Baked Mozzarella Stuffed Turkey Meatballs

There are hundreds of ways you can make meatballs. I have a few different recipes already on my blog that pertain to meatballs. This is a different spin on how you can make them. These are really good by themselves but they are also really good if you put them over some whole wheat pasta or meatball subs. I serve them plain with some healthy side dishes since the meatballs are a little sinful. :)

Baked Mozzarella Stuffed Turkey Meatballs
Serves 4
Adapted from: http://bakeitafterall.blogspot.com/2009/04/spaghetti-and-mozzarella-stuffed-turkey.html

Ingredients:
-1 pound ground turkey breast or 1 pound lean hamburger meat
-1/4 cup italian style breadcrumbs or plain if that is all you have
-2 teaspoons minced garlic
-1/4 cup grated light parmesan cheese
-1 egg OR 1/4 cup eggbeaters OR 2 large egg whites
-2 teaspoons dried parsley or 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
-pepper and salt for seasoning purposes
-1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
-3 tablespoons pasta sauce
-1 jar pasta sauce or your own homemade pasta sauce
-4 ounces fresh mozzarella cheese -separated into 8-10 small pieces/cubes
-nonstick cooking spray

Directions:
-Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
-On a baking sheet, cover the sheet with foil and spray with nonstick cooking spray.
-In a large bowl, combine ground turkey breast, breadcrumbs, garlic, parmesan cheese, eggs, parsley, salt and pepper, oregano, and 3 tablespoons pasta sauce. Mix until the contents are blended together.
-Take some of the meat mixture and make a small meatball
-Repeat this process until you have around 16 smaller meatballs
-In the center of half the small meatballs, add a piece of the mozzarella cheese cube.
-Take the other meatballs that don't have mozzarella cheese on them and cover the meatballs that do, to create covered stuffed meatballs.
-Place on a baking sheet and bake 20 minutes or until the meat is cooked to the correct temperature.
-While meatballs are baking, heat up your pasta sauce in a sauce pan.
-Add the meatballs to the sauce once they are done in the oven
-Feel free to eat them on their own or add them to pasta or whatever you decide to do with yummy, cheese-filled, meatballs!

Enjoy! :)

*Ground turkey breast makes these meatballs much healthier but a lean ground beef or lean ground sirloin would be perfect also.