Ancient healthy meatballs spaghetti

meatballs-spaghetti

meatballs-spaghetti
This is one of the ancient Italian recipes. Though initially it may not have been this healthy since having six pack abs and maintaining the zero size figure was not a concern back then, but here is a way to make it healthy. You can use cannelli instead of spaghetti and in the same way to stretch the ground beef, use high fiber bulgur and some whole wheat bread crumbs in the meatballs. And the very important thing is that they are baked and not fried.

Ingredients:
For the meatball-

  • 1/3 cup bulgur
  • 1/2 cup hot water
  • 4 ounces lean ground beef
  • 4 ounces hot Italian sausage
  • 1 medium onion, very finely chopped
  • 2 large egg whites, lightly beaten
  • 3 cloves garlic, very finely chopped
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
  • 1 cup fresh breadcrumbs, preferably whole-wheat

For the spaghetti-

  • 4 cups prepared marinara sauce
  • 1/2 cup slivered fresh basil leaves, or chopped fresh parsley
  • 1 pound whole-wheat spaghetti, or linguine
  • 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan, or Romano cheese

Method:

To begin with the meatballs, take a small bowl. Add some bulgur and water and mix it well. Let the bulgur absorb all the water. This will take about 30 minutes. While this is happening, you preheat the oven to about 350 degree F.

Meanwhile, take the ground beef, sausages, onions, egg whites, garlic, oregano, salt, pepper, breadcrumbs and the bulgurs in the bowl, mix this all well together. Once this mixture is all mixed well then start turning it into small balls. About an inch ball is okay. This whole mixture will make about some 24 balls. Once all the balls are shaped, place them in the preheated oven and let it bake for about 25 minutes. Bolt well with paper towel.

Now starting with the spaghetti sauce. Place a nice pot on the gas. Heat it well before using. Heating the dishes before using it, kills the germs and harmful bacterias. Add a little salty water in it and bring it to boil. Then bring the sauce to a simmer in a dutch oven.

By this time the meatballs will also be done. Start adding the meatballs to the sauce and bring it to simmer. 20 minutes would be enough. Throw in some chopped parsley or basil leaves. Also get your spaghetti read. Boiling it for 20 minutes and it will do the work. Drain out the water. Add the sauce and meatballs and add some shredded cheese to it to get that authentic Italian feel.

The total time required for this recipe is about an hour. And it will serve about 6 people. Try out this dish. It absolutely low in calories.