Baked Ground Chicken Meatballs

Okay, so I love me some Italian food (even though I am ZERO Italian), but I can still appreciate the beautiful,mouthwatering, heaping plate-fulls of pasta & meatballs.  Now that I'm on WW I'm constantly trying to find healthy substitues so that I can still guilt-free enjoy the meals that I love.

So today I decided to be daring and give Baked Ground Chicken Meatballs a shot.(I found the original recipe at "FavoriteFreezerFoods.com" but I made a few tweaks along the way)  A few weeks ago, Kyle and I made a spinach and chicken lasagna, and I experienced my first try with ground chicken, and I loved it!  I figured, why not? Let's try it!  Well, they turned out DE-LISH, better than I thought!  We are going to try them tomorrow night with some Marinara sauce & Whole Grain Pasta, but I also think that these would be a great pig-out night food on a hoagie roll smothered in Marinara & Mozz cheese....Mmmmmm.


What you need:
2 lbs Lean Ground Chicken (I use Perdue)
2 Large Eggs
1/2 Cup of Quick Oats (no flavor)
1/2 Cup of Parmesan Romano Cheese
1/4 Cup of 4C Japanese Panko Bread Crumbs, Seasoned
1 tbsp Garlic Powder*
1 tbsp Onion Powder*
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Black Pepper
1 tsp Parsley
1 tsp Basil
1 tsp Oregano

*The original recipe called for a full onion & 2-3 cloves of garlic.  Kyle hates onions, so I omit those and substitue onion powder. As for the garlic? Let's just say it's lazy Sunday and the mincing and chopping just wasn't happening today, so I substituted garlic powder.

Also - I used all dry ingredients for the extra herbs.  I'm sure fresh would taste just as delicious, if not more delicious!  But I had the dry in my cabinet, so that's what I went for.  And be generous with seasoning.  I rarely measure anymore, and I always like to add a few more dashes of basil, or pepper to give it just a little bit more.

Process:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil to keep the clean-up easy.  Spray with cooking spray.

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl.

Mash and combine them well. Growing up, my mom and dad always used their hands, so I use mine too. If you are opposed to using your hands in the raw meat, then I recommend a wooden spatula or spoon.  I just think everything combines and mixes better that way.

Roll the meat into a golf ball sized balls, and lay on the foil.  It is OK if they are touching for the cooking process.  Bake in the middle of the oven for approx. 20-25 minutes.

Cut a meatball with a fork to check that it is done (no pink).

This recipe should yield approximately 18 Meatballs

WW Friends - Each Meatball is considered a serving, and is 2 Points Plus points. (yay!)

How to Serve? Like I said before, we are going to enjoy our meatballs tomorrow night with Marinara sauce and multi grain pasta.  However, I really think that these could be killer on an Italian hoagie roll smothered in Marinara and Mozz Cheese.

Enjoy! - Jack