Meatball Tortellini Bowl!
Sometimes you just want something easy and almost all the way made for you, am I right? Don’t get me wrong, I love homemade meatballs. I love making them, and I love that I can make them as lean or protein-packed as I want. However, it isn’t always in the cards to make my own meatballs. Even more so, I don’t always even have the time (or desire) to make a side for my meatballs.
Enter a mixture of mostly pre-made ingredients combined with some fresh herbs and vegetables to make a delicious meal in just a few minutes and without too much effort. For this meal, I went with some frozen items, like Great Value (Walmart) Turkey Meatballs, frozen Andrea small cheese tortellini, and peas. I combined these pre-made and frozen items with fresh spinach, fresh basil, and fat free Parmesan cheese topping. Add in some salt, pepper and garlic powder and you have a quick meal with complex flavors that you didn’t have to work hard to put together!
There are a variety of ways that you can adjust this meal to change the macro totals to fit your goals (I will get to that later). This recipe serves 4 people for the macros I provide.
Here is the recipe for my Meatball Tortellini Bowl:
- 18 Great Value turkey meatballs
- 200g frozen peas
- 8 oz frozen Andrea Classic Cheese Tortellini
- 4 cups raw spinach
- 4 tbsp fat free Parmesan cheese topping
- 2 tbsp fresh basil
- Salt, pepper, garlic powder
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees, and bake your meatballs. While those bake (around 15-25 minutes), boil some water. Once it comes to a boil, add in your tortellini and cook according to package directions. When the tortellini is cooked, remove from the boiling water with a slotted spoon and place in a large bowl. To the remaining water on the stove, add in your frozen peas and boil – just before the peas are heated through, add in your spinach and stir for a moment or two until just wilted. Strain or remove with a slotted spoon add to the cooked tortellini in the large bowl.
While the meatballs finish cooking, roll up 2-3 large basil leaves and slice with a sharp knife to create ribbons. Once cooked through, place the meatballs in the large bowl and toss with half of the fat free Parmesan, a pinch of salt, pepper and garlic powder. Once mixed together, top with the remaining Parmesan and the basil ribbons, then serve!
This recipe serves 4 large meal-sized portions at 42g carbs, 11g fat, 26g protein. If you are hoping to lower the fat, you can swap the meatballs out for cooked ground turkey breast, cooked cubed chicken breast, or make your own leaner meatballs. To lower the carbs, consider a smaller portion of tortellini (double up on spinach or escarole instead, or add some white cannellini beans).
This reminds me of quick meals my mom would make when I was younger. She always used to say if it came in a “box, bag, jar or can” she could cook it. This meal is from a box and a few bags, but adding in fresh ingredients and making sure I balance it out with the right portions of each is helping me to live healthier even when I turn to convenience over slaving away in the kitchen.
