This was a fun dish to create.
It was one where my Husband and I did some experimenting on how to best cook these meatballs! We followed a video on facebook by TastyVegetarian to make these, but honestly perhaps it is me but I just have a hard time frying things in a pan and making them properly cook right!! These were falling apart on me when I rolled the batter out and placed it directly into the hot pot. Then my Husband tried sticking the batter in small ball shapes and putting them straight into the deep fryer, and that wasn’t the answer either because we would get them to stay formed but then the insides were raw (thankfully these are vegan, so there really isn’t anything in here that’s going to hurt you when consumed raw, but still it didn’t taste quite right uncooked inside). Then I think I found the happy solution, bake them first and then transfer them to a frying pan (which uses less oil than a deep fryer lol). This way they cook on the inside and form crispy on the outside too! Mixing these with the Alfredo sauce was a good choice too. There are so many ways to make vegan Alfredo sauce, this is just one of the combinations of cashews and cauliflower that I went with this time. I’ve made Alfredo sauce out of cashews as the main ingredient, out of cauliflower, out of squash, out of vegan cheeses, and more. No one way is right, it’s all personal preference. One day I maybe I’ll make a small batch of each and taste test my favorite ;P Anyways, these meatballs are super tasty, they can’t replace the taste of real meat lol but they reminded me of crunchy thanksgiving stuffing, which I personally love, so I enjoyed the flavors very much!
Our Toronto Trip
We just came back from Toronto last week. What a great experience!! It was So so nice to be off for a week, no work no responsibilities, just doing whatever we wanted. We went on top of the CN Tower (which freaked me out!), we explored the Kensington and St. Lawrence Markets (now my Fav!!!), we watched fireworks on Canada Day, we ate Roti, burritos, Indian food, poutine, crazy Asian candy, vegan chicken nuggets and Doritos encrusted tofu, vegan icecream, and did some cooking of our own too. I got to swim at a free Olympic sized swimming pool along the beach, and bring my dog Ashka along for our entire trip, which I think she was happy about. We rented an AMAZING Airbnb (2 of them actually), and by the end of the week I think she thought she just about owned the place lolol. She was ready to call that home (ah the life of a dog, so easily satisfied lol). But no joke I was ready to call it home too, I LOVED LOVED LOVED the Airbnb, it was my FAVORITE Airbnb we had EVER stayed at, I am literally still dreaming about it, so unique. I have video footage that covers our every day in Canada, but I’m waiting for the Razer Blade 15 to edit all of it (that’s the laptop I decided I actually wanted over the Surface Book 2 because of the upgradable and removable storage/ram, better GPU and cooling, etc etc…but it’s been delayed for 2 months now and it’s killing me not having a portable computer available to do my work on!!). So I don’t have many iphone pics at all, but here are the few I do have of the place:
My Farmhouse Table
Meanwhile, I’ve been slaving away at building this farmhouse table as good as my newbie self can! I am not known to be a handyman, I’m totally out of my element doing this, but my mind has my eye on the end goal and I am so excited to get it finally finished! But it is not done yet, we finished assembling it, but I cannot decide on a stain color for the top! I know, my mother said I inherited the indecisive family curse LOL. So I have spent HOURS staining, then sanding away, then staining another tone, then sanding away, staining again, sanding away, etc. Tonight is going to be like my 5th try LOL! And to make matters more complicated, my Husband and I thought it would be fun to try pouring colored resin inside of the cracks that are on the table! So I found this company called ArtResin that makes non-toxic food safe epoxy, and then a pigment company called Black Diamond Pigments. We chose Emerald Green (to try and match the green theme we’ve got going on in our living room) and we practiced with it last night on some scrap wood. Man its a little tricky to keep everything clean and not make a mess! But it’s relatively easy, although we haven’t yet succeeded completely in our attempt lol. We had some flaws that we are going to try again and work out. So now seeing the actual color of the resin makes me question my stain color choice even more, like what color is going to make the resin pop? Or should it pop at all because maybe it should just be a little ‘gem’ that the viewer finds after gazing upon it. Or we can skip the color all together and just do clear resin…See my dilemma? Choices choices choices! I’m sure we will land in a happy place somewhere…then we’ve got a coffee table to build in resemblance of wherever we land on the table!
Anyways, I hope you enjoy this recipe below! Until next time <3
Ingredients
- MEATBALLS:
- 1 8oz Package - Baby Bella Mushrooms (brown)
- 1 Can - Cannellini Beans
- 1 Onion
- 3 Cloves - Garlic
- 1/2 Cup - Parsley
- 1 tsp Rosemary
- 1 Cup - Gluten Free Breadcrumbs (I used Chickpea breadcrumbs)
- 1 Tbsp - Worcestershire Sauce
- 1 Tbsp - Soy Sauce
- 1/4 tsp - Nutmeg
- Salt and Black Pepper to taste
- -
- 2-4 Tbsp - Coconut Oil for frying
- -
- ALFREDO SAUCE:
- 1 Cup - Cashews (soaked overnight and rinsed/drained)
- 1/2 Head - Cauliflower
- 1 Cup - Vegan Milk (milk of your choice, unflavored and unsweetened)
- 1 Lemon - Juiced
- 2 Cloves - Garlic
- 1 Tbsp - Worcheshire Sauce
- 2 Tbsp - Nutritional Yeast
- Sea Salt and Black Pepper to taste
- -
- Pasta of your choice (gluten free!) to eat this with 🙂
Instructions
MEATBALLS:
- Preheat the oven to 350F.
- Rinse off the mushrooms and beans, and chop as finely as you can. Then dice your onion, garlic and parsley as thin as you can and dump everything into a mixing bowl. Pour your sauces and spices and with your hands clean, start mashing everything up (I find this is easier than using a utensil). If you think you didn't chop everything fine enough, you can use a food processor to help give it another go.
- Once you have everything well meshed together into a paste, begin forming little balls with your hands (it helps if you wet your hands a little in between forming so the dough does not stick to your fingers as bad). Make the balls about 1.5"-2" in diameter and set them on oiled down parchment paper to prepare for baking. Make sure they have space between each other to cook thoroughly.
- Bake for 20-30 minutes, or until it seems like they have toughened up on the inside.
- When they are ready, take them out and heat up a frying pan over medium heat with enough oil to cover the pan. Place as many as can fit comfortably in your pan and fry them up until they get crispy and crunchy on the outside! Add more oil when needed so pan doesn't get dry. Be sure to flip them so they get golden brown on all sides, and then place on a paper towel to drain excess oil off.
ALFREDO SAUCE:
- Pre-soak your cashews overnight, or if you didn't get a chance to do that, boil them in water for a few minutes until they soften up. Rinse and drain.
- Chop up your cauliflower head into bite sized pieces and steam in a colander over a pot of boiling water until it becomes soft to poke. Then remove from the heat.
- Place all of your ingredients in a blender (I used my Vitamix) and blend until creamy and completely liquefied.
- Pour everything into a large pot (we will be adding the pasta to this later) and cook on medium low heat to help the flavors infuse together better. Be sure to stir to prevent burning at the bottom! Cover and let it cook for 10-15 minutes.
- Meanwhile follow the instructions on your pasta box to cook your pasta.
When everything is finished and ready to serve, drain your pasta and pour into your sauce pot, add in your meatballs and serve immediately!! If you are not ready to eat it all right away, store the sauce, meatballs and pasta separately and only unite when ready to warm up in the microwave or on the stove again.
Notes
This dish tastes best when served immediately, as gluten free pasta tends to stick together when used as leftovers.