Appetizer: Avocado bruschetta and kalamata olive bruschetta on toasted French baguette.
Main course: Lean turkey meatballs, portabella mushrooms, and yellow squash with homemade marinara sauce over whole wheat pasta and sauteed green beans.
My mom supplied the dessert: Raspberry, lemon, and pineapple passionfruit sorbet.
I recently stumbled across a food blog run by two 3rd year medical students called Braised Anatomy. Both the bruschetta and marinara sauce came from this blog, but I'll reproduce the recipes here with my minor alterations. Definitely check out their blog for more great recipes!
Bruschetta [Adapted from Braised Anatomy]
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| Avocado bruschetta and kalamata olive bruschetta |
I was only making dinner for 3 people, so I had to reduce the original recipe. We also didn't have mint, which was called for in the original. The bruschettas are exactly the same except for the avocado or olive option. A double of this recipe (1 of each kind of bruschetta) is enough for 3 people to have 4 pieces of bread + bruschetta each.
- 1/2 avocado, diced OR 1 cup kalamata olives, diced
- 1 cup plum tomatoes, diced
- 1 tbsp lime juice
- 1 clove of garlic, minced
- 1/4 cup minced fresh basil
- salt and pepper, to taste
Mix it all together and let it sit in the fridge for a while so everything soaks up the flavors. Serve on toasted French baguette!
Marinara Sauce [Also adapted from Braised Anatomy]
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| Simple marinara sauce |
This sauce is extremely simple and so delicious! Definitely going to be using this from now on instead of stuff from a jar or just plain diced tomatoes.
- 4, 14.5-oz cans of diced tomatoes with no salt added
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 5-7 cloves of garlic, minced (we love garlic!!)
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- ~1/4 cup minced basil
- palmful of dried oregano
- pepper to taste
In a dutch oven or saucepan, heat the oil and saute the garlic on medium-high heat. Add the rest of the ingredients, stir, and bring to a boil. Then reduce the heat to low or warm and simmer for 30+ minutes (I think we had it simmering for about 45 minutes). Freeze any excess for later use!
Lean Turkey Meatballs
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| Raw meatballs ready to be browned! |
These are my own recipe, and I usually just eyeball the spices and ingredients depending on what I have and who I'm cooking for. Since I was cooking for my parents, I left out the crushed red pepper flakes that I usually add, but I really didn't miss them! These meatballs are super healthy (much leaner than beef) and come out juicy and flavorful despite lack of fat.
- 21-oz package of the leanest possible ground turkey breast (99% fat free)
- 1 large egg
- 1 slice of bread (I used FiberOne 100% whole wheat bread, but use whatever you have on hand)
- 2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
- splash of skim milk
- about a palmful of dried oregano, a palmful of fresh basil, several grates of black peppercorn, and a pinch of salt - vary these amounts or add other spices depending on your taste!
Crumble the bread and mix everything together. If it is too sticky (probably will be), add some milk. This recipe will make exactly 12 meatballs if you use a 1/4 cup measuring cup to measure them. Bring a pan with olive oil to medium heat. The minuscule fat content of the meatballs causes them to annoyingly stick to a stainless steel pan, so if you're not using a non-stick pan, use a lot of oil or be prepared to scrape turkey bits off the bottom. Once the meatballs are browned on all sides, add the marinara sauce and whatever veggies you want - we did mushrooms and yellow squash. Cover and simmer on low or warm until the meatballs are cooked (start making your pasta!).
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| Top it all off with some grated parmesan cheese! My favorite! |
Hope that was a good first post, here's to many more!
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