Green Chile Turkey Meatballs with Avocado Yogurt Cream
This recipe was a total experiment but it turned out great! My husband has decided to put himself on a low carb diet so he's been wanting things like hard boiled eggs, meatloaf, meatballs, Buffalo wings... and, when we have a meal like Nachos as a family, he's basically having a Taco Salad minus the chips.
When it came to making meatballs and meatloaf, I suggested we use OATS in place of cracker or bread crumbs. My logic is that if you are going to have carbs, it's better if they are a whole grain source as opposed to highly processed crumbs. In meatloaf, we've used QUICK OATS since they are already sort of pulverized. When I've made meatballs, I've been pulverizing OLD FASHIONED OATS in the food processor to break them down a bit.
I've been making a lot of Spicy Italian Meatballs and my husband asked that I make some garlicky Cucumber Yogurt Tatziki to go with it. They actually go really well together. When I found a recipe for an avocado yogurt sauce with chipotle and lime HERE, I decided I should try to make a new meatball recipe with my favorite Mexican ingredients. Here's the recipe:
Green Chile Turkey Meatballs (Gluten Free)
1/2 cup whole oats (my 1/2 cup was heaping)
1 small yellow onion (or 1/2 a large white onion)
3 pounds ground turkey (80/20)
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon to 3/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
1 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 small can fire roasted green chiles (drained)
1 egg
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Spray two 9 x 13 x 2 pans (or two roasting pans) with non-stick cooking spray.
Place the ground turkey in a large bowl.
Pulverize oats in a food processor; add to the turkey.
Chop the onions into large chunks. Place the onions in the food processor and pulse until finely minced. Add to the turkey and oats.
Add in the remaining ingredients. Mix with clean hands form into 18 meatballs (larger than golf ball size) and place in prepared pants. Leave space between meatballs so they are not crowded or touching one another.
Bake uncovered in the oven for about 25 to 30 minutes (or until cooked through).
************************ Next, Avocado Yogurt Cream **************
We had the meatballs with Avocado Yogurt Cream (pictured above). I did not bring the recipe to the store so I forgot the recipe called for fresh cilantro. I liked the sauce with out the cilantro but the cilantro undoubtedly would add a lot.
The link for the original recipe is HERE.
Here is my version of the sauce:
Avocado Yogurt Sauce with Chipotle and Lime
Adapted from the blog www.thelemonbowl.com
1 (5.3 ounce) container Oikos plain Fat Free Greek Yogurt
1 1/2 ripe avocados (mashed with a fork)
zest of 1 lime and juice of one lime
1/2 of a chipotle pepper from a can of chipotle in adobo sauce
salt and pepper to taste
a few pinches of sugar
Fish one chipotle pepper out of the can, cut in half, remove seeds. Finely mince the 1/2 chipotle pepper (they are hot!) Add the minced chipotle to the remaining ingredients in a bowl and mash/stir all together with a fork until well combined.
Mix all ingredients together in a bowl and serve with Green Chile Turkey Meatballs.
Since only my husband and I were eating this meal, we made the Avocado Yogurt Cream as specified, BUT if you are feeding a crowd, I would double the recipe.
**********************************************************************
TIP: Freeze the leftover chipotle peppers in adobo sauce in a plastic bag and break off what you need for future recipes.
No comments:
Post a Comment