Garden Meatballs reincarnated

I recently made a big batch of the FMD Garden Meatballs (recipe here). We had them for dinner one night with the tomato sauce and zucchini noodles I posted in that recipe, but by the next day I wanted something a little different. I decided to repurpose the items and mix it up a little bit. For lunch, we had stuffed zucchini boats, and for dinner, stuffed chicken roulade.

Meatballs = gone. Done and done. I find it much easier to follow a healthy diet when I don't let myself get bored. These two alternative uses for the meatballs are healthy, tasty, and definitely not boring!

Garden Meatball- Stuffed Zucchini Boats

Let's start with lunch: Cut two zucchinis in half length-wise and scoop out the seeds as well as a bit of the flesh- just enough to create a nice little zucchini boat. Lightly spray a baking pan with olive oil cooking spray*, lay the boats cut-side down on the sheet, and bake at 375 deg F for approximately 15 minutes. I was looking for both some caramelization on the cut side and for the squash to become tender. When I was able to press a fork through the back of the zucchini as they lay face-down, I decided they were ready to go.

While the boats are a-bakin',  cook about 1/2 a cup of diced onion in a sautee pan with a little bit of olive oil ** (or broth if you're trying to stay low-fat) until they are slightly browned. Add four of those leftover meatballs, chopped up. Cook the mixture until warmed through, adding a bit more salt and pepper.

Now, if you haven't made those yummy meatballs,you can still make this happen***. Instead of just cooking down onion, add in whatever vegetables you have on hand. You can add diced carrots, celery, chopped spinach or kale... hell, maybe even some more zucchini (zucchini inside of zucchini...whoa...). If you decide to add anything more dense, like sweet potato, just make sure you start that thicker veggie first and then add the lighter items so they all end up cooked properly. Add salt and pepper, as well as whatever spice mix you're in the mood for. If you want to go italian, you can add garlic, basil, and oregano. If you're in more of a mexican mood, keep the garlic and then toss in some cumin and coriander. Cook until the veggies are tender and starting to get a bit of caramelization. Taste for seasoning and adjust as you see fit.

Once those veggies are all cooked and happy, add in your ground beef (or turkey, pork, tofu...whatever makes you have on hand). For just the 4 boats, you probably only need about 1/2 pound of meat. But if you're planning on making the roulades, I'm sure you will find a good use for any extra stuffing.

Spoon the filling into the boats and sit them on your baking sheet. Bake them at 375 deg F for about 10-15 minutes. You just want to get everything cooked through and to give the filling a chance to hang out with the zucchini and get all friendly-like.
Once you remove them from the oven, you can customize them. I chose to top mine with some of the leftover tomato sauce from the night before. You could also add some salsa or a nice drizzle of balsamic vinegar or glaze***. Enjoy!!

And behind Door #2: Meatball-stuffed Chicken Roulade

Moving on to dinner....A couple of months back, we had bought a pack of thin-sliced chicken breasts. We ate two and froze the rest. I decided this would be the perfect time to pull them from their icy home. For roulades, these thin breasts are incredibly handy. Pretty much the trickiest part of any stuffed meat dish is getting the inside of that meat cooked. I'm not gonna lie, the first one I made and cut into (my test breast, if you will), was still a little pink where the meat met the stuffing. But I fixed it. And no one got salmonella. Win.

First, preheat your oven to 350 deg F. That done, let's move on to the stuffing- I actually did the exact same thing as I did for the stuffing in the boats, so no additional work is needed here. Just use your leftovers from the boats or follow the instructions above.

Then it's time to prep your chicken. If you dont have the skinny ones lying around, you can easily thin out what you do have. Using a good sharp knife, slice through the middle of the breast length-wise. As you cut through, pull the top half up, slicing until you cut all of the way through and have two approximately equal-sized pieces. Then grab a meat mallet, heavy pan, or whatever heavy non-breakable item is in sight, and pound out the breasts until they are about 1/2 " thick all the way through. Try to make sure one end isn't thicker than the other so you get an even cook. Season both sides with S&P, as well as anything else that might please your taste buds. 

Now, the amount of filling you place inside the chicken will depend on the size of your pieces. You want to be able to roll the sides of the chicken as well as the ends over the stuffing- much like a well-rolled burrito or egg roll. Spoon in the filling, roll up your chicken and close with a toothpick. I ended up making 4 breasts with the same amount of 4-meatball mix I made above, with a little filling left over. 

