Leading-edge Veggie Tots

SERVINGS:

4

COOK TIME:

30 min

PREP TIME:

15 min

DIFFICULTY:

easy

 Ingredients:

*make this gluten free by substituting bread crumbs with ground oatmeal or substituting the meatballs with pulled chicken using a slow cooker or pulled chicken using an Instant Pot

• 350 grams ground chicken (or make this vegetarian by using plant-based ground)
• 1 egg
• ½ cup (panko) bread crumbs
• ½ Tbsp. olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• ½ large onion, chopped
• 1 cup mushrooms, sliced
• 1 large tomato, chopped
• 1 jalapeno, sliced (partial or all seeds removed)
• 1-2 red chilies, chopped up (omit if you don't want it spicy)
• 2 liters no added salt or low sodium chicken broth
• 1 cups water
• 1 large zucchini, chopped or spiralized

*increase the calories of this by adding in rotini pasta noodles or a bean based noodle like chickpeas or black beans.

Instructions:

If meal prepping I recommend pre-cooking the meatballs and chopping up all the vegetables. Store the vegetables in a meal prep container with different compartments or individual containers. This is a great meal to prep in advance and cook just before eating it as it'll only take about 15 minutes once the meatballs are cooked and veggies prepared.

1. Preheat your oven to 400 F and cover a baking tray with foil.
2. In a small bowl mix together the ground chicken, egg and bread crumbs with clean hands. You can season with salt, pepper, garlic powder and chili flakes if desired.
3. Roll into 22-24 small meatball and bake for 25-30 minutes.
4. While the meatballs are cooking, chop up all your veggies.
5. Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onions and garlic and cook for 2 minutes until fragrant.
6. Add in mushrooms and let those cook for a minute.
7. Next, add in the tomatoes, jalapeno and chilies. If you chopped zucchini add it in now. If you spiralized it, wait till the end. Mix everything together and cook for 2 minutes.
8. Pour in the chicken broth and water. Increase the heat to high and put the lid on the pot.
9. After the soup starts to boil, add in the zoodles and cook until tender. Turn off your soup.
10. When the meatballs are done you can add them to the soup or add them to each bowl of soup individually.

Nutrition information per serving:

Fat 4 grams

Carbs 15 grams

Protein 26 grams