Tonights dinner was a take on Swedish meatballs. I love anything that can be served with a  gravy and aside from that it’s also an economical meal. We served it without any vegetables, but it was pretty filling because of the noodles. We cook mostly with Honeysuckle White ground turkey because it is a more affordable alternative for us to cook with. We normally purchase a 1 pound roll of the 93/7 Honeysuckle White Turkey for $1.97 at Wal-Mart, and most of the time I have a coupon for it as well. I wanted to try something new, and meatballs sounded fun.

Since I had never attempted Swedish meatballs I wanted to try and remain true to what would be in them and went on a search of the internet. I actually stuck with The Food Network site which was the first site I came across and found an Alton Brown recipe that started me on the right path. I used the recipe as a guide and cooked with what I had on hand, changing a few things.

The recipe called for ground chuck and pork, but I substituted and used turkey instead. The ground turkey, unlike beef and pork,  is somewhat sticky to work with so forming the meatballs does require some patience. Because of the texture of the turkey I was not able to attain the perfect looking meatball, but it cooked well all the same. The great thing about cooking is that some things can be changed without completely changing the integrity of the dish. I really didn’t know how to cook well until I met my husband. I generally followed a recipe to the letter afraid that I would make some fatal mistake and ruin the entire meal. Every new recipe that I try allows me to branch out a little more and be creative with what I cook.

Here are the ingredients I used, and the recipe follows:

1/2 bread crumbs (.20)

1/4 cup milk (.10)

3 tablespoons butter (.30)

1/2 cup finely chopped onion (.20)

2 teaspoons salt (.20)

1 lb Honeysuckle White Ground Turkey (1.97)

2 medium eggs (.30)

1/2 teaspoon black pepper (.05)

1/4 teaspoon allspice (.10)

2 tbsp flour (.10)

1 can (14oz) beef broth (.50)

6oz egg noodles (.95)

TOTAL: $4.97

Start by sauteing onions in one tablespoon of the butter with 1/2 teaspoon of salt. In a separate bowl combine turkey, eggs, 1/2 teaspoon salt, black pepper, allspice, bread crumbs, and milk. After onions are sauteed, remove them from saute pan and combine them with the turkey mixture, leaving the butter in the pan to saute the meatballs.

Add last two tablespoons of butter to saute pan and melt to brown meatballs. Form 1 ounce (2 tablespoons) meatballs from turkey mixture and brown on all sides in melted butter. Remove from pan and set aside once cooked.

Once all the meatballs are cooked and set aside, add flour to pan to start gravy. Cook 1-2 minutes until flour is browned. Add the beef broth slowly and whisk into flour mixture to complete gravy. Continue cooking until gravy is the desired consistency. Add meatballs back to gravy and simmer 5-10 minutes.

Bring a pot of water to boil for the egg noodles with 1 teaspoon of salt. Cook until egg noodles are al dente. Ladle meatballs and gravy mixture over noodles.