In a sautee pan (ideally one that can go straight from the stovetop to the oven), heat 2 tbsp of olive oil**. Once the pan has reached medium-high heat, set the rolls in the pan, lightly running the chicken along the pan bottom to ensure that there is a bit of oil down before you place each piece. Once you set them down, don't touch them. Let them do their thing and get brown for a couple of minutes. Then rotate the rolls, repeating the browning for all sides. Once the rolls are completely brown, they may look like they are done and ready to be eaten... 

...But this is a lie. 

There is still a layer of pink lurking inside, threatening to ruin your lovely meal. 

So- if your pan can go straight to the oven, do it- pop that whole thing straight in to your preheated oven for 8-10 minutes. If it can not, take the rolls and place them on a baking sheet. Then pop those babies in the oven, also for 8-10 minutes. When done, remove them and look at them adoringly- then invite anyone else in the house to come look at what you have created. This may just be the dog, but I'm sure he will be suitably impressed.

To serve: I have a balsamic glaze that I LOVE. It goes with so many things and is just so darn yummy. I believe it should be a household staple. So as you can see below, I simply plated the rolls whole with a drizzle of glaze and a vinegary side salad. You could also go spicy with some sriracha, maybe whip up one of the aiolis I posted here, or any other favorite condiments you might have on hand  ***

Important note: If serving whole, either remove the toothpicks ahead of time or be sure to let your guests know that the rolls hold a woody surprise!

So those are two ways that you can repurpose leftover meatballs, extra veggies, ground meat, or any combination thereof. Any other ways you like to use up these types of leftovers? I'd love to hear them!!

FMD Footnotes:

*Cooking spray = a no-no. With these, you could put a bit of broth on the bottom of the pan. Alternately, just lying down a layer of foil should still allow for caramelization without any annoying sticking.

**For FMD, use a bit of your favorite FMD-approved broth. I have mentioned it before, but I'll say it again. Bialetti Aeternum pans are awesome for getting browning without any additional fats... and without just boiling your veggies!

***Just keep your choices limited to phase-appropriate items!

FMD Garden Meatballs with easy sauce and zucchini noodles

Yum. So I got the basic recipe for these meatballs from the FMD blog here . I was looking for a Phase 2-friendly meal that wouldn't leave me feeling unsatisfied. As a reminder, Phase 2 of the Fast Metabolism diet is very low-carb and low-fat. So lots of meat and veggies. But tomatoes and tomato sauce are technically not allowed in Phase 2, however, so this recipe ended up developing into a P1 and P3-friendly dish. 

This recipe hits all of the right notes- the meatballs satisfy the craving for something that feels fatty, the sauteed zucchini noodles have a bit of sweetness and just a little crunch, and the tomato sauce adds spice and acidity. 

I'm going to do this in 3 chunks: I'll give the meatball recipe, talk about how to make and cook the zucchini noodles, and then review the quick and versatile tomato sauce. 

Chunk 1: Meatballs. I unfortunately failed in picture-taking on the process, but will add some the next time I make these (which I am sure will be soon)

• You need 1 1/2 lb. of meat in total. The original recipe recommended 1/2 lb. lean ground turkey and 1 lb. lean ground beef. I opted for 1/2 lb. lean ground turkey and 1 lb. or ground pork loin. There was a sale... You can really use any combination of meats (based on phase if you're following FMD) that you want. Follow your meat bliss. 
• 4 cups spinach
• 4 good-size stalks of celery
• 4 green onions, chopped
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1-2 tbsp Sriracha (based on personal spice preferences)
• 1 tbsp of tamari or Bragg's liquid aminos
• 1 7-oz. can diced mild green chiles (optional. I didn't add them, but would probably taste great, especially if you got the fire-roasted kind)
• 1 tsp sea salt (himalayan if you got it),
• 1/2 - 1 tsp black pepper, again based on taste

Preheat your oven to 375 deg F. Put the meat in a large bowl. Then pull out the food processor. If you don't have a food processor, just pull out the good knife and give a rough chop to the spinach. Chop the green onions. Then finely dice the celery and seed and finely dice the bell pepper. You want pieces that are small enough to mesh well with your ground meat and not just pop out of your perfectly formed meatballs.

If you do have access to a food processor, just toss each ingredient into the food processor separately. The spinach should only take a few pulses to break it into bite-sized pieces. The celery and bell pepper should also only take a few pulses.You don't want to puree it, you just want small pieces that are easier to incorporate into your meat. You will likely still want to hand-chop the green onions.

Add the veggies, sriracha, tamari or Bragg's, S&P, and chiles if you're using them. Get your hands in there and mix everything well until it is all incorporated.This recipe is meat to make 6 meal-sized servings. I found that if I made them just a hair bigger than golf-ball sized, they made exactly 24 meatballs, which = 6 four-meatball servings. Voila. I set mine in a glass 9x13 casserole dish for a perfect fit.

