Asian Turkey Meatballs for Bunheads and Go USA!

Oh Oh Oh Olympics.  I watched the opening ceremonies Friday night.  Well, I fell asleep by the parade of nation's M's. Mauritius, I believe it was.  Missed the U.S. completely.  That was a hell of a long show.  But since then, and as happens every four years, I've become very involved in random sports such as skeet shooting, water polo (go Betsy Armstrong from Ann Arbor), cycling and tennis.  Plus swimming and gymnastics, of course.  And synchronized diving.  What an amazing random sport is synchronized diving.  Also table tennis.  Not ping pong by a long shot.  Those kids are getting a workout.  I'm loving it all.

Is there any chance that loud flip-flop walking may become an Olympic sport?  If so, I feel pretty confident about some medalists in our home.  Good GOD they clomp along.  I've held off getting them flip-flops until this year because I feared they'd trip and fall, much like their mother.  They don't fall, but they sound like a pack of elephants.  My next purchase will be ballet slippers x2.

Speaking of ballet (there's a new sentence lead for me), the boys caught a promo for a show called "Bunheads" on ABC Family and they laughed hysterically.  Like it was so close to butthead but somehow perfectly acceptable.  So now they're calling each other 'bunhead.'  But it seems to come out at perfect moments, like we'll be playing tennis in the driveway and one will launch a ball into the trees.  The response as of late has been, "Nice one, ya bunhead."  It is so impossibly hard not to laugh.  And then I have to reprimand with, "Please don't call your brother a bunhead," which just makes me laugh more.  Oh my God, they're going to be derelicts because of me.

Thankfully, their impossibly loud flip-flop clomping, bunhead-calling leads them to the dinner table with this family-friendly hit (from skinnytaste.com):

Asian Turkey Meatballs with Carrot Rice and Roasted Broccoli


1/4 cup panko crumbs
1-1/4 lbs 93% lean ground turkey
1 egg
1 tbsp ginger, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
3 scallions, chopped
1 tbsp low sodium soy sauce
2 tsp sesame oil


Dipping Sauce
4 tbsp low sodium soy sauce
2 tsp sesame oil
2 tbsp fresh lime juice
2 tbsp water
1 tbsp chopped fresh scallion

 All Aboard.  Preheat oven to 500 degrees.

 Ready to bake

Add 1/2 head of broccoli on a separate baking sheet.  Coat broccoli with a mixture of garlic, hot pepper flakes and olive oil.  

Add meatballs and broccoli to the oven, cook for approximately 15 minutes. The broccoli roasts in the exact time the meatballs take to cook.  Strategery.  

 Carrot Rice with Cilantro

 Ready to serve

Plated

Rice
Cook according to directions one cup of long-grain rice with two cups water. When done, add one cup shredded carrots about a tablespoon of chopped cilantro.  Gets a little more veg into the meal and it looks pretty.  Stir to incorporate.  If you're feeling crazy, add 1-2 teaspoons of rice vinegar. Adds a little zing.  In my awful New York accent: "and who doesn't love a little more zingggg?"

Add the Dipping Sauce (or, Pour Over the Meatballs and Rice Sauce) and serve it up.

Even the Bunheads will approve of this one.  Go U.S.A.!