March 15, 2017
So this week I wanted to share with you a recipe for a weeknight meal I made for my partner last week. As some of you may know, I recently moved back from Melbourne to Brisbane, and one of the main reasons for this was to be with my partner. Now for the first time in both of our lives we are living with a partner, having just come off being long distance for over a year. I’m still getting used to realising each Sunday night that I don’t have to say goodbye and get on a plane, and that I don’t need to fit in a million activities into one weekend because I can now see him all the time. It is honestly the nicest feeling after so long apart finally living together and taking that next step.
There are some real differences though between living with my partner and living with my best friend, who was my roomie in Melbourne. The main one being that when we turn Netflix on, I can’t default to Gilmore Girls, or watch a romantic comedy without putting up a fight (who am I kidding? It’s action movies or nothing at all). My popcorn consumption has also decreased substantially. My roomie loved popcorn and we ended up having it at least 3 times a week to get us through, since moving back to Brisbane I’ve been having withdrawals.
Probably one of the nicest things to come out of it though is more of an opportunity to cook, and cook different things. When cooking for one, I found I didn’t really get excited about cooking. You need to cook in bulk, so I found I was just eating the same meal for the whole week, which resulted in me not really getting that into it, and often cooking the same thing. Now I feel like this whole new world has opened up to me where I can try out all these different recipes. I love opening my partner’s food horizons too by showing him some of the healthy things you can whip up, and he’s always so appreciative when I do! Although some things will take getting used to (his response when I asked him what vegetables he liked eating was potatoes) I think it’s given me a whole new lease on life when it comes to cooking.
So last week I decided to cook up some meatballs. I don’t know what brought it on, but I figured it would be a quick and easy thing to make that we could then use for lunches. I wanted to cook something really healthy too, as I’m trying to ensure I don’t end up the size of a house now that I live with my partner, who is probably the only person with a bigger sweet tooth than me! This recipe I used I just came up with as I went, and it ended up being really tasty! I decided to use turkey just for something different, as I feel turkey mince really lends itself to baked meatballs. What I ended up with were really tasty meatballs that I thought would be worth sharing with you all in case you were after a delicious, quick and healthy weeknight meal!
- 500 grams Turkey Mince
- 1 Egg
- 1 tbsp Chopped Parsley
- 1 tsp Dried Chilli Flakes
- 1 tsp Dried Basil
- 1 Onion, chopped
- 2 Garlic Cloves, minced
- Olive Oil Spray as required
- Pepper to taste
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Preheat the oven to 180C (350F). Line a baking tray with baking paper and set aside.
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In a medium bowl, combine the turkey mince, egg, parsley, chili flakes, dried basil, onion and minced garlic cloves. Use your hands to mix the ingredients together evenly until fully combined.
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Using your hands, shape small balls of the turkey mix and roll to smooth. Once you have a ball, place on the baking tray. Repeat until you have no turkey mix remaining, ensuring you leave a little space between the meatballs on the baking tray.
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Sprinkle the meatballs with pepper and spray with a small amount of olive oil. Place in the oven for 25-30 minutes, or until the meatballs are golden brown and cooked through.
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Serve immediately with a salad, or steamed vegetables.
And that’s all there is to it. These meatballs are absolutely delicious, and although super healthy, you certainly don’t feel like you’re compromising on flavour! I gave my partner a bit of sweet chilli sauce on the side, but these would also go well with a nice tomato relish if you need a bit of a sauce. In terms of what to serve them with, the first night I steamed up some vegetables which was really good, but then I also crumbled some up in my salad the next day and put them with some avocado. Yum!
These meatballs are so easy to make, and perfect when you’re running a bit short on time! Once they are in the oven you can go off and do something else while they cook, which is what I love about meals like this. They are also a great option for meal prepping as you can make a batch ahead of time and just heat them up as you need. And you know how much I love a great one bowl recipe! It’s so good just being able to dump all the ingredients in to a bowl, mix them and then hey presto! You have the mix for your meatballs!
These are nice and healthy as well, especially because you bake them rather than frying. If you didn’t want to use olive oil you could use coconut just as easily, however make sure you use something as these can become quite dry without. You could even make up a tomato sauce and add these to it along with some pasta or zoodles if you felt like getting creative! All I know was that my partner was pleasantly surprised by these meatballs and how good they tasted given how healthy they are. I feel like he doesn’t know what is coming for him with all my healthy cooking! But I guess I am balancing that with my obsession with my KitchenAid and baking, so there is a silver lining!
Until next time, happy eating!
Ella xx