They will need to bake for approximately 30 minutes. I took mine out at about 20 minutes and used a turkey baster to pull out some of the excess juice that pooled at the bottom of the pan, as it tends to form that protein reside that can be unappetizing. As they cook, they may look a bit dry, but these meatballs remained remarkably moist.

While these meatballs are baking, I would suggest you work on Chunk 2: The Zucchini Noodles (and also start Chunk 3, actually...)

A few months back, I purchased a spiralizer on ebay. This has become the best $24.99 I have spent on a kitchen tool in a long time.

There are 3 different blades, so you can make 2 widths of "noodles," or more of a butterfly shape (I think of those big plates of butterflied potato chips you can buy at county fairs- it's that kind of shape). You pop a zucchini on the blade, turn the crank, and it's off to the races!

Creating zucchini pasta

Unless you have a giant zucchini, generally I have found that one zucchini per person is a filling portion. I know, it sounds like a lot. But trust me, it's how much you're gonna eat. 

Zucchini has a high water content, so in order to get a nice brown on the noodles,you need to get some of the water out. Toss these noodles with a bit of salt, and let them sit on a stack of paper towels for 5-10 minutes. Then grab some more paper towels and press down on the pile, trying to get as much water out of the noodles as you can.

Let the noodles drain

Now, here is the important part. To keep this low-fat, you want to be able to brown the noodles without using any oil or butter. The best way I have found thus far is to use the right pan. Specfically, I love this sautee pan. (Not sponsored in any way lol). I found this randomly years ago- to be honest, I really liked the red color, and the guy at the kitchen store strongly recommended it. Turns out, this pan allows you to cook things at high heat and get a nice sear/browning- mostly without sticking. 

I cook the noodles by using just a quick hit of non-stick spray**. Then I get the pan nice and hot- about a medium-high heat. Toss in the noodles and mix them around a bit so they are evenly spread and add any spices you might like. I added a liberal sprinkle of garlic powder here and a touch of salt and pepper. Step back and let them cook for a couple of minutes- you will start to see the noodles brown slightly.*** 

If you keep cooking them at a that level of heat, you should see increased browning- but they will also become softer. Stop cooking them when they have reached the level of brown and crunch/softness that you prefer. There is no wrong answer here. In this particular recipe, I preferred them a bit crunchier, I felt that heartiness held up best to the tomato sauce. 

steamy cooking zucchini

cooked noodles

Onto Chunk 3!!

The ideal time to start this would be right when the meatballs go in the oven. While you are cooking out the canned taste and infusing flavor into this sauce, the meatballs and zucchini will be cooking up all happy-like. 

Chunk 3: Sauce

I think there are a number of healthy recipes that can be made tastier and more satisfying with the addition of a good tomato sauce. My favorite tomato sauce is posted here. That can be modified by removing the butter completely. However, for this recipe, I wanted something a bit chunkier **. I was also going for quick and easy.

1 can diced tomatoes with basil and garlic already added

1 small can tomato sauce

S&P

seasonings as desired (basil, oregano, garlic powder)

optional: fresh basil, fresh garlic, chopped onion, a little EVOO

Put the diced tomatoes and sauce into a pan. Add a liberal dose of S&P to taste, as well as 1/4- 1/2 tsp of your seasonings. I like a liberal dose of additional basil, dried oregano, and garlic powder. Let it cook down for about 15 minutes- you'll notice it thicken up. About 10 minutes in, taste for seasonings. If it's too bland, punch it up. If you like spice, maybe even toss some red pepper flakes in there.

Not quite low-fat options: You can develop some additional flavor by taking a few minutes first to heat some olive oil in your sauce pan and sautee some chopped garlic and diced onions (for this amount of tomato, I would suggest 3 cloves of garlic and 1/2 of a medium onion). Add them to your sauce pan, then toss in the diced tomatoes and tomato sauce. Continue with the recipe as noted above. 

Note: Regardless of which option you choose, fresh basil is always an excellentaddition :)

Plating: Create a layer of zucchini noodles on the plate just as you would with an awesome plate of pasta. Ladle a layer of sauce. Add your meatballs and top with more sauce. Optional bits: more fresh basil and a nice dash of grated parm (unless you're on FMD, of course ;) ).

Bon appetit!

FMD Footnotes

*FMD note: I originally formulated this when I somehow misread a list, thinking tomatoes were a no, but for some reason tomato sauce was ok. It turns out this is actually best for Phases 1 and 3. For Phase 3, you could even sautee the noodles in a little olive oil and use the alternate version of the sauce with garlic and onions that I have noted. Fats! Woo!

