Meatball lovers - here's 5 recipes for your mealplan!

For me, meatballs are always a winner.  Kids love helping you roll them up, and will generally eat them if they've had a hand in making them.  You can experiment with flavours and tastes and even types of meat (Ok, maybe not horse as Ikea recently found out) but it's a great way to jazz up plain old mince of any kind.

I always find something comforting about meatballs, probably because they are one of my Mum's specialties and I guess my girls do too - because there are never objections to meatballs at our house!


1. Hungarian Meatballs
These are a beef/pork mince combination and are quickly prepared and then sent off to simmer in your slow cooker.  You can fast track these on the stove if you like too.

2.  Spicy Tagine Meatballs
These are made from beef mince (but you could use lamb) you can add extra yoghurt and have less paprika if you want less spice.  I love these and they are going on my meal plan this month for sure!  If you don't have a tagine, just a pot with a snug lid in fine!

3.  Smokey oven baked meatballs
So easy to prepare and pop in the oven - ready in an hour go-to-whoah!  I made mine with beef but I think you could use chicken or turkey mince too - I've made them with pork mince with spectacular results.

4.  Moroccan Turkey Meatballs
I never get tired of this one, my kids love it too, it's so flavourful and moist - which are two things that turkey isn't used to being called!  You can try this with lamb or beef mince too!

5.  Swedish Meatballs
If you are a fan of the Ikea Meatballs - leave those ones behind, these are BETTER.  Back me up those who have tried them!  They literally melt in your mouth so I would suggest making a double batch, because if you don't you will have only yourself to blame because I warned you!

So which one do you like the look of?  Have you tried any of these?  Let me know what you think!

Fast Food on a Friday: Tasty Thai Turkey nuggets

OK I'm a bad parent.  I lied to my kids and told them these were chicken nuggets with some extra flavour.  But you know what?  They didn't care!  I was craving some thai fish cakes and didn't have any suitable fish and turkey to use.... and also wanted to prepare something quick and easy to reheat for a night hubby and I were going out... so I killed a few birds so-to-speak.

Didn't expect that hubby and I would like them so much - so instead of 3 stash meals for the kids - there was one and hubby and I ate the rest - whoops.  Best news is they are not fried but oven-baked and quite lean in the scheme of things.  We served them with a garden salad and rescue wedges.

These would be equally as good as a canape.. with a sweet chilli sauce!


Ingredients:
3 spring onions, finely diced
1 large carrot, finely diced
1 tsp minced ginger
2 tb smooth peanut butter
3 tb red curry paste (I used an Asia at home sachet - perfect size)
1/4 cup fresh coriander, finely diced
500g lean turkey mince
1/4 plain flour
canola spray


Method:
Preheat oven to 200 degrees c

In a bowl mix all ingredients with exception of flour and canola spray.

Spray a baking tray with canola oil and spread your flour out onto a plate or container. Roll the mixture into two-inch diameter balls and flatten slightly. 

Lightly roll in flour and place on tray.  Spray some canola oil over the top and place in the oven for about 15-25 minutes until cooked through.

Serve right away or if freezing, allow to cool completely then seal in airtight container in the freezer for up to 6 weeks - cook from frozen for about 15 minutes.

Low Fat Friday with Lucy: Crispy Turkey Goujons with Cauliflower “Couscous”

Today we have a guest post from the wonderful Lucy over at Diminishing Lucy - as Molly says: 'Do yourself a favour and check it out!'  I so love this post and hope Lucy comes back soon for another guest post - don't you agree?

The first time I had the pleasure of coming across Liss's gorgeous blog was via Twitter, when I placed a call out for cauliflower recipes. Straight away she linked me to one of her "Season Savvy" posts, and I was hooked.

I am on an ongoing journey to health, so I am always looking at ways to convert recipes to make them fit with what works for me: with what helps me feel good, have loads of energy, and enable me to lose weight. This means a recipe must:

• be low in fat
• be low in processed carbs
• be real food
• be full of flavour
• be filling
• be high in fibre and high in protein

I'll be honest, when Liss asked me to guest post for her, I was thrilled.

And then terrified. She has so many brilliant recipes - how can I ever hope to give her (or her readers!) anything new?

But then I remembered this - a firm favourite of mine, fits ALL the above criteria.

Crispy Turkey Goujons with Cauliflower “Couscous”

For the crispy turkey goujons:

750g turkey breast steaks, trimmed and cut into goujons
1 cup stale breadcrumbs
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves
2 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
2 egg whites, beaten
1 teaspoon sumac (Lebanese spice)
Olive oil cooking spray

For the cauliflower “couscous”:

½ a head of fresh cauliflower
The juice of 2 lemons
Sea salt flakes & freshly ground black pepper
1 punnet (200g) cherry tomatoes, halved
1 Lebanese cucumber, halved cut into chunks
1cup chopped fresh parsley
1 cup chopped fresh mint


1. Break the cauliflower into florets and steam in the microwave for 3 minutes

2. Drain, and allow to cool

3. Half all the tomatoes and chop the cucumber into chunks. Chop the herbs, and juice the lemons

3. Process the cauliflower finely, so that it resembles the texture of couscous

4. Combine the ground cauliflower with the lemon juice and the salt and pepper

5. Add the tomatoes, the cucumber, and the herbs and mix gently to combine. Chill.

6. Preheat oven to 200°C. Line 2 baking trays with baking paper.

7. Combine breadcrumbs, parsley, and parmesan in a bowl.

8. Beat eggwhites and sumac together in separate bowl.

9. Dip turkey in the eggwhite mixture, shaking off excess.

10. Toss in breadcrumb mixture. Place on trays.

11. Spray turkey goujons with the olive oil spray. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden and crispy and cooked through.

