Thank Goodness it’s Friday! (TGIF)

Thank Goodness it’s Friday! (TGIF)

With two back to school nights in a row, it’s back to school for sure in my house! Battling the early morning hours and exhausted evenings, it was a busy week as we all did our best to adjust to the first full week of school. I managed to squeeze in two cooking dates, one with Suzy to make burritos, and the other with Jackie to make soup and meatballs.

Both meatballs and burritos are staples and incredibly helpful foods to have on freezer stand-by. Yes, you heard me correctly — FREEZER. And honestly, make best friends with your freezer this school year and you’re stress levels will fall as dinner becomes that much easier. These two foods are particularly freezer friendly. Let’s start with meatballs. You can make very large quantities with minimal amount of extra work. Once you have the ground meat of your choice and add in’s handy, it’s simply about the additional time it will take for you to make the balls. And if you’ve got good company (like I did with Jackie!) it’s actually pleasurable to mold while you chat about life. It would be a whole different story if I had been home alone molding the meatballs. As for burritos, it’s the same story. Once you have your filling ingredients, why not double or triple and just buy a whole lot more tortillas.

When there’s no time for creative meal planning, just stick to the basics. And I’m so glad we did since dinner would have been super challenging had we left it to the last minute. Here’s what I put into my turkey meatballs this week, but honestly add whatever you’d like — grated cheese, carrots, other herbs like basil or thyme. Meatballs are extremely versatile and incredibly useful foods.

Turkey Meatballs

2 pounds ground turkey
1onion, diced finely
2 garlic cloves
½ teaspoon onion powder
½ teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley (or basil)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
½ cup seasoned bread crumbs
1/4 cup parmesan cheese (optional)

Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees and grease a baking sheet with olive oil. In a large bowl, mix together all ingredients. Mold meatballs with your hands to desired size. Place in the baking dish about an inch apart. Bake until cooked through depending upon the size of your meatballs — anywhere from 20-40 minutes. Check by cutting into the meatballs and make sure they are cooked through.