Turkey Veggie Meatballs With Spaghetti Squash packed with carrots, zucchini & onion and paired with spaghetti squash pasta making it paleo and gluten-free. A healthier and lighter alternative pasta dish for weight loss & fitness.
Hi Guys! TGIF!
How’s the week been? I have one word. Pictures. Pictures. Pictures. Ok, so technically that’s 3 words. I am quite literally drowning in pictures these days and it’s overwhelming me. I was editing photos the other day when my computer kindly informed me I was viewing image 5,892. Holly cow! I knew I had a lot of pictures, but I had no idea it was that out of control. It doesn’t help I have a MAC and the device sharing and cloud thing decides to randomly double them on my phone. One of these days I’ll figure that phenomena out.
The ugly truth about blogging is you become a weird picture collector. Everything suddenly becomes picturesque. I mean you never know when you’re gonna need that picture of last night’s dinner to post on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Then months later you realize you never posted it and can’t even remember what it was you were planning to post about it that was so interesting at that time. They should make special phones for bloggers. We do weird stuff.
I finally bought an external hard drive with the intention of sorting through my pictures & organizing in folders so I can delete them from my devices. It will help me be more efficient so I don’t have to scroll through all 6k of them when I’m editing. I had pictures from 1998 on my computer. That was a really long time ago. I’m not even sure how those got on my computer, but I am sure I won’t be needing them anytime soon. So now I’m working on my new picture “project”. I feel like I’m climbing a small mountain alone. Worst job ever.
If there were one thing I wish I’d known about photography when I started blogging, it’s to name every single image with a real name. Not “image1” or “pic2,” but something descriptive like “turkey-spaghetti-squash-meatballs.” This allows search engines to find your content. You may have heard of SEO. Search engines aren’t looking for image 1 or pic2. When was the last time you googled “image1?” You get the point. The same thing applies to you when you’re running searches on your own photos on your blogging platform or computer. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve spent hours searching for a picture on my computer and then resort to downloading it from my website & re-saving it because I probably saved it as “image100” at some point before I knew any better. Hence my 6k picture dilemma. That’s 1st year blogging lesson #13. By the way, it also helps if you store them in their own folders i.e. “turkey spaghetti squash meatballs.”
When I went on that date a few weeks ago, I told the boy I do freelance writing and recipe photography. There was no way I’d tell him I was a blogger without knowing him a whole lot better. He asked if I wrote on a tablet to which I responded no. I need a big, bad computer for photo editing. Now that I think of it. He should’ve know that. He claimed he was into photography and could teach me more about it. Can’t be that into it.
Speaking of editing, PicMonkey is the greatest blogging resource for photo editing. If you’re not using it, you need to be. They have a free version which will be help you tremendously if you’re just starting out. As you progress I do recommend investing in the yearly membership for the small cost & all the extras you get, it’s worth it. I suppose that makes 2 tips today. Apparently I can’t count. Surely I can eat and now if you’ll excuse me I’m about to face plant into this turkey spaghetti squash deliciousness and sleep for days. Happy Friday!
- 1 lb lean ground turkey breast
- 1 spaghetti squash
- 2 14 oz cans fire roasted crushed tomatoes
- ½ cup fresh parsley
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1¼ tsp italian seasoning
- ½ tsp garlic
- ½ tsp crushed red chili pepper
- 2 zucchini, peeled & shredded
- ½ yellow onion, finley chopped
- 1 cup carrots, shredded (2 medium carrots)
- Top or sprinkle with grated parmasean cheese
- Bake spaghetti squash 30 minutes in advance according to previous directions
- Finley shred carrots, onion, zucchini, garlic & half olive oil in a food processor
- In a medium mixing bowl, add turkey, shredded vegetables and spices
- Gently mix ingredients together
- Form into 12 meatballs
- Heat a large skillet to medium & add other half extra virgin olive oil
- Add meatballs to skillet
- Cook meatballs 10 minutes
- Flip meatballs & cook another 5-10 minutes
- Reduce heat to low
- Add diced tomatoes to skillet & simmer 5 minutes
- Meanwhile remove spaghetti squash from skins using a fork
- Add parsley & spaghetti squash to skillet & coat with sauce
- Serve immediately & sprinkle with parmesan
How many pictures do you have? What’s your ugly truth?
I agree, I have a ton of photos that I need to sort through but on the bright side MOST of them are sorted by date folders. We’ll see how far that gets me! Enjoy your weekend!
I started with date folders and it didn’t work for me. You forget the dates you wrote things and the don’t always fall on the date you post them. It turned out to be easier to file things in folders with the names of the posts. That’s what worked for me at least.
Yum; this looks so delicious!
Thanks, Jen!
I have the oddest collection of pictures so I really know what you mean. I just made meatballs last night and they’re always a hit – this dish looks so tasty 🙂
The endless selfies are freaking me out.
This looks great! I go in spurts with my photo projects – I feel like I am always catching up. Have a great weekend!
You too Lauren!
This sounds great! I always pair meatballs with my spaghetti squash to make it more hearty and filling.
I never crave pasta, but spaghetti squash I’m always in the mood for!
haha i totally get the picture overload, but at least it’s good food, right?
Yeah to good food! Will you be at Blend? We need a cook/bake off?
Picture [pun not intended] me ducking away in shame at the mention of pictures. I didn’t know it was possible to take so many of food and just about everything else. Blogging messes with our definition of ‘picture-worthy’ and ‘adequate amount of them to take of one and the same item’. And now you mentioned it I feel I don’t have a good excuse to postpone sorting through and renaming the photos on my laptop!???
Haha..that’s funny! It gets real ugly if you don’t get them in folders from the beginning. Something else I wish I had done from the beginning. Picture-worthy’s an understatement.
Dude. I am the world’s worst/laziest photographer. PicMonkey changed my life almost as much as Vegas did. LOL! Kidding… sort of. 🙂
Ha! PicMonkey has saved many of my pics.
I love spaghetti squash pasta! Your meatballs look delicious.
Thanks Jill!
Thanks so much for the tip on naming pictures! I am guilty of calling them “image1” etc because it’s so much easier.
The recipe looks great, I love making anything with spaghetti squash 🙂
Glad to help!
hahaha, totally with you there–I have the weirdest picture collection on my phone. 😡
This looks super good! <3
Thank you! Good look with your collection.
I have jost started bloggin so I really appreciate that tip! Thank you! I never knew that about naming images. Time to get on that 😉
Yes! Start early. It’s a mess otherwise. 🙂
This looks amazing! I’m gathering healthy recipes for my upcoming Whole30 challenge, so I’ll be saving this one. Thanks for sharing at the #HomeMattersParty – we hope to see you again next week 🙂
Good timing for the recipe. Good luck with Whole30. I did it awhile back. It really changed the way I thought about food.
Omg another winner. Can you tell someone’s playing catch up.
Catching up is hard. I feel like I’m missing everything and thanks!
Oh my goodness – those meatballs look delicious!
Thank you Sarah!
Hi Megan,
I know what you mean about becoming a photo collector, it happens to a blogger. Your Turkey Veggie Meatballs look delicious! Thanks so much for sharing this awesome recipe with Full Plate Thursday. Hope you have a great weekend and come back soon!
Miz Helen
I should definitely try this turkey breast some day, looks yummy!
One of my fav recipes.