I’m a little new to this whole posting-recipes thing, and to be honest, I don’t usually actually use a recipe…which makes that even more difficult. I also tend to eat a lot of the same foods often because 1) I’m on a budget, and 2) it’s just me, so I normally meal prep and batch cook on Sunday for the week, and just whip up quick breakfasts for the (very early) mornings and eat snacky things in the evenings, or leftovers.

So this isn’t really a recipe. Maybe a suggestion?  An idea? Whatever you want to call it, spaghetti is one of my favorite foods, and it’s pretty frugal to make. Plus, it’s easy to cook enough for the week, so it wins for easiness, too.

For this week, I made a huge batch of turkey meatballs and I jazzed up some jarred spaghetti sauce.

If you’re interested, here’s what I did:

I used two of Aldi’s 1-lb. packages of lean ground turkey, and I mixed it with some random seasonings:  a dash of Worcestershire sauce, some sriracha mustard, garlic powder, pepper, and these two spices:

I get the Badia seasoning at Big Lots, but I’ve found it at WalMart in the Hispanic section. It’s amazing on scrambled eggs, just so you know. The Serendipity is a local product with onion garlic, spices, paprika, and other stuff in it. My family has been using it for as long as I can remember. It’s fantastic on vegetables:  one of my favorite things in the summer is fresh, vine-ripe tomatoes and avocados sliced with this sprinkled on top. Holy cow, it’s good! So, yes, just add some of this in the turkey mixture.

Then I formed it into balls that were probably around 2 tablespoons each. (I weighed several of them, and they were about 1.3 oz each). I put them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper at 325 for about 30 minutes.

While they were cooking, I sauteed onion and garlic until soft, then added two cans of mushrooms (Don’t judge, I had them in the pantry, so I used them. Plus, they have Vitamin D and I tend to run low on that. Yes, I would have preferred fresh. This is a frugal meal, remember?). I added two jars of Aldi’s organic marinara sauce, and let it simmer for a while. This stuff is really tasty—for plain, store-bought sauce (or red gravy as my friend from up North calls it)—and the nutritional stats are pretty amazing, too.

While that was simmering, and the meatballs were cooking, I made zoodles.

When everything was finished, I assembled it, completely pleased with my healthy, less-than-300-calorie meal. (With Parmesan on top, which, of course, eliminates the Paleo aspect of this meal, but you can do without it. Probably.)

Again, I hate to call this a recipe. Just a tasty-meal how-to.