I usually try to make one night of the week a slow cooker night.  I look at my week in advance and determine the day that I will have the least amount of time to make dinner (usually Tuesday) and that is the lucky day that gets deemed my slow cooker day.  My slow cooker is a HUGE time saver and it allows me to have a healthy, homemade meal on a night when I otherwise would have no extra time to cook.  These meatballs take very little time to throw together, taste great, and I get to come home from work to an Italian-smelling home.  Divine!  All you do is assemble a very basic meatball recipe, layer the meatballs in the slow cooker, pour jarred spaghetti sauce over them, and cook on low for 8 hours.  You can always choose to make your own sauce (which I do on occasion), but I resort to jarred sauce often because the main reason I make this meal is to save time.  These work great as appetizers, but I usually eat them with my serving size allotment of whole wheat pasta (yes, I am a pasta babe!).  However you choose to enjoy these, I hope you find the same pleasure I do in divulging a tasty meal that requires little time and effort.  (And, if you have leftovers . . . I will be providing a great recipe tomorrow to help you take care of those!)

Slow Cooker Turkey Italian Meatballs
Mimi Original

20 oz (1.3 lb) ground turkey breast 99% lean
1/4 cup whole wheat seasoned breadcrumbs
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
1/4 cup parsley, finely chopped
1 egg
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp kosher salt

1 jar of light marinara sauce (such as Ragu Light)

In a large bowl, combine ground turkey, breadcrumbs, Parmesan cheese, parsley, egg, garlic and salt. Using your (clean) hands, mix all the ingredients well until everything is combined. Form small meatballs, about the size of a ping ping ball (I use my 2 tbsp. cookie scoop).

Carefully layer meatballs in slow cooker.  Carefully pour marinara sauce over meatballs.  Cook on low for 8 hours.  If desired, Serve over whole wheat pasta.

Serves:  5

Nutritional Information (Per Serving = 5 Meatballs + 1/2 cup Sauce)
Calories:  253
Protein:  32.6g
Carb:  19g
Fat:  4.3g (1.8g = Sat)