Recipe: Chicken + Spinach Meatballs

A few years ago, I did a Fit4Mom program that provided me with a small cookbook for healthy meals. It had lots of yummy recipes, but this is one my husband and I love...plus it's a way to sneak in some veggies for the kids.

You can follow the recipe below, but here a few tweaks we make at our house:

• We use ground chicken instead of turkey.

• We add onion powder to taste.

• I’ve never used the frozen spinach the recipe calls for. it may taste great, but I’ve always used fresh, chopped spinach. If going that route, you really only need about a cup of it…use more and the meatballs fall apart!

• We make smaller meatballs so that they only have to cook about 25 minutes or so. We’re all about meal speed at our house!

• We typically serve them with bowtie or penne pasta and an olive oil based sauce with a sprinkle of crushed red pepper for some heat. (Also good with Alfredo sauce.)

Big shout out to Fit4Mom for this one!

INGREDIENTS

• 2 eggs

• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

• 1/2 cup whole-grain bread crumbs

• 1/4 tsp garlic powder

• 1/4 tsp ground black pepper

• 1 (10 oz) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and well-drained

• 1 lb lean ground turkey

• Parchment paper

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a large bowl, combine all of the ingredients until well blended.

3. Shape into 1 1/2” meatballs and place one inch apart on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

4. Cook 35-45 minutes, or until meatballs are cooked through.

5. Serve with a vegetable-based side dish or small salad and 1 serving of the grains of your choice.