Italian Meatball Sliders with Spinach and Mozzarella Salad

We made these Italian Meatball Sliders last week, also. The recipe was from the March 2012 edition of Cooking Light, page 70.

We made them into regular size burgers instead of sliders. We doubled the recipe (mainly because the amounts of meat we had worked out more evenly that way) and froze 6 of them for later. We made a lot of changes to this recipe and the salad that went along with it (see below).

We omitted:
- the basil
- the toasting of the Panko

We substituted:
- regular onion for shallots
- (about a tablespoon?) dried parsley for fresh
- 3/4 pound ground turkey (we doubled it) for the pork
- 5 chicken and pork sausages (we doubled it) for the turkey sausages
- Sandwich Thins instead of buns

We added:
- mozzarella to the burger (using an ounce a piece between burger and salad)

Points+ =  12 for burger and salad

(sandwich thin- 3 pts, 1 oz mozzarella- 2 pts, burger- 6 pts, 1 tsp olive oil [dressing marinade]- 1 pt)

Burger Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil, divided

3 garlic cloves, minced

3 shallots, finely diced

1/3 cup part-skim ricotta cheese

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

1/4 cup panko (Japanese breadcrumbs), toasted

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper

1/8 teaspoon salt

8 ounces lean ground pork

2 (4-ounce) links turkey Italian sausage, casings removed

1 large egg

1 1/2 cups lower-sodium marinara sauce

12 slider buns, toasted

12 basil leaves

Preparation

1. Heat 1 teaspoon oil in a large skillet over medium heat; swirl to coat. Add garlic and shallots to pan; sauté 3 minutes or until shallots are softened, stirring frequently. Combine shallot mixture, ricotta, and next 8 ingredients (through egg) in a medium bowl. Shape mixture into 12 (1-inch) meatballs; flatten each meatball slightly.
2. Return pan to medium-high heat. Add remaining 2 teaspoons oil to pan. Add meatballs to pan; cook 6 minutes, turning once. Add marinara sauce; bring to a boil, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 8 minutes or until meatballs are done. Top bottom half of each bun with 1 1/2 tablespoons sauce, 1 meatball, 1 basil leaf, and top half of bun.

Salad

Again we changed A LOT! We used sweet peppers and white onion and marinated them in the dressing from the orange-avocado salad that we made previously (olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper, substituting a little apple cider vinegar for the orange juice). We also added romaine to the spinach.

Original Recipe

Combine 1 cup julienne-cut red bell pepper, 1 cup sliced red onion, 2 tablespoons olive oil, and 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar in a large bowl; let stand 15 minutes. Add 6 cups baby spinach, ¼ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon black pepper. Toss. Top with 6 tablespoons finely chopped fresh mozzarella. CALORIES 98; FAT 7.3g (sat 2.3g); SODIUM 167mg