taste of tuesday | turkey parm mini meatballs

Lately I have been spending hours and hours on Pinterest trying to find new recipes. I have a huge collection of great ones we have made before, but cooking the same things every month gets pretty old. Unless it's Avocado Pesto Pasta, that will never ever ever get old. 

If you also spend hours in the "Food and Drink" section of Pinterest, you already know this fact. 99% (or so it seems) of the recipes are deliciously bad for you. Ten pounds of cheese and butter sure sounds good, but I personally am wanting my backside to shrink, not grow after one meal. Hence the spending HOURS on Pinterest - it takes that long to find some good healthy recipes!

Not that this recipe is the best thing ever for you, but I'd like to think it's better than the deep fried mac and cheese that was right above it. 

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Turkey Parmesan Mini Meatballs

inspired by this recipe by the hilariously amazing BevCooks

Ingredients:

1 cup panko

1/2 cup parmesan cheese - split

1 T+ olive oil

1 egg

1 pound ground turkey

1/2 cup finely diced red bell pepper

5 cloves garlic (those not obsessed, lessen to two) minced

1 T dried oregano

7 fresh basil leaves, torn/chopped/cut

1 pinch salt + pepper

16 mozzarella balls or cubes 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Put 1 cup of panko and 1/4 cup parm into a small bowl. Starting with 1T EVOO, drizzle it over the mixture and mix with hands until fully coated. I added a few more drizzles because most of it felt dry still. Set aside.

Place the egg in a larger bowl and slightly beat. Throw in the bell pepper, garlic, oregano, basil, salt and pepper. Mix with hands.

Place a couple of tablespoons of the mixture in a greased (I use the Coconut Oil spray from TJs) mini muffin pan. Punch down a little area for the cheese.

The original recipe calls for cubes, but I balled up some fresh shreds because that is what we had. Place the balls in the cheese area, and then cover up completely with the meat mixture. I pushed the cheese down and this was easier. 

Place the panko mixture on top of the meat mixture and pat down slightly. I used lots as you can tell!

Place in oven for 25-30 minutes. Don't get scared if the cheese bubbles out.

Serve over sauce + pasta (we use the organic veggie noodles from HEB) and enjoy!

Linking up for Taste of Tuesday with Ashley and Jessica.