I’m getting started early with my April goals. Yesterday, I did some serious strength training followed by a cookbook recipe.  Despite the arrival of spring, I still love my crockpot.  Well, I really just love the ease of throwing in ingredients and having a healthy dinner!

 

 

Before I even hit the gym yesterday, I had Teriyaki Lettuce Wraps in the crockpot.  They were done and individually packaged for lunch this week before lunch on Monday.  In the afternoon, I got started with Tuesday’s dinner.  I spent some time Sunday night reading through my cookbooks looking for recipes.  I have been wanting to make meatballs and of course, these caught my eye.

 

 

I thought I was good to go with the recipe and decided to sub in turkey for the beef.  Well, as I started pulling things together I realized that my skim milk was expired and decided I could probably sub in some almond milk.  The result was thick and wet (although I think this may have been because I used only 1# and not the full 1 1/2# of turkey).  Needless to say there was no going back.

 

 

There was the option to bulk up the meat with panko, add in some more spices, and then roll the meat mixture into ‘balls’ and try to freeze them into their shape.

 

 

It was a good idea, but not a successful one.

The meatballs feel apart and were fairly tasteless (being mostly made of almond milk this isn’t surprising).  I will tell you (in case you are thinking of trying this) that the meatballs/crumbles were bland, but not bad, so in other situations, almond milk could work.

 

 

The result was somewhat disastrous, but not a total loss!

A meat sauce was created that would work great over pasta if smothered with lots of cheese!

 

 

The moral of the story is…when making meatballs, don’t add in all of your ingredients first and then your meat.  Add in the wet liquids slowly and incrementally after your meat.  The other moral is to really double check your recipe.  But that seems kind of obvious right?!

 

Thankfully, my parents had way too many leftovers from their weekend dinner party and stocked our fridge for the week with food.  No one will starve : )

 

Especially with these in the house…

 

And there is always another day to make meatballs! 

 

 

What is your favorite meatball recipe?

 

 

Meal Planning 3/30/14

Sunday: White Chicken Chili from Food Network

 

Monday: Sushi Date with the Girls

 

Tuesday: Meatballs

 

Wednesday: Sea Bass and Broccoli

Thursday: Leftovers (Thanks Mom!)

 

Lunch: Sesame Teriyaki Lettuce Wraps

 

Cookie recipe to come…