Curried Turkey Meatballs with Roasted Veggies & Peanut Sauce

I found the basis for this recipe in a little magazine our grocery started sending out to regular customers, and reworked it to make it a little more heart-friendly. I cut back on the red curry paste (which is slightly high in sodium at 15%DV for 1 tsp) and noticed no difference in taste, and pretty drastically reworked the Peanut Sauce recipe because the one they published was so thick and gloopy, you couldn't even toss the vegetables in it.

Ingredients
serves 4-6

Turkey Meatballs
1 lb lean ground turkey
1 egg
1/3 cup oatmeal, ground
1 tsp Thai red curry paste
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp dried onion flakes
Freshly ground pepper, to taste

Roasted Vegetables
1 small head cauliflower, cut into florets
1 small head broccoli, cut into florets
2 medium sweet potatoes, spiralized
Olive oil, for drizzling

Peanut Sauce
3 tbsp creamy low-sodium peanut butter
1 tbsp honey
2-3 tbsp rice vinegar (depends on how thick you'd like your sauce)
2 tsp sesame oil
2-3 tsp Sriracha

Instructions
Preheat oven to 375. To make meatballs, place oatmeal in a food processor and pulse until it's fine-ish like a flour (it's okay if it has a few small pieces in it). In a large bowl, combine egg, oatmeal flour, curry paste, garlic, onion flakes, and pepper. Stir to combine, and then work in the ground turkey. Shape into golf ball size meatballs, and then transfer to a prepared baking sheet. Bake for 15-16 minutes.

While meatballs are baking, on a separate rimmed baking sheet, toss vegetables with olive oil until evenly coated. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes.

To make the Peanut Sauce, add ingredients to a small bowl, and whisk well to combine. Place roasted vegetables in a large bowl, add peanut sauce, and toss well to combine. Serve meatballs over vegetables.

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Ricotta Spaghetti Squash Bake

There are a few things you should note about this recipe if you're watching your sodium intake like us. Most cheeses are off-limits on a heart diet, but a few are low in sodium like ricotta and fresh mozzarella - but you HAVE to buy fresh mozzarella and grate it yourself, rather than buying the pre-shredded bagged stuff, which is loaded with sodium (trust me, it's worth the extra time - the texture and flavor of freshly grated cheese is *completely* different)

The other thing is that if you decide to substitute another green for the kale, avoid spinach because it's naturally very high in sodium.

We ate this as a side dish with chicken breasts and steamed broccoli, but the next time I make this, I plan on turning it into an entree by cutting up the grilled chicken and stirring it in.

Ricotta Spaghetti Squash Bake
Serves 4-6
1 large spaghetti squash
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, divided
1 tsp thyme, divided
4 cloves garlic, 2 minced & 2 crushed with the flat of your knife
1 small onion, diced
2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
2 cups loosely packed fresh kale
15 oz part-skim ricotta
1/2 cup shredded fresh mozzarella, divided
1/4 cup fresh basil, roughly chopped
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut squash in half and scoop out the seeds. Drizzle the insides with 1 tbsp of the olive oil, and place one crushed garlic clove in each cavity. Season with ground pepper and 1/2 tsp of the thyme. Carefully turn halves face down on a rimmed baking tray, and roast for 30-45 minutes or until fork tender.

While squash is baking, add remaining olive oil to a skillet and saute onions until translucent. Add minced garlic and cherry tomatoes and saute for 3 minutes, then add kale and saute for an additional 1-2 minutes until it begins to wilt. Remove from heat and pour into a large bowl. Stir in ricotta cheese and 1/4 cup of the shredded mozzarella.

Once squash has finished cooking, leave the oven on at 400, and shred the insides of the squash with a fork. Scrape out of the skin and add to the ricotta mixture. Stir well, and pour into a greased baking dish. Top with remaining 1/4 cup mozzarella and bake uncovered for 15 minutes.

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Honey Vinaigrette Spring Pea Salad

 

adapted from this recipe by Food on Fifth

We have a great local produce market not too far from us called the Hollygrove Market, and twice a week they offer a flat rate $25 box of seasonal produce from local farms. This week's box included a pound of pink-eye beans, which frankly I'd never heard of before. After scouring the internet, I ended up doing another one of my hodgepodge recipes where I mix and match recipes depending on what we like, and which ingredients we have on hand. I ended up substituting in the pink-eye beans and keeping the cooking time at 5 minutes, which gave this salad a nice crunch!

Also, I realize pea shoots might be a little hard to find if you don't live in the city, but I think you could easily substitute some baby spinach leaves and turn this into more of a traditional salad.

