Spaghetti and Meatless "meatballs"- Gluten Free

I love these meatless meatballs. 

If you are looking for a meatless meal, these crispy vegan baked "meat(less)balls" are easy to make, tasty, and perfectly delicious. 

It was my husband's birthday yesterday, and I wanted to prepare a meatless meal that he would enjoy. Since he loves spaghetti, it was an easy choice. However, I wanted to make it a little more special, so I experimented with making a meatless "meatballs" to add to the spaghetti (I use gluten-free spaghetti). 

I was really pleased with how the "meatballs" turned out. 

Of course they did not taste anything like a meatball.  They were more like a cross between a falafel and a vegan burger, but my husband said that they tasted 100%! 

We started his birthday meal with a beautiful colorful tomato salad. 

Next my husband had spaghetti (gluten-free) and meat-less meatballs.

I ate my meat-less balls as a side dish with homemade sugar free ketchup (recipe to be published in a few days) and a plate full of vegetables including sautéed mushrooms which I also ended up adding to his pasta as well.

My meatless meatballs before cooking 

These meatless meatballs taste even better the next day. They remain moist and delicious. I ate them for a quick snack. They freeze well and are handy to have on hand! 

Ingredients: 

2 cups of cooked quinoa, cooled and set aside

1 15 ounce can of chickpeas, drained (or 3 and 1/2 cups of cooked chickpeas, drained ) 

1/2 cup of chopped onion

1/4 cup of chunky salsa (oil free) 

2 tablespoons of homemade ketchup ( sugar free, oil free)

1 teaspoon of Italian seasoning

1 teaspoon of ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon of cumin seeds 

Cracked pepper 

1/2 cup of garbanzo (chickpea) flour 

Directions: 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Place chickpeas and onion in the food processor. Pulse and process until well mixed. Add the salsa, ketchup, Italian seasoning, cumin, cracked pepper, and cumin seeds. Pour mixture into a medium size bowl and mix in the garbanzo bean flour, and cooked quinoa. 

Drop rounded tablespoons full on two cookie sheets covered with parchment paper. Bake each tray for 25 minutes until balls are crispy and firm. Remove from cookie sheet.

Eat as a side dish or over spaghetti and meatballs. 

My Notes: 

1.  This meatless meatball recipe is gluten-free, vegan, and oil-free.

2.  I used marinara sauce for the pasta.

3. I buy oil-free marinara sauce at Whole Foods Market

4. I recommend reading How Not to Die by Dr. Greger

5. I recommend reading The Starch Solution by Dr. McDougall 

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