For the first meal of the clean out the cupboards challenge, I made Spaghetti and Vegetarian Meatballs.  I usually use the “Beanball” recipe from Veganomicon, but I was out of a lot of the ingredients called for in the recipe, so I modified it quite a bit.  The result was really good, so I’m going to share the recipe.

The pasta was whole wheat spaghetti and the sauce was from a jar and was doctored up a bit with dried oregano, basil, and crushed red pepper flakes.

NotMeat Balls

Adapted from Veganomicon

These come together really quickly and the whole meal, including the pasta and sauce, can be on the table in less than 45 minutes.  If you don’t have the Better Than Bullion, you can just up the amount of salt in the recipe, or add a splash of soy sauce.

• 1 can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 cup rolled oats (see method)
• 1/4 cup plus 1 tbsp vital wheat gluten
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp mushroom Better Than Bullion
• 1 tbsp ketchup
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp dried basil
• 1/4 tsp dried thyme
• 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
• 1 tsp sea salt

Method:

In a blender, pulse the oatmeal several times until it is the same size as breadcrumbs.  Measure out 1/2 cup to use in the recipe.

In a large mixing bowl use a fork to mash the kidney beans until all the beans are mashed.  Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well until everything is incorporated. The resulting mixture should be slightly sticky, but not wet.  If the mixture is too wet, add another tbsp of vital wheat gluten.

Form the mixture into walnut sized balls and place in the baking dish.  Spray the tops of the balls with olive oil.  Bake for 20 minutes, flip, then bake another 10 minutes.

Use the notmeat balls on top of a plate of spaghetti or stuff into a roll for an awesome dinner!

I’ve made these chicken-style seitan nuggets a few times now, and I’m a big fan.  The recipe comes together in minutes, they bake quickly, and the texture of the finished product is perfect.  Seitan can sometimes be really rubbery and tough, but these are just right.

Last night, I made a batch of the dough and made half into nuggets, and then experimented with the other half.  I was oddly craving Italian Wedding Soup (I have no idea why, I’m pretty sure I’ve never had it before, but I saw a can of it in the store and it looked really good) so I wanted to see if these could work as tiny “meat” balls.  Well, it worked perfectly!

I pinched off tiny pieces of the dough, rolled it between my palms, and placed them in a cast iron skillet over medium heat.  I skipped the breading step in the recipe.  They cooked pretty quickly, just a couple of minutes per side and they were done.  The texture was great!  I’d love to try baking these next, to cut down on the oil a bit, but honestly these were so awesome.

I looked up what Italian Wedding Soup is made of, and while the recipes varied quite a bit, it seemed like a broth based soup with meatballs and greens.

I started with olive oil, onions, garlic, and celery.  Next I added some crushed red pepper flakes, oregano, and dried basil.  When the vegetables were soft, I added some red wine, then added water, vegetable bullion, kidney beans, and the meatballs.  I let that simmer away for 30 minutes or so, then added a few handfuls of torn spinach.  I let that wilt in for a bit, then dished out a bowl.

It was great!  Just what I wanted on this cloudy day.  I think next time I’ll hold off on putting the meatballs in so early, as they got a bit spongy, but the flavor was still great.  The soup also came together very quickly and could be made to feed a ton of people for not very much money.  It’s also pretty versatile.  Like most soups, this “recipe” is one that can be easily modified to use what vegetables and canned beans you might have on hand.  My dad makes a soup similar to this with kale or swiss chard as the greens.  Cannelini beans would also be great here.  Really, soup is a great way to experiment with flavors.