mom, but trying to do it with toddlers is a definite challenge. I'm lucky in the fact that my daughter is a decent eater when it comes to what she will eat - quantity is what can be challenge in our house. This weekend we finally really settled into the temporary housing facility that we are staying at while we await our new home being completed so we now have access to a kitchen again, which means our family can get back on track as far as eating healthy goes. I was a little challenged because the pots and pans that the facility has are not what I am used to, but this meal still came out wonderful. We all enjoyed it, and my husband never knew that the meatballs were made from turkey meat! It was quick to make, which I appreciate because it never fails as soon as I get in the kitchen my oldest wants to be right under my feet and the baby needs to be fed. However, it tasted like I had let it simmer for quite some time - melting all the flavors together. This one isn't so much a recipe as a quick throw together so I am going to share how I did it below.
Here's what I did:
To start, I decided to make turkey meatballs that were bite size. I am trying to be a bit more conscious of what we eat when it comes to fat intake so turkey meat was an easy choice to lower the fat in this meal. To do that I used a pound of ground turkey, one egg, 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, 1 tablespoon of Italian Seasoning, 1 tablespoon of chopped fresh garlic, and 1/2 cup of Italian bread crumbs. Using my hands I mixed everything well. Then in a deep saute pan I put 1 tablespoon of olive oil and allowed it to warm. Once the olive oil was warm, I rolled my mini meatballs - mine were about cocktail size. I let them cook browning them all around.
While my meatballs were cooking I chopped an onion, one 8 oz package of button mushrooms, and a medium tomato. Then, I added them to the same pot that the meatballs were cooking in. I cooked these with the meatballs until the onions began to become translucent. Then I added 1/2 box of Progresso Beef Stock. I used a rubber spatula to make sure all the drippings from the meatballs and the veggies were picked up from the bottom of the pan and combined nicely with the beef stock to add flavor. You can use any brand of beef stock, but I find that Progresso is rich and has a nice flavor so it's always my recommendation. I then added 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese to the sauce in the pan. I also added 1 tablespoon of Italian Seasoning, 1 bay leaf, and 1/2 tablespoon of Badia Garlic and Parsley seasoning - again I am sure any brand garlic and seasoning will work, but Badia has wonderful flavor and I personally like it, plus it has no MSG. I did add a few shakes of course black pepper to taste, but did not add salt since the beef stock had plenty of salt for me.
Finally, I boiled a pound of Barilla white fiber pasta. While this was boiling, I added 4 cups of fresh arugula to my pasta sauce, allowing it to wilt. Once I drained the pasta I mixed it with the sauce in the original pan that I cooked everything in. Then I moved it to a serving dish and sprinkled with Parmesan cheese to make it look nice.
My daughter, who just turned 21 months and it not a big eater when it comes to quantity ate 4 meatballs and a good helping of pasta and my husband loved it. In fact he is the one who told me to share this one on the blog!
Hope you and your family give it a try and like it as much as we did.
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