Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Happy Post Thanksgiving and Zoodles!

Hope everyone filled up on the good stuff over Thanksgiving!  I took the lazy  easy way out.  Ordered my entire meal from Whole Foods.  Since it is just my husband and I, we opted for a turkey breast this year vs a whole bird.  All I had to do was pop everything in oven for 30 minutes to heat through.  The turkey was dry and I did not particularly care for it (but I do not like turkey too much anyway).  The sides were da BOMB!  We had mac n cheese, cornbread dressing, cranberry orange sauce and mashed potatoes.  What what! NO green veggies or anything remotely healthy!  YES!  Also, we had a chocolate chip bourbon pecan pie.  Glutony!  

It was awesome but after a couple days of gorging, we had to get back on track.  So thankful that I ordered this small meal and did not have piles of leftovers nor did I have to spend all day cooking and cleaning up afterward. 

To get some actual veggies back into out system, I decided to make zucchini noodles or zoodles with turkey italian sausage meatballs and sauce.  Aldi actually sells a sauce that has no added sugar and all ingredients that I can prounouce so this was a quick, easy and satisfying meal.
 To make zoodles, you can use julianne peeler or food processor.





 INGREDIENTS

3 large zucchini
1lb ground turkey italian sausage, casing removed
1 medium onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, diced
portobella mushrooms, sliced
2 jars spaghetti sauce
1/2 cup + beef stock
coconut oil
parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS

Roll turkey into 1 inch balls.  Heat small amount of coconut oil in skillet and brown meatballs on both sides.  They do not have to be cooked all the way through because you will simmer in sauce.


In sauce pan, melt 1T coconut oil.  Saute onions, garlic, mushrooms until tender.
Add Spaghetti sauce and meatballs. Simmer about 20 minutes.
I added some stock just to thin the sauce out but this is optional 
Just before serving, microwave zucchini for about 2 minutes, just to heat. You do not want to overcook because zucchini will become soggy.  
Sprinkle with parmesan

As with any spaghetti sauce, you can add whatever veggies you have leftover to make it heartier.  You can also make the meatballs with whatever meat you choose.  If you pick a plain ground beef, chicken, turkey, add italian seasoning to it.

Anyone doing the St. Jude Full or Half Marathon this weekend?  I consider this race the "end" of my busy run season and after, I can "rest".   The icy and cold weather forecast has me just a tad freaked out!  Argggghhhh!  Good luck to all who are running!  
ENJOY!