Healthy Weekday Meal #1..............{Moroccan Turkey Meatballs with cous cous}

So to shift those pounds that I speak about in my new years resolutions post, I have started on the JuicePlus+ diet where basically you have meal replacement shakes for 2 meals a day with a "clean and lean" meal in the evening... gradually you come of the shakes and the idea is that change your eating habits as you are learning to adapt a more clean way of eating. So I am 2 weeks into this plan and I have already lost 7lbs and I am enjoying coming up with healthy and tasty recipes.

This recipe is great as it packs in loads of vegetables in to the sauce, it's really flavoursome and it turns what would be a rich dish into something much lighter. you could make this dish would pork or beef mince balls but for optimum healthiness I went for turkey. The cous cous is made how i like it which is to always make it with stock but again this is entirely to my tastes...

Moroccan Turkey Meatballs with Cous Cous

250g turkey mince, rolled into around 12 balls (or you can just buy a pack of ready made turkey meatballs)

1 onion, diced 

1/2 red onion, diced 

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped or minced 

1 tsp dried red chilli flakes 

1 carrot, diced

1/2 courgette, diced 

3 large mushrooms, diced

1 tbsp Ras el hanout

1/2 tsp cinnamon

sprinkle of cumin 

2 large tomatoes chopped 

400g chopped tomato (or you could us passatta)

1 dtsp agave syrup (if you don't have this use honey)

olive oil 

125g cous cous 

1/2 stock cube (optional)

1 tbsp sundried tomatoes, chopped

1 dsp sundried tomato oil (from the jar)

put a little olive oil in the pan and then brown of your meatballs - don't worry if they are a little pink in the middle you are going to cook them again a bit later. remove the meatballs and then put the onions in the pan - i tend to add a bit of water here to help soften them rather than more oil. once they have softened add in the garlic and chilli flakes and stir until the garlic becomes fragrant. to the pan add the carrot, courgette and mushrooms along with the remaining spices. after 10 minutes or so add in the tomatoes, 300ml water and the agave syrup. season well. blend the sauce until it becomes smooth(ish) bring the pan to the boil and then drop in the meatballs making sure they are almost submerged in the simmering sauce. turn the pan down low and cover with lid. cook for around 20 minutes covered and 10 minutes uncovered at the end. whilst the meatballs are cooking away make the cous cous however you prefer - i just cover the stock and cous cous with boiling water, put a plate over the bowl so it steams then after 5 minutes of so I fluff it up and add the oil and sun dried tomatoes. serve the meatballs over the cous cous.