Sometimes you just get bored of pasta and tvp meatballs. So here's a riff on both that cuts out both the flour-based pasta and TVP. She's a three-parter:
1. Spaghetti Squash Pasta:
Ingredients:
1 spaghetti squash
1 medium onion
3 cloves of garlic
1 tablespoon of olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
- Pre- heat oven to 450°
- Cut Squash in half length wise.
- Place rind side up on a baking sheet, brush squash with a bit vegan margarine or olive oil so it doesn't dry out and bake for 40 minutes or until you can pierce through with a fork.
- While squash is baking fry onions and garlic in olive oil until carmelized.
- When squash is cooked remove from oven and scoop out guts and throw in to frying pan, set to low heat, mix with garlic and onions, add a pinch of salt and a bit of pepper (don't go crazy here because there is salt and pepper in the cheese sauce). Turn off heat and put a lid on to keep everything warm while you make cheese sauce.
2. Cheese Sauce:
3/4 cup Daiya Mozzerella (or Cheddar, or both)
1 tablespoon vegan magarine
1 cup almond milk (unsweetened original) or unsweetened regular soy milk
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon of fresh cracked black pepper
Salt to taste
Directions:
In a small sauce pan, add almond milk (you can use soy milk too) on medium heat. Heat until boiling then reduce to low heat, add vegan margarine and let it melt. Add Daiya a little bit at a time while stirring continuously. You want the sauce to be smooth, not chunky. Add in nutmeg, garlic powder and salt. Stir and whisk. Once Daiya has melted and sauce looks smooth and creamy it should be ready to go. Pour sauce over squash and balls, add more fresh pepper.
Hi there. So, about the balls. The secret weapon here is kasha, which is buckwheat groats. Kasha has a nutty taste and texture-wise, it makes a good substitute for ground beef (great in tacos too), so it works like a charm for these poseur meatballs. You get the kasha and fry some of it in a dry frying pan, basically you're just toasting it till it's a bit (more) brown. If I may be so bold - this really makes my balls pop.
Boil a soup bouillon cube in some water (2 cups or less) and olive oil while you mix the dry ingredients, which are: ground flax (which makes it stick together), Teff, nutritional yeast, garlic powder, sage (liberal amounts of) rosemary garlic, salt and pepper. Mix this stuff up good. You don't have too much time, the flax makes everything stick to everything so mix it thoroughly and start balling them up in your hand so they look something like below, put them on a baking tray and you know, bake them shits. Because I have little sense of decorum or forethought, I've never really worked out the proper amounts, but basically you want these to be baked on the outside but not over dry on the inside. You're walking a thin tightrope between my Salty Balls and Vegan Dirt Cakes. So keep on your toes - here be demons.
Heap on the cheese sauce and serve with salad or greens.
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