** No cooking sprays are allowed on FMD- you can use a spritz of veggie broth instead, that should keep things moist and add some great flavor. However, you may want to lower the heat just in case the lack of a non-stick element causes the noodles to cook too fast and stick to your pan. 

*** Now for those of you on the FMD, you may want to stop here- I am told that letting veggies caramelize (even without additional fat) may bring out the natural sugars in a way that is not fitting with the plan. 

Quinoa "Fried Rice"

I have been craving fried rice, but I quickly dismissed it, thinking it was just too carb-heavy. Even if I were to use healthy brown rice, it would just feel like too big an indulgence. Theeeeennnn I thought, "Hey, Self- what if we were to use quinoa instead of rice? It's chock full of protein and it's not even officially a grain."  I made a quick trip to the Google machine and it turns out I was not the first one to have this flash of brilliance. Whatever. I don't need that kind of press anyway. 

I had some sesame tofu from the ready-prep area of Whole Foods. I'm not a tofu fan, but if you're there when they have this stuff, try it. (I'm going to try to re-create it  soon, so stay posted.) I decided to use that as my "meat". Other than that, my plan was to use a ton of veggies and a combo of egg and egg whites. This whole process took maybe 20 mins because I had a bowl of leftover plain quinoa already cooked. But cooking quinoa only takes about 12-14 mins, so even if you have to do that first, this is a ~30 minute filling and satisfying recipe. 

The amounts I have below are what I used to make this giant bowl. I planned to eat all of it, but was pretty full after half, so I'll say it's good for 2 people or 1 really hungry person. It would also be good with the Asian Cucumber Salad recipe I posted under the Stir Fry recipe here. I chose the veggies because, well, they were what was in my fridge. Get creative and put in whatever you like. Bell peppers not your thing? Toss in some broccoli! It's your fake fried rice, do what you want!

 

What I used:

- 1 cup cooked quinoa (1/2 c dry)

- 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil, divided in half (SO much better than reg sesame oil. You need this in your home)

- Ginger- I have the jarred ginger, but fresh would be better if you have it on hand

- 1 large carrot

- 1/2 red bell pepper

- 1/2 medium zucchini

- 3 stalks of ramps (they're in season right now, got some great fresh ones at the farmers' market...)

- 1 egg + 3 tbsp egg whites (equivalent of one egg)

- ~ 1/3- 1/2 cup frozen peas, defrosted (fresh peas would be great if you can get 'em)

- One 8 oz container sesame tofu

- Bragg's liquid amino

- about a tsp of teriyaki sauce (I could  take or leave this addition... up to you)

- toasted sesame seeds and scallions for garnish

I wanted everything to cook evenly and I didn't want huge chunks in the quinoa- I was going for a more uniform dish. So I put the carrot, bell pepper, and zucchini in the food processor and gave it a good rough chop- not so much that it was in little bits, more like bite-sized. I did the carrot first by itself, then the zucchini and bell pepper together.

Scramble the egg and the egg white together and chop the ramp, using both the white and the green parts.

 

Heat your wok on a fairly high heat and added 1/2 tbsp of sesame oil. Here is a good time to mention that a good wok is a smart investment and can and will be used more than enough to justify the purchase :)

Once it gets good and hot, add in the bowl of veggies ( but not the peas). Cook, stirring occasionally, until tender but still crisp, about 5 mins. Add the quinoa and pour the Bragg's 2-3 rounds around the pan- about 1-2 tbsp. Also add the other 1/2 tbsp of sesame oil and the teriyaki sauce (if using). You could also potentially use fish sauce here instead- if you're into that kind of thing.

Create a well in the middle of the quinoa and add the egg. Stir constantly until curds start to form. Mix the egg into the rest of the concoction until cooked through. Toss in the peas and add more Bragg's to taste. At this point, you will also want to test for salt. If the flavors don't pop, add salt. It doesn't only make things taste "salty", it accentuates the flavors that already exist...

At this point, I added in my tofu. If you were using any other type of protein that needed cooking, I would suggest using a tad more oil and cooking that just about all the way before adding  the veggies. You may also want to marinade your protein prior to cooking to develop the best possible flavor. Then follow the recipe as-is.

Final step: Plate it up and try not to burn your mouth as you shovel it all in. AND feel no guilt... the recipe above has about 590 cals if you eat the entire thing, plus it's chock full of clean, highly nutritious foods. You can also save a few cals if you take out the whole egg and use egg whites only.  Enjoy!!