Meatball marinara with pasta and greens
The frozen packet has everything built in—meatballs, lentil pasta, and tomato sauce—so you're really just heating it and building around it. A handful of greens wilts into the sauce for colour and a quick salad on the side rounds out a tired weeknight.
About 250 calories a serving, 17 g protein, 14 g carbohydrate, 16 g fat. From USDA figures for 100% of the ingredients; amounts are the recipe's.
To buy
- 2 cups spinach or other hardy greens
- 1 lemon
From your shelf
- 1 packet Meatball marinara (Birds Eye)
Staples
- 1 tablespoon oil
- to taste salt
- to taste pepper
- 1 clove garlic
- Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Roughly chop 1 clove garlic and add it to the pan, stirring until fragrant, about one minute.
- Pour the entire frozen packet into the skillet and stir to break up the meatballs and pasta. Bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally, until heated through, about 10 minutes. The meatballs should be hot and the pasta tender.
- Add 2 cups of spinach or greens in handfuls, folding them in as each batch wilts into the sauce. Season with salt and pepper. Cook until the greens are tender, about 2 minutes.
- Divide between two bowls and finish with a squeeze of lemon juice.
Note Swap the greens for any vegetable you have on hand; mushrooms, kale, or even canned beans work here. Leftovers keep three days covered in the fridge; reheat gently over medium heat with a splash of water. Serve with a simple salad dressed with lemon or a piece of crusty bread to soak up the sauce.
On the label
SAUCE (CRUSHED TOMATOES IN PUREE [DICED TOMATOES, TOMATO PUREE, CITRIC ACID], WATER, TOMATO PASTE, ONIONS, BUTTER [CREAM, SALT], CONTAINS 2% OR LESS OF: MODIFIED CORN STARCH, SALT, GARLIC, SPICES, CANOLA OIL, DISTILLED VINEGAR, SUGAR, OLIVE OIL), COOKED LENTIL ZUCCHINI PENNE (LENTIL FLOUR, WATER, ZUCCHINI), MEATBALLS (PORK, BEEF, WATER, ONIONS, TEXTURED SOY PROTEIN CONCENTRATE [SOY PROTEIN, SOY CARBOHYDRATE, CARAMEL COLOR], PARMESAN CHEESE [PASTEURIZED MILK, CULTURES, SALT, ENZYMES], TOMATO PASTE, GARLIC, SPICES, SALT, OLIVE OIL, FLAVORINGS), ONIONS, TOMATOES.
Birds Eye, frozen dinners & entrees, serving 255 GRM, package 9 oz/255 g. Ingredients as printed on the label.
More from Birds Eye
- Birds Eye mashed sweet potatoes & carrots
- Birds Eye french cut green beans
- Birds Eye california blend a premium mix of sweet carrots, garden broccoli and cauliflower, california blend
- Birds Eye white meat chicken and white rice in a sweet & sour sauce with julienne carrots, bell peppers, onions and diced pineapple, sweet & sour chicken
- Birds Eye white meat chicken and pasta with carrots, broccoli and red peppers in a sesame garlic stir-fry sauce, chicken stir fry
- Birds Eye seasoned chicken flavored rice with broccoli, carrots & onions, chicken
- Birds Eye original mashed cauliflower, original
- Birds Eye sauced mushroom & green bean risotto, sauced
- Birds Eye lightly sauced roasted red potatoes with chive butter sauce, lightly sauced
- Birds Eye garlic parmesan peas, garlic parmesan
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Cooks as meatballs, pork, zucchini. Half of it left? Use up the meatballs.