Vegan Meatballs w/Marinara Sauce

I made an almost homemade marinara sauce (which means I added a little of Rao's sauce, I love it that way). Vegan "meatballs", salad and garlic bread I topped it off with vegan parmesan cheese. For the non vegans in my house I made regular meatballs. All were happy.

I saute the onions and minced garlic in olive oil until very soft. Then add my above sauces, about half of the Rao's and some oregano salt and pepper. Let it simmer while cooking the "meatballs" and making the salad and pasta.

Vegan meatballs

I got this recipe from Delish Knowledge.com

Ingredients:

1 onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 Tbsp olive oil

1/8 tsp red pepper flakes

1/2 tsp dried oregano

1/2 tsp dried basil

8 oz mushrooms, chopped

1/4 cup red wine

1/3 cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes

1/2 cup carrots, shredded

15 oz can white beans, drained and rinsed

1/2 cup breadcrumbs (I used gluten free Italian flavored vegan)

1/4 cup nutritional yeast

1/4 cup parsley

salt & pepper

(I added 1/4 cup quinoa and 1 flax egg) (to make flax egg: 1 tbsp flax seed meal to 2 1/2 Tbsp water, let sit until thickened)

Instructions:

1. In a large saute pan, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat.

2. Add the onion a pinch of salt, and saute until translucent. Add the garlic, red pepper flakes, dried oregano and basil. Stir together and cook another 2-3 minutes.

3. Add the mushrooms, reduce the heat to medium-low and cook until mushrooms are reduced and browned.

4. Stir in the red wine and deglaze, scrapping up any browned bits at the bottom of the pan. Continue to cook until the liquid has evaporated.

5. Add the mixture to a food processor (I used a blender, although it's a Vitamix, which is awesome, it's better to mix this in a food processor, which I don't have yet, hint, hint, mothers day is coming up) along with the beans, carrots, and sun-dried tomatoes. Pulse until mixture comes together.

6. Add the breadcrumbs, nutritional yeast, parsley, quinoa, flax egg and pinch of salt and pepper. Pulse to combine. You don't want a puree, but it should stick together with relative ease.

7. Roll into balls, you can make them any size you desire.

8. Add to a baking pan and bake on 375 degrees until brown on bottom. Turn over and brown on other side.

Enjoy!!

After the blender I put the mixture in the refrigerator to chill. Took them out, rolled them into balls, browned them and put them in the oven. They are great, very happy with how they tasted.

Bake them in the oven on 375 until brown on all sides