Tuesday, August 03, 2021

Daily Favorites: Mediterranean Meatballs with Herbed Yogurt Sauce



This idea came out of a simple philosophy: build meals around your superstar ingredients. In this case, it's the Trader Joe turkey meatballs and nonfat greek yogurt. I've previously used these meatballs as a bbq appetizer, meatball hoagie and meatball pasta. I've used nonfat greek yogurt in my chicken salad, buffalo chicken bake, tzatziki, ranch spread on a brat burger, and pasta salad. Time to pair these nutritional superstars together. 

When you google meatballs greek yogurt, you get a lot of Mediterranean-spiced dishes. So that's what I did. For the turkey meatballs, I just followed my shawarma spice rub.


- - -

Meatball Spice Rub

cumin
cinnamon
smoked paprika
turmeric
cayenne 
oregano
garlic
salt
pepper


Herbed Yogurt Sauce

85g nonfat greek yogurt
cilantro, dill, or mint
salt
pepper
oregano
red wine vinegar or lemon juice (+ lemon zest)
minced onion (optional)


Today, I had cilantro and dill on hand, so I used both of those. Didn't have a lemon so I used a touch of red wine vinegar. Thought about using red onion but didn't. Could also include chives. A lot of recipes called for mint, but didn't have it. I'm intentionally omitting olive oil for caloric purposes, but I saw some recipes call for plating with a drizzle of it. I also could have used my Tzatziki sauce if I had it on hand. 

But this sauce was so good, I could eat in on anything. Could easily see pairing this with some spicy-seasoned chicken.

Speaking of calories...

7 turkey meatballs = 350 calories
85 grams of greek yogurt = 45 calories.

A very filling, very fresh 400 calorie meal. 

I'm always impressed when I make something that tastes bright, fresh, light and I think I should eat like this more often. And then, I'm like, oh yeah, I am. It still catches me off guard how good herbs/acidity/seasoning can be compared to the bacon/beefy/cheesy flavors way of life that I lived for so long.

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