turkey meatballs in arrabbiata sauce and spaghetti squash

my mother-in-law, lynne, made this one time

and i just loved it so much

so i made it last night

and it was simple

and delicious

and surprisingly healthy

 

here is the recap

 the meatballs are inspired by mrs giada de laurentiis

and the way to cook the spaghetti squash is from tasty kitchen

and then i bought the arrabbiata sauce made by mr mario batali

but you can also buy rao's arrabbiata sauce

grocery list

• 1 small onion, grated
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 large egg
• 1/4 cup dried bread crumbs
• 3 tablespoons ketchup
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 pound ground turkey meat
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 spaghetti squash
• 1 jar of arrabbiata sauce

  

 pierce the spaghetti squash with a knife a few times

and then stick it in a 375 degree oven

on a baking sheet

for an hour

maybe an hour and 15 min

until you can easily pierce it with the knife

then you can start to prepare the ingredients 

and add them into a large mixing bowl

if you have a huge honkin onion like i did

you chop it down into a "small onion" size

  

and put on your onion goggles

or buy some onion goggles

haha jk

  

and then grate the onion

you'll want goggles or some other trick for this grating process

cause it lets all of the onion tearmakers into the air

i've heard that putting the onion in the freezer for a little while

before cutting helps too

  

  

then mince or press your garlic into the bowl

  

then add the egg, dried bread crumbs, ketchup, chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves, 

grated Parmesan, salt and black pepper

all into the bowl

  

  

and stir up

  

then throw in the turkey

  

and squish it up with your hands

but dont over squish

just mix until blended

  

so that you have this ball of goop

  

then roll then into balls

and put on a plate or cutting board

  

 

  

then get out your pan and put in the oil

until it gets hot and wavy

  

and then put the meatballs in to brown

  

and maybe open a window cause it will be a little smokey

  

brown on all sides for 5-10 min 

depending on how big the balls were

  

then transfer the meatballs to a plate

and discard excess oil from the pan

they might be a little crumbly 

but ill take crumbly moist meatballs

any day over hard dry meatballs

  

then add the sauce and meatballs back into the pan

and let simmer for 15 min

or until meatballs are fully cooked through

  

about this time your squash should be done

so take it out of the oven

  

cut it in half

and scoop out the seeds

  

and then pull out all the spaghetti like strings with two forks

  

 and serve with the meatball sauce on top

  

who knew you could make healthy (ish) italian food?

 

sush

sushi is a difficult thing to master

even great restaurants can ruin it

with one batch of smelly fish

but we have a great place here in greenville

its called sushi murisaki

 

and they don't serve smelly sushi

the best roll is the genji

and its basically a spicy tuna roll

that is flash fried in panko breadcrumbs

and served with spicy mayo

and topped with spicy tuna sashimi

delicious but so bad for you

so we got the samurai

which is spicy tuna, avocado, panko crumbs and spicy mayo

and the krazy girl

which is a crunch roll topped with spicy crab salad

 

other wonderful things to try here:

the cheese angels, mussels yaki, house salad and seaweed salad

thai cooking - cheater style

thai food is delicious

and its easy to make at home

especially if you buy one of these cheater sauce packages from whole foods

 

it has all the spices and coconut milk already combined
but of course you can buy them seperately too

but these packets are great

so try it out

 

so just chop up some fresh veggies

we did snow peas, onions and orange bell pepper

  

make some rice

we did brown rice

which is healthier

but white jasmine rice is better

 

then sautee the veggies in a pan for a few minutes

and then add in meat (chicken or shrimp or whatever)

if its chicken- cut into tiny strips

and cook for a couple more minutes

until the meat is 75 percent of the way cooked

I also added some red pepper flakes 

cause massaman curry isn't quite hot enough

panang curry is my personal favorite

you should try them both

then pour in the sauce

and bring to a simmer

and when the meat is cooked through

its time to eat

  

sprinkle on some fresh cilantro

and a squirt of fresh lime juice

and spoon on top of the rice

yum!

 

perfect weeknight meal

sunlight

i fall more in love with this city every day

oh greenville

especially every sunny day

if the sun comes out

we go to the park

 

and chan sets up his slackline

between these two trees

 

and lots of people gather and clap and want to try

and he loves to teach them

he is a great teacher

 

and there are doggies everywhere

we happen to love this one the most

 

but the hubbards dogs seem to love chandler the most

*smelly dog kisses*

  

and we catch up on our quality reading

 

and we get to play with sweet little napping babies

 

and relax and love each other

 

what a great weekend

you should come visit

so you can love this place as much as we do

italian wedding

soup

its perfect

healthy (ish) 

delicious

and cheap

 

i got this bowl of italian wedding at luna rosa for lunch

and it was all that soup

for $3.95

perfect amount

and they give you 4 thin crusty peices of garlicky bread

amazing

and then if you dont want soup you can get the best thing on the menu

and my friend sarah got it

eggplant parm panini for $6.99

with the "family gravy" marinara sauce

and a side salad with homemade balsamic dressing

i love this place

please check it out

oh and the have gelato too :)

coffee and crema

i love coffee shops

especially cool local ones

with eccentric baristas

coffee and crema is just that

my husband goes here more than i do

so i had him take a couple of pics

they do some crazy things with coffee

 

here is how the husband explains it:

"They boil water in the lower bowl and the heat makes it rise up the siphon and through a fine filter into the upper chamber.

"The coffee grounds are added for 45 seconds to the boiling water in the upper chamber, after which the heat is turned off and the coffee slowly drains back through the filter and into the lower bowl."

 and they call it "siphon brewed coffee"

interesting!

check it out

he loves it