This recipe was actually inspired by a fridge full of zucchini! We’ve headed north for the weekend (as far north as I’ve ever been, in fact- Thunder Bay, Ontario!), and I wanted to use up our fresh produce before we left town for a couple days. You may know by now that I despise throwing out food and always do what I can to reduce waste. This meant that the 5 zucchinis kicking around in our veggie drawer got turned into “zoodles”! Zoodles are super easy to make using a julienne peeler (it does all the work for you! And is a super small gadget that won’t take up a ton of space in your drawer- a worthwhile purchase if I may say so!). I find zoodles super tasty raw- which makes for a quick and easy option too!
I’ve made meatless balls numerous times, but had yet to try a lentil version. I happened to have all of the ingredients for Oh She Glows’ “Italian bean balls” on hand (when does that ever happen?), but decided to modify it a little bit for a change. Check out the link here for the original version.
As if this meal was meant to be, I even had a batch of pesto in the fridge (that I had frozen prior to a week at the cottage- another result of avoiding food waste and using up all my leftover fresh herbs!)! I doctored up a can or organic tomato sauce (because you can’t do it all, am I right?) with the addition of extra garlic, nutritional yeast, oregano and red chilli flakes and called it a day!
The following day, I whipped up some cashew “Parmesan”, also a la Oh She Glows and it was the perfect topper to this beautiful meal! Find the recipe here.
Give these meatless balls a try! They’re great atop a noodle dish, but would also be delicious in a meatless ball sub, or stuffed into a pita or wrap! I can also tell you that they taste great on their own (there were a few casualties while I finished dinner prep)!
Lentil-walnut meatless balls inspired by Oh She Glows!
Ingredients:
1/2 cup walnuts
1/2 cup oats
4 cloves garlic
2 tbsp sundried tomatoes
2 medium-sized carrots
Small handful fresh parsley (above 1/2 cup)
Small handful fresh basil (about 1/2 cup)
1 19-oz can lentils, drained and rinsed
2 tbsp ground flaxseed + 3 tbsp water (mix in small bowl and let sit 5 minutes before adding to mixture. Could also use two eggs)
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp onion powder
1 tbsp nutritional yeast (optional)
Red chilli flakes (optional, to taste)
Salt and pepper, to taste
Directions:
If you have a food processor, this recipe comes together super easily! You could also prepare this recipe without a food processor by chopping/ grating ingredients.
To start, place walnuts and garlic into food processor and pulse until broken down into moderately small pieces (you don’t want them too finely chopped as the texture is nice!). Remove and place into a large bowl.
Next, add the oats and process into a coarse flour consistency. Add to bowl.
Next, add the carrots, sundried tomatoes, and herbs to the food processor and pulse until fairly finely chopped. Add the lentils and pulse a few times (the lentils break down really easily- just pulse a few times as you don’t want a purée). Add to bowl.
To this bowl, and flax “egg”, dried oregano, onion powder, chilli flakes, nutritional yeast and S&P. Mix well to combine.
Roll into golf ball sized balls and place onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake at 350 x 15-20 minutes, flip over, and cook for another 10-15 minutes.
Serve with your favourite sauce (tomato sauce or pesto work well!) and noodles (pasta, zoodles, etc.)
