Day 132 -- Meatless Meatballs And Other Musings

Today, I took a trip to my local natural foods store to pick up a few items -- organic wheatberries, a couple jars of my favorite kimchi (Sunja's), and some nutritional yeast.  As I was browsing the freezer section, I came across a package of vegan "meat" balls.

Now, I have to say that back in my former life as an omnivore, I loved spaghetti and meatballs.  The truth be told, I made some killer meatballs.  I was also really good at making meatloaf.  But now I've come to the realization, that I probably won't be making either of these dishes for a very long time -- maybe even forever.

Is it possible to make a meatless meatloaf or meatball that tastes good?  I don't expect it to taste close to what a meat meatball tastes like, but covered with pasta sauce and some vegan Parmesan-like "cheese" (see Day 128)  it might be pretty yummy.  So, I set off on a search of my favorite vegan websites, looking for a recipe.

The FatFree Vegan Kitchen blog has a recipe that's made with walnuts, rolled oats and kasha.  Oh She Glows has a lentil-walnut burger recipe that could be rolled into meatballs and it sounds like it might be pretty good.  And the Post Punk Kitchen has a recipe for lentil meatballs that sounds interesting.  The the Whole Foods website has a recipe that includes black beans, mushrooms and spinach.

I think I'm going to give the Whole Foods recipe a try, mainly because I like the fact that it includes spinach in the meatball.  I've already found a nice organic pasta sauce that has 1 gram of fat per serving and some good whole wheat pasta.  I'll check back after I've made the recipe and let you know how it tasted.