"Pasghetti and Meatballs" - a comfort food classic - just with fewer calories and more nutrients!
It doesn't get much more classic comfort food than spaghetti and meatballs, amirite?
However, it's not something I'd normally make. The traditional combination of sausage meat, beef mince and breadcrumbs with pasta would be sure to leave me bloated. For Lula, it's not especially nutritious and can be quite high in salt due to the processed sausage meat.
So I wanted to make a version that would be gluten free and lower in calories (for me) and lower in salt but higher in nutrients for Lula.
Please welcome... turkey and red pepper meatballs.
By substituting the traditional sausage meat and beef mince for turkey mince, you're saving a whopping 500 calories per serving! That's a big TICK for my waistline!
By adding a red pepper into the meatball mix, you're adding a healthy dose of extra nutrients including Calcium, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Iron, Magnesium and Vitamin B6 to name just a few. That's a big TICK for Lula's requirements.
If you like, you could add a bunch more veg as well, to either the meatballs or the sauce, or both!
You could add some finely chopped courgette (zucchini) to the meatball mixture.
Courgettes, aubergines and more peppers would go beautifully in the sauce.
You could also serve it with different sides for different purposes. If you're currently trying to shift some fat, serve yours with spiralized veg such as courgette or butternut squash instead of pasta.
You could try different pastas too. They sell some brilliant chickpea and edamame bean pastas in the supermarket now. I went with a plain gluten free spaghetti for this meal, which was definitely less bloaty than the regular stuff.
Without further ado, here's the recipe. If you try it let me know how it went down by tagging me on Instagram - @feedingtheirfutures
