Penne Rosa and Mini Turkey Meatballs

These days, my husband and I hardly eat ground beef anymore. Since discovering ground turkey we substitute that in almost everything. I find that because of the mild flavor of the turkey I am able to spice it up in so many different ways. Ground beef isn't as versatile in my opinion because of the distinct flavor it has on it's own. Don't get me wrong, I still love the occasional beef burger, I just prefer turkey nowadays.
Anyway, this recipe really doesn't have anything to do with beef. I just had to have a little rant, I guess. I found this recipe on Pinterest (my new obsession) and the original actually uses shrimp. I love shrimp but didn't have any in the house and since we rarely eat it anyway I didn't want to go buy some. So, I decided I would make cute, little turkey meatballs instead!

So here's the original recipe for the Penne Rosa: http://backtoherroots.com/2012/03/20/penne-rosa-with-shrimp/

And here's what you'll need for the turkey meatballs:

1 pound ground turkey
1/2 cup panko bread crumbs (or whatever you prefer)
1 egg (to act as a binder)
Spices (oregano, salt, pepper, Italian parsley, garlic) approx 1 tsp each

I've been getting better at writing down the recipes that I make up on my own so when I finally get around to blogging about it I actually know exactly what I put in it! Thanks for being patient with my non-quantaties, my friends.

I started making my meatballs first before I started any of the pasta. The pasta dish itself only takes about 15-20 minutes so I wanted to make sure that the meatballs were done first so I could just throw them in and serve as soon as the pasta element was complete.

Mix all of the ingredients for turkey together in a bowl until nicely combined. Once that's done you can start rolling your meatballs. Have a heated pan with a little bit of olive oil ready to go and start dropping your meatballs onto the pan. I did mine in several batches, just so the pan wouldn't be too full and unmanageable. Cook them through all the way because they won't have a chance to do more than heat up once in the pasta.

Once these little guys were chilling out on the counter, I started making the pasta. So get your pot of water boiling for your penne, and in another pan get your garlic and red pepper flakes going. I didn't use mushrooms in this recipe because my hubster doesn't like them. I just don't get it. Anyway, once your garlic and red pepper flakes have cooked for a bit, add the tomatoes, salt and pepper (and mushrooms, if using). Cook that for a second, turn up the heat and then add the turkey meatballs (or shrimp if you're following the original recipe). Cook that for another second (actually about two minutes) and then add your spinach and put the lid on so the spinach will wilt.

Spinach before wilting...

Spinach after wilting! Also with the pasta sauce and Greek yogurt mixed in. Once that's all mixed together, throw in the pasta and there you have it. A ridiculously easy and delicious weeknight pasta dish.

Now that I'm looking at this I seriously want to make this again. Yep, executive decision, it's going on the meal plan for next week.

Much love to you all,

-A