Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Baked Meatballs and Marinara Sauce

Raw meatballs ready to put in the oven on a greased baking sheet.

Before my kidney transplant in April, I couldn't eat meatballs and spaghetti. Meat was a no-no b/c I was on a low protein diet. And tomatoes were high in potassium, so I avoided them altogether, except for a couple of cherry tomatoes from our garden.

Now my problem is diabetes, gotten from the antirejection meds I take.

Spaghetti makes my blood sugar soar.

So tonite I made this recipe for a late dinner - am eating it now at 8:30 pm - inspired by a recipe from Patch.com.



The meatballs are baked in a 400-degree oven. Baking them has the advantage that my stovetop doesn't get dirtier than it already is.

Look, if you had a choice between writing and cleaning your stovetop, what would you do?

Mix together in large bowl:

1 pound organic ground turkey (from the Willow Grove Giant, where else?)
1/4 cup oatmeal
fresh-cut basil
grated onion
one clove pressed garlic
(I never use salt)

Bake in pre-heated 400-degree oven for 15-20 minutes. Keep an eye on it so it doesn't burn.

Then make the marinara sauce.

A good one is:

olive oil
sauteed mushrooms, onions, red and/or green peppers
green and/or yellow squash in season
your garden tomatoes in season, chopped
Half a can tomato paste
fresh basil, black pepper, paprika

A dinner that is ready to eat in 45 mins.

I loved the feeling of mixing the ground turkey and ingredients with my bare hands, breadmaker that I yam.

4 comments:

  1. Really want to read and comment on your last number of posts and poem, and to write some of my own. I have gone up and down our cellar steps to plug in, run and turn off the portable pumps, maybe 60 times today. Soooo tired. I think we will be up all night with the flooding. Catch up with you soon.

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  2. yikes! good luck. am listening to obama's job speech before congress now. great! what's he been doing the past couple years. we want the old obama back.

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  3. What a choice - kidney failure or diabetes. Well, my wife has lived with diabetes for longer than I can remember now. You made the right choice. And you keep a good countenance about you.

    Yes, Obama came on strong last night. Romney is right, though - he is three years too late. I just hope he can make it up. I don't know.

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  4. yes, you had mentioned that margie has diabetes and she certainly seems to be doing fine. there was a very sad documentary tonite on pbs about the hi rate of diabetes among the pimo indians - i did think of margie who i know is apache - when the g'dam white man diverted their river in AZ, preventing them from farming. then they started getting diabetes. accdg to the show, anyone can get it when they feel sad and hopeless. well, i'm eating my bedtime snack now, almonds and sunflower seeds. i try, bill, i try.

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