12. Serve turkey on top of a pile of cauliflower "couscous" and with sweet chilli sauce on the side.

Cheesy turkey loaf

I know.  It sounds weird doesn't it?  Turkey is something I've only taken to cooking with this year - many US recipes for it - I guess because beef mince is not as accessible and affordable as it is here?  Hmm.  Well I'm liking finding new ways to cook turkey mince - but you need to be careful, as turkey mince does have a tendency to dry out easily - so I thought I'd give meatloaf a try as our beef one is lovely and succulent - and bingo !

Now I know it looks a bit odd, but it's really tasty.  Even hubby the most dedicated red meat man was won over by this!  I think the cheese and herbed crumbs give it that lift the mince needs.  Add any sauce you like - I preferred BBQ but the frills liked tomato!

Our loaf made us dinner plus some lunches, so good value for money I think too - if there's only 3 of you in your family - cut the recipe in half, otherwise- enjoy!


Ingredients:
2 pieces of bread or 1 1/2 cups breadcrumbs
2 sprigs fresh oregano or 1 tsp dried
10 medium fresh basil leaves or 1 tsp dried
1 sprig continental parsley
3/4 cup milk
1 kg turkey mince
1/2 large brown onion, finely diced
1 small carrot, grated
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups grated cheese


Method:
In a food processor, pulse bread with fresh herbs (or mix breadcrumbs with dried herbs).  Add the milk, mix and set aside.

Preheat oven to 180 degrees c

In a mixing bowl, mix the mince, onion, carrot, eggs and soaked breadcrumbs, mix well and then lastly mix through the cheese.

Put the mixture into a greased loaf pan, cover tightly with aluminium foil and cook for about 45 minutes.  Turn off the oven and allow to sit for about 5 minutes before slicing in the pan and then transferring slices to your plate.

Cover in sauce!.... mmm!

Do you cook with turkey mince?  Tried my slow cooker Moroccan turkey meatballs perhaps?  Turkey burgers are or is turkey for the turkeys?

Slowcooker Recipe: Moroccan Meatballs

Whoah.  Was NOT expecting much from these, and I can't tell you how wrong I was.  I had some turkey mince I'd picked up on sale about a month ago and had intentions to make turkey burgers with them, but somehow, just couldn't get there.   I thought maybe a saucy meatball would be good, so when I saw a recipe for Moroccan Lamb, I thought: hmmmm.

So, you could use any mince - pork, veal, beef, lamb - I reckon it would all taste fabulous.  The sauce and the flavours are the stars of this dish and kids will eat them, mine asked for seconds!  The slow cooking makes the meatballs almost melty-in-the-mouthy devine-ness.

I made quite a lot (luckily) with the view of having some leftovers for this week - I'm out 5 nights out of seven.  Yes, I know. It's a lot!  Sydney Film Festival is keeping me busy and I'm loving that!   So.. divide in half if you like - but if you like leftovers like me, stay with the same quantities.

Or if you have three gluttonous children, you'll have enough, plus one lunch for your hubby/partner/you to take to work or have the next day.

Ingredients
1 kg turkey (or whatever you like) mince
4 pieces bread
2 eggs
2 red onions
2 tsp cumin
2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp chilli flakes/powder
500ml chicken stock
2 tb plain flour
2 tsp fresh coriander, finely chopped


Method:
Preheat oven to 200 degrees c

In a food processor, place your 1 chopped onion and all  the bread.  Pulse until wet breadcrumbs.  Add mince, eggs, 1 tsp cumin, 1 tsp paprika.  Pulse until well combined.

Roll into balls and place on a greased baking tray.

Place in oven for 15-20 minutes until golden brown.

Whilst the meatballs are baking finely chop remaining onion and place in the bottom of your slowcooker.  Add remaining 1tsp or cumin and paprika, add the chilli and flour, and pour chicken stock over and stir well.  Turn the slowcooker on auto whilst you wait for the meatballs to cook.

When cooked, transfer meatballs to the slow cooker, stir and spoon mixture over top of meatballs.  Place lid on the slow cooker and cook for 3-4 hours on high or 5-6 hours on low.  Occasionally, baste the meatballs by spooning liquid over the top of them.

Lastly, before serving, sprinkle with finely chopped coriander and stir through

Serve with rice, mash or veges of your choice.