Spring Pea Salad
Serves 6-8

3 cups each pink-eye beans, and fresh or frozen green peas (if frozen, make sure they are No Sodium Added)
6-8 leaves of fresh mint
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp lemon zest from rind
1/2 cup shelled unsalted pistachios
2 cups loosely packed green pea shoots (I used sunflower plant shoots because that's all I could find at Whole Foods)

Honey Vinaigrette
1/2 cup olive or avocado oil
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp honey
2 tsp dijon mustard
Freshly ground pepper, to taste

Bring a large pot of water to a boil, and toss in the pink-eye beans and green peas. Cook for about 5 minutes. Pour beans and peas into a colander to drain. Rinse with cool running water, and leave to drain and cool down for about 10-15 minutes. Place in a large serving bowl.

Pour the olive oil, vinegar, honey, and mustard into a mason jar (or other container with a tight-fitting lid) and shake to emulsify. Season with fresh black pepper to taste, and set aside.

Roughly chop the mint leaves and add to the bowl of beans and peas, along with the lemon juice and zest. Cover and chill until read to serve.

When ready to serve, add in the pistachios, pea shoots, and vinaigrette, and gently toss.

Note: You can substitute frozen or fresh edamame or lima beans for the pink-eye beans - I was just using what I had on hand!

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Grilled Salmon with Sautéed Garlic Patty Pan Squash

 

One of the perks of switching to a low-sodium diet, is the ingredients you have to work with are generally much simpler, and meals come together more quickly. There aren't dozens of packaged ingredients to schlep from the fridge and pantry (and then back again). Just you, some fresh meat and produce, and whatever herbs and seasonings your heart desires ❤️

Grilled Salmon

Serves 4

1 Garlic clove, minced

2-3 tbsp olive oil (we use avocado oil we buy at Costco)

2-3 tbsp lemon juice

Four 6 oz salmon fillets

Pepper, to taste

Mix first three ingredients together. Place salmon in a small pan, and pour marinade over top. Let sit for about 10 minutes while you heat up the grill to Medium-High. Place fish on oiled aluminum foil and grill 3-4 minutes per side. (Note: it's easy to flip if you loosen the fillet a bit with your spatula first, and then flip it by lifting up the edge of the foil)

Sautéed Garlic Patty Pan Squash

Serves 4

2 Patty Pan yellow squash (or regular yellow squash), roughly chopped into 1 inch pieces

2 cloves garlic

2 tbsp olive oil

4-5 fresh basil leaves, roughly chopped

Pepper (or salt-free Tony's 😉), to taste

Pour oil in skillet and heat to Medium. Once oil is hot, toss in squash, minced garlic, and pepper (or other seasonings). Cook 7-8 minutes, stirring occasionally until tender. Top with fresh chopped basil once it's in the serving bowl, or on plates.

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Whole Wheat Chicken & Veggie Pasta Salad

Pasta coated with just a drizzle of oil doesn't cut it for me. I need a full-bodied *sauce* that has a flannel shirt and a beard. Problem is, all the delicious sauces out there have oodles of sodium...and after spending about an hour searching the internet for a low-sodium pasta salad that had more than just a wimpy oil/vinaigrette dressing, I gave up, and came up with my own. 

Whole Wheat Chicken & Veggie Pasta Salad

Serves 6-8

16 oz bag whole wheat bowtie pasta

2-3 chicken breasts

1 medium garlic clove, minced 

1 small yellow onion, diced

1 small green pepper, diced

2 medium yellow squash, roughly chopped into 1/2' pieces

1-2 tbsp olive/avocado oil 

1/4 cup 5 Minute Avocado Oil Mayo 

Pepper, to taste

Sodium-free Tony's (optional)

While water is boiling for the pasta, grill chicken breasts and cut into strips or cubes once fully cooked.

Add pasta to boiling water and cook according to package directions (usually 10-11 minutes). While pasta is cooking, heat oil in a pan and toss in garlic, onion, pepper and squash. Cook about 8 minutes, or until veggies are soft. 

Drain pasta, add veggies, grilled chicken, and toss with mayo to coat. Season with pepper and Tony's as desired. Can be served hot or cold - if serving cold, you might want to "refresh" the pasta with a tablespoon or two of mayo before serving, because the pasta will absorb it overnight in the fridge (and it might be a little dry). 

Tip: If your pasta finishes cooking before your vegetables, you can toss it with a tiny bit of olive oil to keep if from sticking together before you add the remaining ingredients 

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