1 pound ground turkey - lean
1 pound lean ground beef
1 pound ground pork
3 cups chopped onion
1 cup cornflake crumbs
5 lg eggs
3 egg whites (to eliminate a little cholesterol and calories!)
3 cans of Pillsbury (or off-brand, but the calories may not match up) thin pizza crust from the refrigerated section.
1 46oz can of tomato juice
1 tub of ricotta
24 thin slices of provalone - I used Sargento
1 8oz bag of shredded mozzarella
salt - to taste

Give yourself time the first time you try it - there are a lot of steps.

i made up this recipe because I had made a big batch of meatball to freeze and cook in smaller batches only to find out that I had SIGNIFICANTLY over-salted them! I thought, what can I do to drown out the salt? Wrap it in bread! I loved the outcome and have been tweaking it ever since. Have fun with it!

Mix all ground meats, salt, cornflake crumbs, onions, eggs and egg whites in a large bowl. Mix thoroughly - I do this by (gloved) hand. Make the meatballs slightly smaller than a tennis ball - should yield about 24. Place formed meatballs about an inch and a half apart in a glass baking dish that is deeper than the meatballs are tall. You will need to use more than one baking dish - perhaps 3 unless you half the recipe. Using your fingertip, go back through and push a large hole in the top of each meatball. This hole will be used to hold your ricotta and mozzarella, so make it as large as you like, or as small as you'd like. I like to put in at least a tablespoon of ricotta, myself :) Once finished, pour the tomato juice over the meatballs taking care to fill the little holes you just make with the juice. Cover and bake for 50-60 minutes.

While that's baking, you can prepare your dough. Open the cans of pizza crust and spread the dough out on a clean surface - or a cookie sheet as you will be using that to bake them. Cut the dough into 9 equal parts - big enough to cover your meatballs. If you need to roll the dough out a little to make it large enough to cover your meatballs, assess this from the beginning.

When your meatballs are done cooking, carefully place one on each of the dough sections you've cut. Scoop out any fat buildup filling the holes in the tops to make room for your cheeses.

In whichever order you prefer, add the ricotta and mozzarella to each meatball. Pour a teaspoon or so of the leftover juice from the pan over the top. Place the slice of provolone over the top of the meatball.

Now you're ready to seal up the meatballs in the dough pouch. I pulled the corners over diagonally to make a 'dumpling' look, but you can pull it together any way you like. Don't worry if a little pokes out, it will still cook up nicely and you won't notice it much.

In the end, I rub a little water on the top of each puff and sprinkle some Italian seasoning over them.

Bake the puffs an additional 15 minutes, or until the dough reaches your preferred level of browning.

Serving Size: Makes 24 meatball puffs

Number of Servings: 24

Recipe submitted by SparkPeople user EGARRABRANT.

 

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