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?