VALENTINE’S DAY.

It is the time of the year when couples in Madison, WI have a lady and the tramp moment over pasta with meatballs around the State Capitol.

I hear many single girls talk about how they wish they had a special someone to spend Valentine’s day with. I don’t have a special someone this year and IMO, the only special someone I need is my meatballs.

AHEM… Lemme clarify : my STRING CHEESE STUFFED meatballs.

YES, YOU HEARD THAT RIGHT.

Like… maybe the reason I’m still single is because I would rather have these cheese stuffed balls to myself and not share them?

Valentine’s Day is on a Thursday so I’ll probably attend my usual 6AM yoga sculpt class, nap, take one last look through my DICAS app, watch Grace and Frankie, and have a Michelle Tanner moment with my spaghetti and meatballs…

But with Palmini OF COURSE!! 😉

Nothing says finishing DICAS like a healthy, fiber filled meatball and a truly – amiright?!

These meatballs are inspired by F-Factor. I first discovered this whole meatball situation from my fave F-Factor IGer, @julethebee

I followed her IG story directions then added in a few other ingredients that work SO well in this recipe.

The secret to sneaking fiber into these meatballs is to swap out your breadcrumbs with pulverized GG crackers. I find it easiest to blend up a ton of GG’s and store them in a tupperware so I always have them handy. My roomies would murder  me if I used my Ninja blender every time I whipped up a pulverized GG recipe ( like my “adult” chicken nuggets ).

It’s kinda like sneaking spinach into a smoothie; it can work out VERY well, but you MUST do it the right way. You don’t want to end up with the taste like blended up grass, or in this situation, blended up cardboard.

Because these high fiber crackers are essentially cardboard if you don’t dress them properly, ya GOTTA add in spices. I want all the spices.

BURY THOSE MEATBALLS IN SPICES.

Here’s how to:

Recipe

• 1 lb ground turkey ( I use 93% lean )
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup pulverized GG crumbs
• 1/4 onion diced
• 2 T nutritional yeast
• 2 T parmesan cheese
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• salt and pepper to taste
• 3 string cheese —> cut each into 4 pieces
• ~3 cups sauce
• perfectly make ~13

Directions

Whisk the egg in a small bowl. In a medium-large bowl, break up the ground turkey with two forks. Add in egg and GG crumb, seasonings, and onions. Cut string cheese. Ball the meat mixture with a melon baller and stuff the string cheese nugget into the center of the meatball. Continue until all the meatballs are balled and stuffed with string cheese. Spray a non-stick pan with olive oil spray and brown the meatballs. When the meatballs are browned, pour in the sauce and heat the meatballs until they are cooked through. If the sauce isn’t moving and bubbling, the meatballs aren’t cooking!

Enjoy!!

xx hails