Daily Favorites: Meatball Pasta

This is one of those dishes where all I did was measure my food and make one healthy swap to turn a high-calorie meal into a 600-calorie weeknight dinner. 

Here's the framework of how I hit my calorie targets:

300 calories of pasta

150 calories of turkey meatballs

100 calories of tomato sauce without additions

under 50 calories of sauce additions

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Here's how I made it. Get 84 grams of pasta boiling. 

Meanwhile, warm up 3 Trader Joe's turkey meatballs (35grams each). I cut each meatball into 8 wedges and seasoned them with my garlic+. 

Measure out 150 grams of pasta sauce. I used Newman's Own tomato + basil. I added oregano, basil, red pepper flake, salt, pepper, and balsamic vinegar to the sauce. 

Meanwhile I sautéed some diced onion and red bell pepper. Once they were done, I added a splash of balsamic directly to the veggies. I also diced up some pickled cherry peppers. And I microplaned a little romano cheese. 

After the onion and pepper were done, I added the sauce, meatballs, cherry peppers, and of course once it was done, the pasta. Stir and serve, topping with the grated romano. 

I was pleasantly surprised at how large this serving of 600-calorie pasta was. 

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I mean, this is basically spaghetti and meatballs, but with some healthy changes. 

A tomato sauce without adding butter, olive oil, or sugar. 

Using turkey meatballs is only 150 calories instead of 360 for the regular meatballs. Without that swap, this 600 calorie dinner would be 800 for no difference in filling (or a big difference in taste either). 
Just used a dusting of cheese and not a huge portion. 

Overall, measured a specific amount of everything so I could eat the entire pot of pasta instead of the classic method of make half a box of pasta, half a jar of sauce, plan on eating one portion but then end up eating the entire pot. 

The red pepper flake and hot cherry peppers give a nice layer of background heat/depth. Appreciating this dish requires some moving of the goalposts from the pasta journey. That was about trying to master some authentic pasta recipes and make the best version possible. Now I'm focused on making tasty yet healthy dishes, with an emphasis on quick and easy. This is another winner based on those metrics.