Meatballs – Bead Yarn & Spatula

I haven’t been posting many savory recipes… In other words, something I cooked instead of baked. That doesn’t mean I haven’t cooked. I cook every week, but lately I haven’t been trying new recipes. Just sticking with things that I know are good and are easy to make. Two important criteria when it comes cooking if you ask me. Last month though I finally tried a new recipe, and it was so good that I just made it again. So, what was so good that I had to make it again so quickly… Spaghetti with Turkey Marsala Meatballs.

Two quick things to note… While I do eat pasta, I normally don’t make spaghetti (not a fan of twirling to get it on the fork) and I never made meatballs before trying this recipe (I have eaten them though!). I was always concerned about getting the meat fully cooked. Silly, I know! Both of those things didn’t matter with this recipe though. The meatballs were super easy to make, and for peace of mind I left them in the oven a minute or two longer than the recipe suggested to ensure they were cooked. They didn’t dry out since the chopped mushrooms added to the meat helped to keep them moist. And twirling spaghetti isn’t that bad!

I started off by prepping the meatballs. Once they were formed, I baked them in the oven for about 15 minutes.

While the meatballs were in the oven (and for a little while after they came out) I worked on making the sauce for the pasta, boiled the pasta and tossed the pasta into the sauce.

I wasn’t planning on enjoying this the day I made it, so I packed it in containers and refrigerated it. I will say that it heats up very well and tastes better each day!

Spaghetti with Turkey Marsala Meatballs

Servings: 4
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Ingredients:

12 ounces cremini mushrooms*

1 pound ground turkey

1 large egg

1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs

1/2 cup parsley, chopped

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 small onion, thinly sliced

3 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 cup Marsala wine

12 ounces spaghetti

2 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth

Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

*I used 10 ounces of baby bella mushrooms

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 450 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

Finely chop a third of the mushrooms and thinly slice the rest.

In a medium bowl combine the chopped mushrooms, ground turkey, egg, panko breadcrumbs, parsley, 1/2 teaspoon salt and a few grinds of black pepper. Use your hands to mix everything together. Roll into 18 to 22 meatballs and place on the prepared baking sheet. Use a cookie scoop (1 1/2 tablespoons) to make rolling the meatballs easier. Bake in the preheated oven 12 to 14 minutes, until the meatballs are browned and cooked through.

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil.

In a large skillet, melt 2 tablespoons of butter over medium-high heat. Add the sliced mushrooms and onion and a pinch of salt and pepper. Cook, undisturbed for 4 to 5 minutes so the mushrooms and onions can crisp. Stir and cook until browned, an additional 3 to 5 minutes. Add the minced garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Add the Marsala wine and cook until thickened, about 1 to 2 minutes.

Add the spaghetti to the boiling water and cook for 6 minutes.

Add the chicken broth to the mushroom and onion mixture and bring to a boil, reduce the heat and let simmer until thickened, 5 minutes.

Drain the spaghetti and add to the skillet. Cook, tossing until al dente, about 3 to 4 minutes. Remove the skillet from the heat and add in the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter. Toss the spaghetti until the butter has melted.

To serve, divide the pasta among bowls and top with the meatballs.

Recipe from Food Network

I would have never thought to try Hello Fresh if it wasn’t for a gift card they sent me in the mail for $50 off – i.e. $25 off my first 2 boxes. So, I figured why not! I ultimately ended up getting a better deal when I went through the registration process and then didn’t complete the order. They sent me an email for $35 off my first box with just one hitch, I had to use the code within 48 hours. I made it a point then to definitely finish my order. After a little navigating around the website – one too many pop-ups appeared that navigated me away from where I wanted to be – I was able to select my meals. My first reaction… This is it? I don’t know what I was expecting but I guess I wanted meals that were a little more “exciting.” Oh, let me just say, I selected the classic plan for 2 people and 3 meals a week which is approximately $60/week, with my discount I paid a few pennies less than $25. I figured I could have dinner and then take the leftovers to work the next day for lunch. I ended up settling on these three meals: Thai-Spiced Pork Meatballs, Veggie-Loaded Orzo and Sausage and Pineapple Poblano Beef Tacos.

And here’s my box. It arrived on my selected day. Thankfully, my mail arrived early that day and while I could have cooked that night I had some leftovers in the fridge that I wanted to finish up.

And the inside…

I was thinking that everything would be loose inside of the box and I would have to pair of all the ingredients to the recipe, but, much to my surprise and something I loved, all of the ingredients were grouped together in these brown bags and the meats were below in between two ice packs. What’s really nice is that you don’t have to measure. All of the seasonings are pre-measured and packaged. There’s absolutely no waste. But, you do have to dice, slice and chop the vegetables.

And the recipe cards are oversized and offer pictures of each step with thorough instructions. Including prep and cook time which were accurate.

Here are pictures of the meals I made…

Thai-Spiced Pork Meatballs

Pineapple Poblano Beef Tacos

Veggie-Loaded Orzo and Sausage

And while all three meals were good, my favorite was the orzo. I think it was because it was the one meal that didn’t have a spice packet, so most of the flavor came from the vegetables and sausage and it’s a meal that I could easily recreate myself. With each meal I had more than enough for dinner and lunch the next day which was great.

There isn’t much that I didn’t like. Maybe the vegetables that I got wouldn’t have been the ones that I picked, but, it’s not like they were bruised or ended up rotting before I got to use them. But, I would have preferred that my garlic wasn’t peeled. It looked like it had been poked or something.

The final verdict… While Hello Fresh may be good for some, it’s not for me and I opted to cancel my subscription. It’s for various reasons. The price I paid was great, but, the normal price of $60/week is a little too much for just me myself. It’s odd, but, you would think that having the meals waiting for me at home to cook would take some of the pressure of what to cook off but it actually kind of made it worse. Almost like I was being forced to cook. Normally I’ll cook and make enough so I can have leftovers for a few days and with this it was dinner for one day and lunch for the next. Which meant I was cooking every day and cleaning pots and dishes and my kitchen as well. Not something I normally do every day. When I did cancel they had a list of possible reasons and I selected that it was the price, the next screen then gave me the option to reduce the frequency of receiving a box. I could have chosen every 2 weeks or every 4 weeks, but, I still wasn’t interested. I will say though that the meal selections for the following did look really good and I was tempted but no. When I think about how much I spend on groceries each week Hello Fresh is just not cost effective for me. That isn’t to say that I wouldn’t try another meal kit delivery service though.

So, have any of you tried Hello Fresh? What did you think?