Spaghetti Alternative

My kids were beyond excited for spaghetti and meatballs last night until that is they saw it wasn't the usual spaghetti that I make. First of all... I never make meatballs for our spaghetti and secondly these meatballs weren't beef!!! As my husband and I go through our clean eating lifestyle change our kids aren't always as eager to try new recipes but I will give them credit... they did all eat at least one "vegetarian meatball" (that's what they called it because it was made from chicken and turkey instead of beef.) The recipe was very fast, easy, and great for week nights. I served it with regular noddles for the kids and my husband and I had ours served over steamed spaghetti squash (harder than you would think to cook.) I was also able to make the meatballs the night before in my mini muffin tins so I'll I had to do is throw them in the over when I got home from work! Easy peasy... on to the recipe!

This comes from Skinnymom.com (love it!) and I only made a few minor changes. Very yummy and we will be making this again in my house for sure...I think I'll just crumble up some of the meatballs and hide them in the sauce so the kids won't be so picky next time.

http://www.skinnymom.com/recipe-chicken-parmesan-meatloaf-muffins/

Ingredients:
1 pound lean ground chicken breasts
1 egg
½ cup Italian style bread crumbs (use gluten free panko)
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 red bell pepper, diced
½ onion, diced
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
¾ cup reduced-fat grated Parmesan cheese
¾ cup marinara sauce
¾ cup reduced-fat shredded mozzarella cheese
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh basil

Instructions: Preheat the oven to 350° F and spray a 12-count muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray, and set aside.

1. In a large mixing bowl, with clean hands combine the chicken, egg, bread crumbs, garlic, red bell pepper, onion, Italian seasoning, and grated Parmesan cheese.
2. Evenly spoon about ¼ cup of the meatloaf mixture into each muffin tin.
3. Spoon 1 tablespoon of the marinara sauce on each meatloaf muffin and bake uncovered for 20 minutes, or until the chicken is done.
4. Remove from the oven, top each meatloaf muffin with 1 tablespoon of mozzarella cheese and bake for an additional 3-5 minutes, or until the cheese is melted.
5. Allow the meatloaf muffins to cool for 5 minutes in the muffin tins before carefully removing them.
6. Garnish with the fresh basil, and serve 2 per person.

Alisha's Tweeks- First of all I doubled the recipe but used chicken and turkey (1 lb of each.) I also used Italian Panko instead of bread crumbs and omitted the red pepper (not big fans in our house.)