Quinoa "meat" balls

In an effort to have better/higher protein/more filling breakfasts, I decided to cook a bunch of quinoa on Sunday afternoon and then have it with fruit and almond or coconut milk throughout the week.  Since I was already cooking the quinoa, it seemed a good idea to make dinner with it at the same time! Sarah decided sometime in the last year or two that she didn't like quinoa, so I knew I couldn't just serve it with veggies.  I remembered making quinoa balls in the past, but when I looked at the recipe they seemed awfully complicated, so I improvised with the ingredients we had sitting around.  They turned out pretty good! Though they could have used an extra crisp. If I do it again I might do a quick fry at the end of baking.  

Quinoa "Meat" Balls

Ingredients:

1.5 - 2 c. Cooked quinoa (this is about .5 c dry cooked with 1 c water)

1 tbsp Flax meal

3 tbsp Warm water

1 tsp dried basil

1 tsp dried oregano

1.5 tsp minced garlic (about 3 cloves)

.5 - 1 c vegan mozzarella (we use Daiya)

Olive oil for cooking

Marinara sauce for serving

1. In a small bowl or cup, mix flax meal with warm water until gooey. 

2. In a larger bowl mix the quinoa with the flax meal mixture. Then add the basil, oregano and garlic.  

3. After those ingredients are mixed, add the mozzarella fold in until well distributed.  

4. Put oil on a baking pan. Roll the quinoa mixture into 1-1.5 inch balls and place on the pan.  Should make about 12 balls.  Put a small amount of olive oil on the top of each ball. 

5. Refrigerate for about 30 minutes then bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.  

6. Heat marinara sauce and pour on top for serving. 

These balls would also be good with onions or perhaps with some other herbs and spices.  

Spiralizer - Beets with walnut pesto

With two kids creative cooking has been put on the back burner.  But also with two very young children, we have had a lot more time awake at night.  The other night during a several hour awake period, I got to thinking about vegetable noodles.  You know, noodles made exclusively out of vegetables.  In an effort to get myself back to sleep, I wrote down all the recipes I would make if I had a machine that made vegetables out of noodles.  

The next day this still seemed like a good idea, so I went ahead and bought a spiralizer! A few days later my 2 year old and I were having a blast cooking with our noodley veggies! Here is our first recipe attempt:

Beet Noodles with Walnut Pesto

This recipe is incredibly delicious and fairly simple, though getting the pesto fine enough was a challenge.  My food processor is no good, so I was using a high powered blender, but I suspect it would have been much easier with a good food processor.  

Ingredients: 

4-6 Beets, washed and peeled (save the greens if they look good*)

1.5 c loosely packed fresh basil

.5 c walnuts

.25-.5 c olive oil

1. Spiralize the beets into noodles. I used a medium/small blade to make spaghetti sized noodles.  Be sure to wash your spiralizer immediately after making the noodles, as the red can stain.  

2. Steam beet noodles until tender but not squishy, about 15 minutes. (I suspect you can also bake or boil your beets, but I steamed them)

3. While the beets are cooking, chop the basil and walnuts in your food processor or blender.  Slowly add the olive oil and continue to process until the desired level of smoothness is achieved.  

4. Mix cooked beet noodles with pesto and serve!

*5. If your beet greens look good, wash and trim them then sauté with a bit of olive oil and garlic and serve on the side.  

Serves about 4.