TURKEY BALLS Recipe

Still sticking to a diet, but adding a few spices here and there to make the bland menu a bit more tolerable for Hubs; not too heavy on the spices, but just enough dash of flavor to make the dishes palatable.

Tonight we had Turkey Balls with a light sauce to finish up the leftover rice and veggies from previous meals. With just the 2 of us, even “small’ recipes become 2 or 3 meals. I froze half the Turkey Balls for future meals.

This recipe comes from my “Eat Right, Eat Well – The Italian Way” Cookbook. I like this cookbook and it is well dog-eared and many of the pages are marked with margin notations noted over the past 25 years; LOL

While the recipes are easy, simple, light, and have nutritional information tacked to the end of each one, what I really like is that none of the recipes are seasoned with an excess of salt – in fact, many do not even use salt as a staple ingredient. A definite plus!

TURKEY BALLS ~serves 4

1 pound ground Turkey * 1 Egg White, lightly beaten * 1 teaspoon grated Lemon Peel * 1 Tablespoon finely chopped Italian Parsley or fresh coriander * 1 Tablespoon finely chopped fresh Ginger * ½ teaspoon minced Garlic * freshly ground Black Pepper to taste * Truffled Sauce (recipe follows)

In a medium size bowl, mix all ingredients together; form 12 count golf-ball sized balls.

Bowl water in a steamer. Steam balls in covered container for 2 to 4 minutes – do not overcook.

Serve with Truffled Sauce.

Per Serving: calories – 588; cholesterol – 321.0 mg; protein – 116.3 gm; carbohydrate – 3.2 gm; total fat – 9.2 gm; saturated fat – 2.9 gm; mono triglyceride – 3.4 gm; poly triglyceride – 1.9 gm

TRUFFLED SAUCE ~Serves 4

My husband is  on a strict diet following the hospital ordeal, so when I made this sauce I used butter flavored cooking spray, omitted the olive oil, used scallions, halved the Marsala cooking wine and replaced the other half with water, replaced the broth with water, and replaced the truffles with fresh white mushrooms … and it was quite tasty. Definitely a repeat recipe ;-)

1 Tablespoon Butter * 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil * 4 Tablespoons finely chopped Onion * 1 teaspoon minced Garlic * 1 Tablespoon minced Italian Parsley * 4 Tablespoons imported sweet Marsala or port * 1 teaspoon Flour * 2 Tablespoons chicken or beef broth * freshly ground Black Pepper to taste * 2 Tablespoons thinly sliced white Truffles

Heat the butter and oil in small saucepan, then add onion. When onion begins to brown, add garlic & parsley and cook about 10 seconds. Add marsala and flour, stir well; add broth and pepper. Cook about 1 minute, stirring often. Turn off heat and add truffles.

Per Serving: calories – 265; cholesterol – 31.0 mg; protein – 1.1 gm; carbohydrate – 10.5 gm; total fat – 25.0 gm; saturated fat – 8.1 gm; mono triglyceride – 13.7 gm; poly triglyceride – 1.4 gm

To understand what triglycerides are and why they matter, follow this link: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/high-blood-cholesterol/in-depth/triglycerides/art-20048186