Italian Turkey Meatball Subs

I was really craving meatballs but not sure how I wanted them served.  I was debating "Swedish", "Asian" and the good ole "Italian" with spaghetti.  In the end, I decided to make subs on fresh baguette for the first round.  (I had mozza that needed to be used).  Costco started selling "Rao's" marinara sauce so my workload got a little easier using a jar of it... I was worried they'd be dry because they were so lean so I decided to incorporate some bacon in it.  What I came up with:

• 1 onion, minced in food processor
• 4 slices nitrate-free bacon, minced in food processor
• Handful of fresh parsley, minced in food processor
• 2 lbs extra-lean ground turkey
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup of organic rolled oats
• 1/2 tablespoon "Trader Joe's Mushroom Umami" seasoning
• 1 tablespoon granulated garlic
• Few good shakes of Worcestershire sauce, to taste
• 1/2 cup of ketchup
• 1 tablespoon freeze-dried Italian herb blend
• Small drizzle of "Kitchen Bouquet" browning sauce to change anemic color of turkey
• Kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper, to taste

I mixed the above and used an ice cream scoop to measure.  Below is all the ingredients combined - minus the turkey.  

And again, below is with the turkey mixed in.

I used a cooking sprayed 1/4 cup measure and rolled the meat into balls with wet hands (makes it not stick as much and it was good as these were wet).  I rolled them in balls.  I ended up with 24.  These went onto a foil lined half-sheet baking pan with a rack (a rack that is very hard to clean so I used cooking spray on it).

Into a preheated 400ºF oven for 30 minutes they went.  I flipped them over for 10 more minutes and then they were done.

For the sub, I put some marinara sauce in sauce pan and let the balls simmer until heated through.  

I toasted a baguette under the broiler with unsalted butter sprinkled with garlic granules.  

I melted some mozzarella cheese next on both sides of the bread.  

I layered the meatballs on with sauce, followed by some pepperoncini (hot and mild) and fresh organic baby spinach.  

I served.

These were pretty good. The bacon kept them moist and added a flavor boost.  The leftovers will turn into some kind of pseudo Swedish meatballs tomorrow.