Turkey Veggie Meatballs and Gravy

I made these munchkin meatballs and a variation of 5 minute pan gravy from Slow Roasted Italian one evening when my mom was visitng.

I wanted something that was fairly quick as she was visiting on a school night, and we had activities to attend to right after dinner.  This meant I needed to make whatever we were eating as soon as I got home from work.

The dinner was easy enough to prepare, but it did not turn out as I had expected.

First, the recipe says to shred a zucchini and a carrot, but it doesn't say what size, or the amount of volume the shredded veggies should have.  I'm thinking that maybe my veggies were larger than those used in the original recipe as the meatballs were very moist.  I had a hard time figuring out if they were done, even after I baked them 10 minutes longer than the suggested bake time.

I was able to remedy this problem with the leftovers.  I heated them up in a skillet with no oil on medium heat until they were dark brown on all sides.  The crispy bits of caramelized veggies were a lot tastier then their "mushy" first time around counterparts.

The gravy was just ok.  I think my mistake was not following the recipe.  The thing is that my mom watches her salt intake and the original gravy recipe calls for 4 tsp of beef bullion granules.  This is the equivalent of 4 bullion cubes.  Each cube has 790 mg of sodium.  Four cubes equals super mega sodium.  Which I'm sure tastes amazing.  Because, let's face it, salt tastes great.  I just couldn't serve that to my mom.

I even tried to find some lower sodium bullion cubes at the grocery store.  The thing was that even the lower sodium stuff, was still loaded with salt. 

So I improvised using 2 cups of homemade turkey stock.

The results were just ok.  It tasted ok with the noodles and the meatballs, but it was rather bland.  I even added 1 tsp of Kitchen Bouquet to try to jazz things up, but the gravy was still "meh."  I guess that happens sometimes when you try to make things "healthy."  Flavor often is sacrificed.

I'm just glad that it wasn't so bad it was inedible.  And I redeemed myself by making chicken mug soup and chicken chili later in the week.  YUM!  Sometimes when you are mediocre in the kitchen it's nice to go back to your classic standards.

Turkey-veggie meatballs and Gravy from Slow Roasted Italian
MEATBALLS: Makes approximately 48
16 oz turkey
1 carrot, peeled and grated
1 zucchini, peeled and grated
½ c Italian seasoned bread crumbs (I used regular bread crumbs and 1 tsp Pasta Sprinkle
2 T ketchup
1 egg
2 t onion powder
1 t garlic powder
1 t salt
½ t fresh ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Line sheet with parchment. In a large bowl combine all ingred.  Mix until just combined, do not over mix or the meatballs will be tough. Portion into tsp size balls, about 1/2 oz each. Place meatballs on baking sheet so they are not touching.  Bake 20 - 35 min.

GRAVY: makes 2 c
¼ c butter
¼ c flour
1 t onion powder
2 c water
4 t beef bouillon granules (or 4 cubes)

Combine water and bouillon in a heat proof container. Heat  in microwave 1 min intervals, til steaming hot.

Melt butter in med pan over med heat, add flour and onion powder. Whisk together.  Cook 1 min, whisking occasionally to  cook out ‘floury’ taste).  Add broth to flour mix gradually while whisking.  Bring to boil, reduce to simmer for 1 min.