If you follow my recipes, you know that I like to use the technique of substituting spices for the flavor of fats. Spicy food really excites your taste buds and unlocks the flavors in lower fat meats like ground turkey or chicken. This recipe is a pretty flexible recipe to keep handy. I chose to make meatballs. It can easily be adapted into a southwestern meatloaf. There isn’t much fat in this recipe. The Simple Southwestern Sauce that I serve these in gives them a very moist and tasty sauce to enhance the flavor. If your diet allows you to have some rice, you might also like my Simple Southwestern Rice. It is a low carb and diet friendly side dish that works well with this recipe.

Spicy Southwestern Turkey Meatballs 

1 pound ground turkey breast
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon pickled jalapeno slices
3/4 cup unseasoned bread crumbs
1/2 cup Egg Beaters (or 2 egg whites)
1/2 cup skim milk
1/2 cup finely chopped cilantro
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Combine all of the ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Mix until well blended. 

Spray a jelly roll pan or large cookie sheet with cooking spray. Cover with parchment paper for easy clean-up. Lightly spray the top of the parchment paper.

Form the meat mixture into 1 1/4" meatballs. You will have approximately 30 meatballs. Bake for 10 minutes. Turn meatballs. Bake for another 10 minutes. Serve with Simple Southwestern Sauce (recipe follows), cheddar cheese and sour cream. Excellent served over pasta.

Simple Southwestern Sauce

Mix together the following and heat in a microwave until hot:

1 cup medium chunky salsa (any variety, black bean and corn salsa is delicious.
1 cup of your favorite marina sauce
1/4 cup of finely chopped cilantro

Simple Southwestern Rice

Prepare a microwave Minute Brown Rice according to directions. While the rice is cooking, drain and rinse a can of black beans.

In a medium microwave safe bowl, combine 1 cup of salsa, drained and rinsed black bens and the cooked brown rice. Stir. Microwave 4-5 minutes until heated through. Stir in 1/4 cup chopped cilantro. Serve.