Turkey Forentine Meatballs with Cheese Sauce

I swear I'm still trying (really hard) to keep up with posting new recipes. I've tried three new recipes in the last few weeks and they've all just been 'eh, nothin' special' recipes. Pinterest, you've failed me again!

That said, I've been making these meatballs for years now.  This is one of the first recipes I started making after Jay and I got married. They're really easy to make and since you use your hands to mix everything together, the kids can help too. The original recipe comes from Rachel Ray and can be found here. I've changed it some because the original recipe makes a TON of sauce, so I've cut it in half and it still makes plenty.

Meatballs

1 box frozen spinach, defrosted and squeezed dry, and roughly chopped

1 pound ground turkey

1 small onion, finely chopped, set aside 1-2 Tbsp for cheese sauce

3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 large egg
1/4 cup milk

1/2-3/4 cup bread crumbs
1/2 cup grated parmesan

1 tsp kosher salt

Freshly ground pepper

1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped

Cheese Sauce

1-2 Tbsp finely chopped onion

1 Tbsp butter

1 Tbsp flour

3/4 cup milk

1/2 cup chicken stock (or vegetable stock)
5 oz shredded cheese (I usually use a mixture of cheddar and parmesan, but you could use any mixture you like)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Place turkey in a bowl and make a well in the middle of it. Add the spinach, all but 3 tablespoons of the onion, all of the garlic, 1 large egg, about 1/4 cup milk,  1/2 cup bread crumbs, grated Parmesan, salt and pepper. Mix well. If the mixture feels too wet, add more bread crumbs until you can easily form into balls. Form into 10-12 large balls. Place on a rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment or non-stick foil and bake 20 minutes, or until cooked through.

While meatballs are in the oven, heat a small sauce pot over medium heat. Add 1 tablespoon of butter. When butter has melted, add 1-2 tablespoons of finely chopped onion and cook 2 minutes then whisk in flour. Cook flour 1 minute, then whisk in 3/4 cup milk and 1/2 cup stock. Bring liquid up to a boil, whisking constantly. Decrease heat to medium and stir in shredded cheese a handful at a time, stir after each addition until fully melted. Season the sauce with salt and pepper, and turn heat to the lowest setting. 

Serve meatballs with cheese sauce and garnish with chopped parsley. 

Review - There's no pleasing a 6 year old at the dinner table. I'm sure of it. I could serve up ice cream sundaes for dinner and I'm sure she would find something wrong with the temperature of the ice cream or the selection of toppings or the fluffiness of the whipped cream. Just make these meatballs and let your six year old eat veggies and fruit instead.

Slow Cooker Butternut Squash Soup, with chicken and quinoa

It's been two years since my last attempt at this cooking blog. I have no idea why I'm deciding to start back up again. All I know is that I love to cook (and eat!) and I want other people to love to cook too, or at the very least not dread it like the plague.

My kids are still pretty picky (the 6 year old especially!), but the rule is that they have to take at least one bite, which was the inspiration of my new blog title (I hated the old title!) and then if they decide they don't like it, they're allowed fruit or vegetables instead. My husband is great about trying new foods and he never, ever complains about what I make for dinner, even though he'd probably be happiest eating pizza or Mexican food every night of the week.

I still try to cook a lot of vegetarian recipes, but we do eat meat in this house a couple times a week, usually turkey or chicken. This recipe has chicken in it, but you could very easily omit the chicken, use vegetable stock, and it would be vegetarian and still really good.

I found the original recipe here, but have changed it quite a bit.


1 medium butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and chopped into 1-ince pieces
1 14.5 oz can of fire roasted tomatoes
3 1/2 cups chicken stock
1 1/2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp sage
1 bay leaf
1 medium sweet onion, chopped
1/2 - 1 tsp kosher salt
10 cranks of black pepper
1 1/2 cups cooked quinoa
1/2 - 1 cup kalamata olives, roughly chopped
1/4 cup parsley, finely chopped

1. Place butternut squash through black pepper in slow cooker and cook until chicken is fully cooked and squash is soft. My slow cooker runs hot, so for me, this was about 4 hours on High.

2. Remove chicken from slow cooker and shred with two forks. Remove bay leaf and discard. Take an immersion blender and blend the squash, tomatoes and onions until desired texture is reached. I left it slightly chunky. Add chicken, quinoa, and olives to slow cooker and stir until everything is combined. Set on low or warm, depending on how hot your slow cooker runs. Nothing needs to be cooked after this point, so I set mine on warm and let it go until dinner time.

3. If soup is too thick, you can add more broth to thin it out, but we liked it thick. Ladle soup into bowls and top with chopped parsley. 

Review - Jay and I both enjoyed this thick soup. It's really filling, but there isn't any dairy in it, so you won't feel uncomfortably full afterwards. (I love dairy, but it doesn't love me) Eli (almost 4) was happily eating it until he heard his sister (6) declare that "this isn't soup" and "I'm just going to eat carrots." So both kids ate carrot sticks and milk for dinner. We're having this again tomorrow night (it makes quite a bit!), so hopefully they eat a bit more for Round 2. The olives add a really nice flavor, so definitely don't leave those out. Next time I might add a bit of the brine from the jar of olives for extra flavor.