Turkey Zucchini Meatballs

I like to freeze these uncooked, because they cook up pretty quickly.  It's a great way to use zucchini too.  I double this and use my large pampered chef cookie scoop, getting about 34 to 35 meatballs.

Turkey Zucchini Meatballs
1 lb. ground turkey, organic
1 cup shredded zucchini*
1 tsp. homemade Italian seasoning
1/2 tsp. homemade garlic powder
1/2 tsp. homemade onion powder
1/4 tsp. organic (or homemade) crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper

*if using thawed, frozen shredded zucchini, squeeze out liquid before adding.

Shape into balls and freeze or cook.  To freeze, I put them on a try and freeze, then remove and freeze in an airtight freezer container or freezer bag.

To Bake (thawed):
Preheat oven to 400°F.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or use a pampered chef stoneware bar pan.  Bake 16-18 minutes, or until done.

To Bake Frozen:
Bake 20-25 minutes or until done.

I like to bake the meatballs about an hour to an hour and a half, prior to dinner.  Place them in a crock pot on low and top with a sauce.

Sauces we love:
Homemade marinara sauce
Hot pepper mustard sauce
Home canned BBQ sauce
Mixing home canned ketchup with home canned grape jelly

We've also considered using our habanero/apricot jelly in place of grape, as well as our hot pepper jelly.  It all depends on what you like.  It make a super easy meal.

These sauces are terrific with beef/pork meatballs as well.

Gifted ~ Homemade Crushed Red Pepper Flakes ~ Hot Banana Pepper Relish ~ Dehydrated Tabasco Peppers

It was a day to label all those jars and find a place to store them for winter.  In doing so, I found a pint of last years green tomato salsa.  I cooked a small amount of corn off the cob, and black beans, mixed those in with a bit of our hot salsa and the green tomato salsa and boom - a cold meal was made.  If you call it a meal.  It was a back up for the two coming home from a very hot day.

Latest berry picking.  Looks like a snack vs. freezing it.  Or into a smoothie.

Hubby brought home a loot of peppers, given to him from a co-worker.

I was tickled pink to get them too.  I was so, so happy to receive the generous gifts - hot banana, chili, jalapeno, and tabasco peppers.  And one single habanero.

Here's what I made:

Fire powder.

Fire powder is a mix of hot peppers that we simply use to flavor just about anything.  The habanero went into the fire powder, along with a few of every hot pepper.

To make them, simply slice hot peppers, place them with seeds on parchment paper lined dehydrator trays.  Dehydrate per your unit's instructions.

Allow to cool.  I like to grind the peppers first, then toss in the loose seeds (or grind up everything) to have whole seeds in the mix.  Store in an air tight container.  Your dehydrator instruction book may also instructions for this, as well as many dehydrator books available today.

I use the same process of dehydrating and grinding, to make crushed red pepper flakes with the chili peppers.


Dehydrated the tabasco peppers, and ground them into a powder.  I can add water to make tabasco "sauce" or simply use it as is.  No canning or freezing required.

I canned hot banana pepper relish, using the hot banana peppers, some of the jalapenos, and our home grown green bell peppers.