"NAN'S" SPAGHETTI SAUCE AND MEATBALLS

By bjnelson55

Recipe from Devin Alexander's show on Discovery Health. Her grandmother was Italian, so this is a lightened Italian recipe.

Ingredients

• Nan's Meatballs:
• Nan's Sauce
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 2 cups minced sweet (yellow) onion
• 2 tablespoons minced or crushed garlic cloves
• 2 (28-ounce) cans crushed tomatoes
• 6-ounce can tomato paste
• 1 cup water
• 2 cups finely chopped fresh parsley leaves
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup dried sweet basil
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 dried bay leaf
• 6 slices wheat sandwich bread (light and fluffy—not dense bread)
• 1/2 cup fat free milk
• 3 large egg whites
• 1-1/4 cups minced sweet onion
• 1 cup finely chopped fresh parsley leaves
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 pounds ground chicken breast
• olive oil spray

Details

Servings 8

Preparation

Step 1

Place a 4 or 6 quart, non-stick pot over medium heat. Add the olive oil, onions and garlic. Cook the onions and garlic, stirring occasionally until they are opaque and tender but not at all browned, about 10 minutes.

Reduce the heat to low. Add the crushed tomatoes, tomato paste and water, stirring until smooth. Add the parsley, sugar, salt, basil, cloves and bay leaf. Cover the pot and cook the sauce over the lowest heat setting for at least three hours, stirring occasionally. Serve immediately or store it in re-sealable plastic containers in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or the freezer for up to 1 month.

Makes approximately 8 cups; 16 servings.

Each (1/2 cup) serving has: 65 calories, 3 g protein, 13 g carbohydrates, 1 g fat, trace amount saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 3 g fiber, 366 mg sodium

Devin Says:
Some canned tomatoes are sweeter than others based on the brand and the season when they were picked. If you find the sauce to be at all bitter, add half of a tablespoon of sugar at a time until it is no longer bitter.

TO MAKE MEATBALLS:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In a large bowl, soak the bread in the milk. Let the milk absorb into the bread, then using a fork or your fingers, tear the bread apart. Add the egg whites and beat the mixture with a fork until the bread is torn into small pieces and the eggs are lightly beaten. Add the onion, parsley and salt and stir them into the mixture until they are combined. Then add the chicken, mixing until all of the ingredients are well combined.

Spray a medium, non-stick baking sheet or baking pan with olive oil spray. Using a meatball scoop or 2 tablespoons, shape the meat mixture into 2-inch diameter meatballs and place them side by side in a single layer on the prepared sheet or pan.

Transfer the sheet or pan on a lower oven rack and allow the meatballs to cook for approximately 12 minutes or until they are no longer pink inside. Remove the meatballs from the sheet or pan with a spatula, transferring them to a large serving bowl. Pour Nan's sauce over the meatballs and serve them hot.

Makes approximately 32 2-inch meatballs.

Each Meatball of has: 51 calories, 8 g protein, 4 g carbohydrates, 1 g fat, trace saturated fat, 17 mg cholesterol, 1 g fiber, 130 mg sodium

Nan's Spaghetti & Meatballs (2-inch meatballs plus 3/4 cups sauce plus 2 ounce (dry) serving pasta) has: 373 calories, 26 g protein, 62 g carbohydrates, 3 g fat, less than 1 g saturated fat, 33 mg cholesterol, 6 g fiber, 628 mg sodium

Traditional Spaghetti and Meatballs have: 503 Calories, 36 g protein, 41 g carbohydrates, 24 g fat, 10 g saturated fat, 158 mg cholesterol, 8 g fiber, 2044 mg sodium

Devin Says:


I recommend using an ice cream scoop or cookie scoop to help quickly portion the meat.


If the mixture starts sticking to your hands, making it difficult to form the balls, run your hands under cool water after shaping every few meatballs. They'll be much less sticky and you'll be able to shape perfect meatballs.


These meatballs are also great for soups and sandwiches if made smaller. I often make 64 1-1/2 inch meatballs instead of the 34 larger ones.


If you have trouble finding ground chicken in your grocery store, don't despair ... and don't substitute ground turkey. The moisture content in ground chicken in much different than ground turkey, so using ground turkey will yield dry meatballs. Instead either ask your butcher at your local grocery store to grind chicken breasts for you or cut them into cubes and pulse them in your food processor until they resemble ground chicken. It takes only minutes.