guest post thursday! danica p.

hello and welcome to another installment of guest post thursday! i hope you have enjoyed getting to know some of the people i hold nearest and dearest.  today’s guest poster is no stranger~ danica has been my friend since i very first started blogging in april of 2009.  i have been reading her AWESOME blog, danica’s daily, longer than i have read any other food blog. what can i say, it is the best.

now i know it is not fair to play favorites, but danica is definitely one of my favorite people in the WORLD. i am not kidding! i have had the chance to meet her and her sweet husband, jay, in “real life” (at the first annual foodbuzz fesitival) and there really are not two nicer people in this world. danica is genuine, kind, creative, enthusiastic and she just flat out wins at life.

danica has guest posted for me several times~ and she ALWAYS creates a unique recipe that caters to the way i like to eat. how cool is that?? she also is always mailing people fun things and sending cards out left and right. she seriously is the most thoughtful person around!  make sure you head over to her blog.  if you aren’t already a subscriber of danica’s daily~ you will quickly become one!

okay, okay.. i will stop boosting her ego now and hand the mic over to her ;)

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That’s a Spicy Meatball!

Hi Meals & Moves Fans ~ It’s me again ~ Danica from Danica’s Daily and I have another DELCIOUS, HEALTHY, BODY FOR LIFE Friendly Recipe for you all.  I know that Janetha shares my insane interest in LOVING all things SPICY and using ground turkey/chicken so it only made sense to create these……

HEALTHY & SPICY BUFFALO CHICKEN MEATBALLS

INGREDIENTS:

1.25 lbs Extra Lean Ground Turkey Breast or Chicken *

1 carrot, finely chopped

1 celery stalk, finely chopped

1/2 a small onion, finely chopped

1/4 cup parsley, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped or minced

2-3 Tbsps Frank’s Original Hot Sauce plus 1 cup

Sea Salt & Pepper To Taste

1 1/2 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Nonstick Spray

1 green onion, chopped, optional

INSTRUCTIONS:

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees, lined a cookie sheet with foil and nonstick spray.

2.  Chop all your veggies and combine with the turkey, hot sauce, sea salt and black pepper.

3.  Score your meat mixture into four and divide into 16 meatballs.  Place meatballs on the cookie sheet and set aside.

4.  Preheat a large skillet over medium high heat with Olive Oil or Cookie Spray.  Add meatballs and brown on each side, about 3-4 minutes per side.  Remove onto cookie sheet.

5.  Take 1/2 cup of Frank’s Sauce and pour over meatballs.  Toss to Coat and finish baking in the oven until internal temperature reaches 165 degrees, about 15-20 minutes.

6.  Remove from oven, toss to coat, sprinkle with parsley and green onions.

7.  Enjoy as is or serve it up with Low-Fat Ranch, veggies and toothpicks.

Makes 16 meatballs, 4 meatballs per serving.

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION PER 4 MEATBALL SERVING:

* Another option is to always make your own ground turkey/chicken breast by placing 1.25 lbs of breast in your food processor and chopping it up.  It’s super easy and you know EXACTLY what’s in there

I picked Jennie’-O Extra Lean Turkey breast because I couldn’t find a lean chicken breast ~ all of them had 11 g of fat which meant that most likely included some ground dark meat and possibly skin.

99% LEAN!

I wanted to give Janetha a reason to use her new Cuisinart Mini Chopper….I added from the carrots to the garlic.

Pulse to chop in seconds!

My favorite “Secret Sauce” ~ Frank’s Honestly is the BEST Wing Sauce :D

Add your turkey, chopped veggies, 2-3 Tbsp Frank’s sauce, garlic and sea salt plus black pepper.

Combine and divide into 4 squares.

Take each square and make into 4 meatballs, 16 total.

For this step, you can use Nonstick Spray or you can use 1-2 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

You want to light brown all sides of the meatballs ~ 3-4 minutes per side.

Place your brown meatballs onto a foil or parchment paper lined baking sheet and pour 1/2 cup of the Frank’s Sauce to coat.  You may need to add more.

Cover with foil and bake for 15-20 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees. Do NOT over cook or they will get super dry.

Remove from oven and toss with additional Frank’s Sauce to taste.

Sprinkle with parsley and green onions and Enjoy!

I served mine up with veggies and a healthy Homemade Low Fat Ranch.  You can save on calories by using half mayo & half greek yogurt.  It’s super easy to make your own and it tastes a million times better than bottled!

ENJOY!  Thanks again Janetha for letting me guest post and to all of you for playing along :)

Oh wait….I need a Q for you all!

1.  What’s your FAVORITE HOT SAUCE?

2.  If you could pick any appetizer to have made over into a healthy one, what would it be?

Ready, set, goooooooo……..

xo. janetha b. & danica p.

p.s.! everyone check out danica’s post regarding making a pledge for your health! next week is women’s health week and she is offering up two $20 whole foods gift cards as an incentive to make the pledge!!