College. Man, I look back at my years at BYU and can’t help but smile. Those years were life-defining moments wrapped up amongst friends, family and too much fun. My years as a Cougar were some of my best.
It is completely preposterous that today, I paid the application fee for my oldest to attend my alma mater. She is graduating early in December, and hopes to attend BYU in January.
Do you think she will mind if I go with her and live the college life for just a few days? I don’t know which emotion I feel the most for her: excitement…..pride…..or jealousy 🙂
I have taught my daughter the key to getting best young men to fall in love with you at college: learn to cook and bake. Old fashioned? Absolutely! True? You betcha! They are all so burnt out on the cafeteria and fast food. Cook for them (even something just mediocre) and that hot young man will be putty in your hands 🙂
So, in honor of my (cross your fingers) future BYU Cougar, I share with you the most amazingly quick, flavorful and impressive little meatball. Outstanding on it’s own and completely 5 star with the dipping sauce.
To all the cute BYU boys…..you are welcome.
Chicken Spanikopita Meatballs with Tzatziki Dipping Sauce
- Yield: 18 meatballs 1x
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 small onion, finely chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, finely minced
- 1/2 lb frozen spinach, thawed then squeeze out excess water
- 3/4 C crumbled feta cheese
- 1 lb ground chicken or turkey
- 1 Tb McCormick Montreal Grill Seasoning
- Olive oil
Dipping Sauce
- 1 C plain Greek yogurt
- 1/3 cucumber, peeled, seeded and grated
- 1 1/2 Tb fresh dill
- 1 Tb fresh lemon juice
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 1/2 tsp salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a large bowl, add all the ingredients for the meatballs, being sure to separate the spinach into small pieces as you add it. Add a liberal drizzle (2-3 Tb) of olive oil over the top, then mix it all together using your hands. Form the mixture into 18 – 1 1/2 inch meatballs and place them on a cookie sheet. Bake for 13-16 minutes until the juices run clear.
- While the meatballs are cooking, mix together all the ingredients for the tzatziki sauce and serve on the side with the hot meatballs.
Notes
***For a freezer meal, follow the recipe up through forming the meatballs. Place the cookie sheet in the freezer until the raw meatballs are frozen. Toss them in a freezer bag and mark with the cooking directions. Thaw them on a cookie sheet before baking, so you don’t end up with a one big meatball in your freezer bag 🙂
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 2 meatballs
- Calories: 116
- Sugar: 2g
- Sodium: 385mg
- Fat: 8g
- Saturated Fat: 4g
- Unsaturated Fat: 3g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 5g
- Fiber: 1g
- Protein: 15g
- Cholesterol: 49mg
Vicki in UT says
LOL, this brings back memories. I used to cook for my husband’s apartment. They paid for the food, and I cooked and ate for free. You notice he is my husband now, right? 🙂
Robyn says
Hi Carole,
This is my first visit here and I absolutely love your blog.
You have so many followers, you should be on Ziplist! I use it on my blog, it’s free and it’s a fabulous service.
I’ll definitely be back for more!
Jen T says
Love this! Sadly I think my husband cooked more for me when dating at the Y than I for him 🙂 It can work both ways. Hope she gets in!
Dottie says
I followed a pin trying to find another of your recipes (it was incorrectly pinned) but found this one and a few others. Bonus! Oh mommy this one sounds delicious, I can’t wait to try it.
elizabeth says
Please refrain from using spanakopita or tzatziki in your recipes if you are not sure exactly what they are. This recipe grossly misrepresents what those words really mean.
Carole says
Well Elizabeth, you’ll have to give Rachel Ray a call since she created the recipe and the title. I only posted my results and opinion of her recipe.
Jackie says
What an incredible recipe!
I cooked this tonight for dinner using ground turkey. I didn’t have the McCormick’s seasoning the recipe called for, so I improvised using salt, black pepper, a sprinkle of Lawry’s, and crushed fennel seeds because they taste so lovely with turkey meat. This took practically no time at all to whip up. I did find that my meatballs took about 25 – 30 minutes to bake up. I cheated and used Trader Joe’s tzatziki dip. Excellent recipe 🙂 Thank you!!
Anonymous says
Made these for the second time this week. Doubled it this time. These are fantastic!!!! I eat them without the sauce. Thank you for this awesome recipe, love your blog!!!!
Nancy
Yusra Millenbaugh says
Made these for dinner tonight and they were both quick and delicious. All prepped and cooked in about 30 minutes. By delicious I mean absolutely fabulous, super juicy and completely gone. Thank you for the best Pinterest recipe I’ve ever made.
Carole says
So glad they turned out so well for you Yusra! I appreciate when my readers come back to share how a recipe went for them.
ellie says
Wow, so easy and healthy! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for coming back Ellie and letting me know how you liked them
Maria says
Can’t. Wait to try this !! My great granddaughter , was helping her mommy ! By rolling them in a ball so funny ! She is 3 #
Thanks Maria!