5 Meals Under $50: Turkey Meatballs and Linguini

Here is the second recipe of the 5 meals under $50 series.  Not a whole lot to say about this one, just your basic spaghetti and meatballs, except a tiny bit healthier with ground turkey.  I'm trying to stay excited about blogging, especially since I had a lot of fun with the 5 meals under $50, but I'm in a bit of a slump.  I hope you'll stick with me as I try to work through this one!  There actually isn't much time for me to mope since the blogging schedule is JAM packed for the next week: 3 more 5 under $50 posts, a super special post on Sunday for Foodbuzz, and a Secret Recipe Club reveal next Monday.  So let's barrel through this and have as much fun as possible!  So while I pull up my boots, you should go make some meat-a-balls and enjoy some delicious carbs.

Turkey Meatballs with Linguini
Takes 25 minutes
Serves 2

1 tablespoon olive oil
225 grams lean ground turkey
1 small bakery roll
1 teaspoon oregano
2 tablespoons fresh basil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 of a 375 g package of "smart" linguini
1-1/2 cups Marinara sauce (I cheated with a jar, option to make your own sauce)

Rip the roll into pieces and place it in a food processor.  Pulse until the bread turns into crumbs.

Preheat the oven to 400°F.  Prepare a glass baking dish, so you can transfer the meatballs easily once you've formed them.  Drizzle a tablespoon of olive oil in the bottom of the pan and set it aside.

In a bowl, combine the bread crumbs, turkey, egg, basil, oregano, salt and pepper.  Mix the ingredients together.  Roll the mixture into 8-10 small meatballs.  Place the meatballs in the glass baking dish and put the dish in the oven.  Bake the meatballs for 20 minutes at 400°F.

While the meatballs bake, boil salted water and then cook your linguini for about 8 minutes. Drain the pasta.

In a large skillet, heat the Marinara sauce, then add the cooked pasta and meatballs and toss to coat everything with sauce.