Cooking with The Perfect Pantry: Turkey Cranberry Meatballs

by The Meal Makeover Moms on December 11th, 2009

Last year in Boston, we attended an all-day blogging conference sponsored by BlogHer.  We met dozens of amazing bloggers including Susan from Marketing Roadmaps, Kalyn from Kalyn’s Kitchen, Maris from In Good Taste, and Lydia from The Perfect Pantry. Bloggers, by nature, are a warm, friendly and generous group, so when Lydia invited us down to her home in Rhode Island to cook a meal together, we jumped at the opportunity. Well, maybe “jump” is a bit of an over statement — it took us 12 months before we finally made the 2-hour trek!

The Perfect Pantry is a really cool food blog. Lydia writes about and photographs the actual things she keeps in her pantry, and each of her blog posts includes a recipe using the featured ingredient. She also provides links to interesting recipes on other food blogs.

The minute we arrived at Lydia’s home, we fell in love with her kitchen. In fact, we joked that not only does she have the “perfect” pantry, she also has the “perfect” kitchen!  Her kitchen is a cook’s dream. It’s stocked with lots of gadgets and tools, plenty of counter space, and enough elbow room to accommodate a crowd … which comes in handy when she conducts cooking classes.

During our visit, the three of us cooked asparagus soup and Turkey Cranberry Meatballs (the recipe is below), and we ate some of Lydia’s Fresh Apple Cake for dessert.  The following day we made the meatball recipe again for our families, and we added a few tweaks to accommodate our kids’ taste buds. As you can see from this picture, Janice’s daughter, Leah, and her friend Julianne were all smiles when they tried the new recipe. Leah even suggested we use golden raisins next time.

Turkey Cranberry Meatballs

Makes 5 Servings (20 meatballs)
Adapted from The Perfect Pantry

  • 1/4 cup dried cranberries or golden raisins
  • 1 pound lean ground turkey
  • 1 large egg, beaten
  • 1/2 cup plain bread crumbs
  • 1/3 cup plain 0% fat Greek yogurt
  • 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 1/8 teaspoon dried thyme

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.

2. Place cranberries in a glass measuring cup, and fill with water to the 1-cup mark. Microwave on high for 1 minute. Set aside.

3. In a large mixing bowl, combine turkey, egg, bread crumbs, yogurt, basil, salt, pepper, and thyme. Drain the cranberries, and add them to the turkey. With your hands, mix just until the ingredients are combined; do not overmix.

4. Using a medium cookie scoop with a release (we used a 1 ½ tablespoon scoop which made 1 ¾-inch balls), form the meatballs and place on a rimmed baking sheet lined with a Silpat (silicone mat) or parchment paper (we didn’t use any liner and it worked just fine).

5. Bake for 15 minutes. Serve hot or at room temperature.

Note: we enjoyed these meatballs over a salad of greens dressed with a balsamic vinaigrette.  Kids may prefer to eat them alongside rice or egg noodles and a veggie.

Nutrition Information per Serving:  220 calories, 9g fat (2.5g saturated), 410mg sodium, 13g carbohydrate, 1g fiber, 20g protein, 10% iron

Print Recipe

Besides her blog, Lydia is also the founder of Drop in & Decorate, a nonprofit organization that supports cookies-for-donation events around the country.  Here’s how it works: The host or hostess bakes cookies and invites friends, family members, neighbors, etc to stop by and help decorate. The cookies are then donated to either a local food pantry, emergency shelter, senior center, lunch program, or other community agency. Some hosts sell their cookies at bake sales and donate the proceeds to a community agency.  Anyone can get involved, so check out the Drop In & Decorate website for more information.

On a final note, we’d like to thank Lydia for having us over for lunch. It was a lovely day and a nice change of scenery from The Meal Makeover Moms’ kitchen (plus, now that we think about it, we didn’t have to wash any dishes)!

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5 Comments | Filed Under CulinaryAdventures, Dinner, Poultry 

5 Responses to “Cooking with The Perfect Pantry: Turkey Cranberry Meatballs”

  1. Lydia (The Perfect Pantry) on December 11th, 2009

    The best things really are worth waiting for — we waited a year to have such a perfect day of cooking together, and everything worked out. Great weather, great time of year to make something warm and yummy, great company. Thanks to Liz and Janice for venturing south to Rhode Island to spend time in my kitchen.

  2. Kalynskitchen on December 12th, 2009

    I knew you would just fall in love with Lydia’s kitchen! What cook wouldn’t love to live there? I just wish I lived there so I could have come over too!

  3. Meal Makeover Mom Janice on December 12th, 2009

    Hey, Kalyn, we wish you could have joined us. It really was a perfect day. Next time you are in the Boston area maybe?!

  4. maris on December 21st, 2009

    Sounds like such a great day! I’ve been to both of your kitchens (well, Janice’s and Lydia’s!) so I know how much fun it is cooking with all of you.

  5. The Meal Makeover Moms on December 31st, 2009

    Maris, you are welcome back any time to cook with us and to be a guest on our podcast. We had a blast when you visited last time!

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