Eats: Turkey Meatballs with Cranberry Glaze

This weekend James and I will be doing the Tough Mudder, so my training has not been crazy. Sunday and Monday I took it easy. Tuesday, I did Will Power at the soccer field followed by 1.5 circuits of Men's Health Skinny to Spartacus work out. I tweaked something in my left forearm so I cut that W/O short. Since, I've been icing and compressing it to get it healed for the next 2 weekends. This morning I did half of my trail loop (about 2 miles). Tomorrow I'm doing a pilates video and Friday I'll just walk. I am also spending extra time stretching and foam rolling. Additionally I wanted to focus on eating clean all week which means cooking dinner every night this week. This also means sitting down and planning it out so when push comes to shove I'm not throwing in the towel and we're going out to eat.

Monday: Turkey Meatballs with Cranberry Glaze and Mashed potatoes
Tuesday: Pork chops, Cinnamon Apples, and left over potatoes with cranberry
Wednesday: Stuffed Peppers
Thursday: Lasagna (my healthified version)
Friday: Steaks, sweet potatoes, and asparagus (nothing heavy the night before for me)

I've made the turkey meatballs for football parties and they are always a hit. They're like Thanksgiving dinner all rolled up into meaty goodness. Use real bread and not store bought breadcrumbs. Trust me on this one, especially if you favorite part of Thanksgiving dinner is the stuffing. This recipe is adopted from Simply Recipes. (My favorite online recipe source/blog). I altered Elise's recipe to how I personally prepared it. Her actual recipe is linked above.

Ingredients:

 Cranberry Glaze:

• 1 12oz bag of fresh cranberries
• 1 cup of water
• 1 cup of sugar
• 1 tsp. orange zest
• 1 scant tsp. ginger
• 2 tsp. apple cider vinegar

Turkey Meatballs:

• 2 slices of bread (I used the heels from our loaf since we don't eat them)
• 2 Tbsp milk
• 1.25 lbs. ground turkey (I used 93-7%)
• 1/4 cup ricotta
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1.5 tsp Tarragon (did not have Thyme on hand)
• 1 tsp. fennel seeds
• Canola Oil

Directions:

1. Put on apron!!! Cranberries are messy and sticky. Expect to wipe down your stove, floor, and counter tops. Or maybe its just me. Who knows?
2. Mix all ingredients for glaze in a small saucepan. Simmer on stove until cranberries have mostly burst. About 15 minutes. I keep mine on Med heat, but you may have to play with it.
3. While cranberries simmer, prepare the meatballs.
1. Soak bread in milk in a small bowl. Using hands, tear bread.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the egg and ricotta.
3. Add bread, and all other ingredients to the ricotta mixture. Hand mix. Roll into 1 inch balls. Place on cookie sheet or large platter.
4. Heat oil in saute pan on Med-low heat. Working in batches, saute meatballs until cooked through. Jon cooked the meatballs while I worked the cranberry sauce and mashed potatoes. He cooked them low and slow with a lid until they were cooked through.
5. To finish the cranberries, strain cranberries through a fine sieve into a bowl using a spatula to press mush against the sides. This is where it gets messy. (Pictures from Simply Recipes)                   


6. Return to stove for a few minutes to allow sauce to thicken.
7. I serve the sauce separately from the meatballs, since I freeze the extras for a quick week night dinner. We also used it on our mashed potatoes. Elise's recipe actually has the glaze thickened in the pan while the meatballs finish so the two are fused together.

Bon Apetit!