Broccoli Parmesan “Meat”balls

2013_08_02At the end of February I did a Vegan Week to try out new foods and used it as a way to jump start our eating to cut back on the amount of meat we ate. While we still eat meat when we go out, I haven’t cooked meat at home more than three or four times in the past five months. And to be honest, neither of us miss it too much either. I’ve been amazed at how filling and tasty some of these other dishes can be.

Awhile ago I tried the lentil mushroom “meat”balls and was surprised at how much I liked them. But these broccoli Parmesan balls blow them out of the water (in my opinion). They aren’t Vegan like the lentil balls, but they are vegetarian. I loved the texture and flavor of these! I imagine you probably need to like broccoli to appreciate these though.

I also made a homemade tomato basil spaghetti sauce for the first time. It turned out great!

RECIPES:

Broccoli Parmesan “Meat”balls

Tomato Sauce
(I followed the directions for this sauce except I added a large handful of chopped fresh basil, and I pureed the sauce. I let is simmer for a about 4 hours)

Zucchini and Lemon Spaghetti

2013_04_12Wow, this was awesome! Super simple and super fast too. I didn’t even have the fresh herbs it called for. I used dried instead and it was still awesome. I will definitely make this again once my garden herbs start growing this summer.

We ended up adding the optional feta cheese and really liked it on top.

RECIPES:

Zucchini and Lemon Spaghetti

Lentil Mushroom “Meat”balls

2013_03_22These obviously didn’t have the same presence as real meatballs, but were a nice alternative. Baking them gave them a crispy outside which helped balance the more mushy inside.I think mine were a little mushy because my mushrooms and lentils were more finely chopped instead of coarsely shopped using the food processor. I have just a small one and had to do it in small batches. Plus, Ellie wanted to “help” so I lost a little focus. Either way, I think they turned out good. I liked this meat replacement more than the vegan stuffed cabbage filling I made. Aya really liked it, but Ellie did not.

I just used a jarred tomato basil pasta sauce and added some finely chopped carrots to it and served it with a salad.

RECIPES:

Lentil Mushroom Meatballs

Mediterranean-Style Pasta w/ Toasted Garlic Panko

2013_02_26aA friend came over for lunch who supported participating in vegan week, so I whipped up this simple pasta dish. My photo doesn’t look as delicious as the website I got the recipe from, but that’s ok. This was a simple light dish. I didn’t have fresh basil on hand though, so it fell a little flat. The artichokes, sun-dried tomatoes, and olives were great. But I think it really needed the fresh basil to make it a better dish. It was still tasty, just a little bland.

RECIPES:

Mediterranean-Style Pasta w/ Toasted Garlic Panko

Creamy Chicken Pasta

2013_01_27The main ingredient in this is marscapone cheese (Or as I call it, Al Capone cheese). So if you don’t like some gangster cheese, you won’t like this. I was indifferent on this one. It was a simple tasty dish, but I was raving about it. Aya really liked it though and said it had a restaurant quality flavor to it. Ellie loved it and Aya loved it, so that makes me happy.

RECIPES:

Creamy Chicken Pasta