Recipe:  Cheesy Chicken Meatballs & Avocado Pesto Pasta

Found on: momwsweeklyrecipe.com

This was an interesting week as I had been planning to try the avocado pesto pasta for awhile and the chicken meatballs were a last minute “what would work with it” afterthought.  It turns out the pasta was just so-so and the meatballs were out of this world!  You do not taste cream cheese but you get a super moist delicious meatball, not at all dry as ground poultry can be.

Honestly, many of my family members liked the avocado pesto pasta too, it just did not wow me, but we could’ve eaten another batch of the chicken meatballs no problem!  The pasta just had A LOT of avocado flavor, you really have to like it to enjoy the pasta.

RECIPE:

Chicken Meatballs

1 lb. ground chicken

1 Egg

1/4 Cup Light Cream Cheese (I used a garlic herb for flavor)

1/4 Cup grated parmesan or a parmesan/white cheddar blend

1 TBSP breadcrumbs or crushed saltines or butter round crackers

1 tsp. crushed red pepper

1TBSP Italian seasoning

1 TBSP garlic power

1 1/2 TBSP Olive Oil

1 tsp salt

1 tsp black pepper

Preheat oven to 450 degrees, line a baking sheet with aluminum foil sprayed with cooking spray.

Combine the chicken, egg, cream cheese, parmesan cheese or blend, bread crumbs, red pepper flakes, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, olive oil, salt and pepper in a mixing bowl.  Use an ice cream scoop (or rounded spoon) to drop meatballs onto the pan.  This mixture should create 14-16 good sized meatballs.  I choose to add some pepper to the tops before cooking.

Bake in the oven for 18-20 minutes.  For those who prefer to use a thermometer center temperature should be 165 or more degrees F.

Avocado Pesto Pasta

1 large bunch of fresh basil (about 1 leafy cup)

2 large ripe avocados

1/2 cup Walnuts

1 1/2 TBSP Hemp Seeds (optional)

2 TBSP lemon juice

3 Garlic cloves or 2 TBSP jarred minced garlic

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/2 cup olive oil

1/2 tsp black pepper

Remove basil leaves from the stems and put them in the food processor with the avocados, walnuts, seeds, lemon juice, garlic and salt.  Once it is finely chopped, add the oil and create a thick paste.  Season as desired with the black pepper.

Toss with pasta.

Though I found the flavor a bit much for pasta, I would make and serve this again as a nice topping for bruschetta.