Weight and Budget Friendly Spaghetti and Meatballs
So, most of you know that I have resolved to lose weight in 2011. Call it a plan, call it a goal, call it whatever you like…2011 will see much less of me as the year comes to a close! I will be blogging about losing weight on my Weight Watchers blog, so I won’t be talking much about my progress here on Family Friendly Frugality. That said, I have a duel goal of posting more recipes on Family Friendly Frugality and eating well…so you’ll see a lot more healthy frugal recipes popping up over here!
The internet is a great source of inspiration to me in the kitchen. To be honest, although I have several cookbooks…I often refer to the internet first. While searching for Weight Watchers recipes, I found the site Skinny Taste and was delighted to see that Gina has a category specifically for meals under $10. Of course, much like brick and mortar stores (where I immediately make a beeline for the clearance rack!) that’s the first place I checked out!
Her pictures are A-Mazing…so I needed to try out some of her recipes to be sure it wasn’t some fancy shmancy camera trickery making all of her food look so tasty. Yum, nope…the food is good y’all!
My first attempt at a Skinny Taste recipe were these Skinny Italian Spinach Meatballs. I, of course, didn’t make them exactly according to the recipe (because honestly…who does that?), but they were a total hit served with garlic bread and some low point spaghetti! The only changes I made were slight. I couldn’t find the Tutorosso tomatoes so I just used generic canned crushed tomatoes. I also didn’t buy Weight Watchers bread because we use Nature’s Own Light Bread (sidenote: Does anyone have a healthy low cal bread machine sandwich bread recipe?).
For the original recipe, be sure to head over to Gina’s Skinny Taste blog, but here’s my take (in pictures) on this yummy low Weight Watchers AND Budget Friendly recipe!
Budget Friendly/Weight Friendly Spaghetti & Meatballs
Mmm, nothing like raw meat and spinach. Seriously these are really awesome meatballs though!
I didn't count how many meatballs this made. All I know is that it served my whole family one dinner and one lunch.
The sauce, although surprisingly simple, was very tasty and would probably be good with anything that required spaghetti sauce.
My meatballs started to brown too much in the pan, so I let them finish cooking in the sauce
I let the meatballs cook away in the sauce while I cooked the pasta
Okay, the garlic bread was kind of high points...but I had the points for it and it was so yummy!
It was a fabulous dinner, and even my non-spinach loving husband enjoyed it. He did request that next time I chop up the spinach a bit more so it’s not quite so “stringy”. The taste was excellent and my kitchen smelled better than any Italian restaurant I’ve ever walked into!
For the full ingredient list, directions and nutritional information head on over to Gina’s Skinny Recipes.
Ive never liked the texture of meatballs but with the spinach I might be able to do it. Im excited to try this because im tired of regular spaghetti…i ty will eat the spinach this way too. Thanks Heather!!!
I think you’ll like it! The cheese and bread instead of breadcrumbs seem to make a pretty big difference.
Heather, I love this post — you’re combining two of my favorite things: frugal meals and healthy(healthier?) meals! I’ve been using one very similar to this for a while now (modified from a Big Oven recipe), also using spinach. (I’ve found there’s very few dishes that couldn’t benefit from a good dose of spinach.) My recipe calls for baking the meatballs for about 20 minutes, then simmering in whatever sauce you choose (bbq, pasta, etc.)
I made them for Christmas Eve, and I had NONE to take home!
I hope your healthy quest continues, not just for 2011 — best of luck, and keep sharing these recipes. (I’ve been meaning to post more myself…) :o)
Yeah, I might try baking the meatballs next time. I figured a bit of healthy oil was good though, plus I like my meatballs to have a slight crust.
Spinach and butternut squash are the easiest ingredients to be sneaky with, LOL
That looks so good! I bet I could sneak spinach into J and A with those.
Be sure to chop up the spinach a bit more than I did. I bet your family will love it though!
I LOVE Gina’s recipe’s! I am also doing WW and have tried several of her recipes, and have loved them all!
H Heather! I’m on your side with the weight loss goal for 2011. Cheers to you for making the commitment. I’m Italian and love to cook and sadly, it sorta sticks to my bod! I came over to your site from “chubby cheeks thinks’ who had you listed for a blog hop. My hop takes place every thursday through saturday focusing on how we are freshening up, cleaning up, and or purifying our lives, including weight loss! I’m following you now so I can continue to be inspired by your progress and hope you stop by and add this spaghetti recipe post and possibly follow back if you like. Best wishes, Roz over at la bella vita!
I just added your blog site to my blogroll, I pray you would give some thought to doing the same.
I have also JUST started to exercise every night and I am trying not to go out to eat. Is there somewhere on FB that we can share tips recipes, free workout dvd’s, etc?
Hi Heather,
We are in a kind of a very tight budget right now, and it’s really hard for me to buy ground meat, even chicken tenders that used to be very inexpensive were last week at Kroger’s like 2.99 / lb or something like that. Since you live in Houston, as I do, I would really appreciate if you could share where do you go for meat. We usually go to Kroger’s, sometimes to Walmart, but it seems that beef and chicken have been getting more and more expensive.
Thank you for your advice in advance. I love your blog!