Broccoli Meatballs (Vegetarian & Gluten free Recipe)

These meatballs have nothing to do meat, they are completely vegetarian (skip the eggs and cheese -- you have totally vegan meatballs). They are made with broccoli and ground raw almonds with no bread crumbs for binding -- so these are gluten free too.
Recipe is from Vegetarian Times magazine and the use of broccoli in meatballs was interesting to me, so I tried the recipe to see how these would taste. Ground almonds and eggs (or egg replacer) bind the meatballs together.

Almonds give a nutty taste to the meatballs while the broccoli makes them taste earthy and delicious. I was initially worried if the meatballs will hold together and if they would cook all the way through in the oven. I didn't have to worry much, the mixture came together beautifully even with the egg replacer substitution and baked perfectly in the oven.

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Vegetarian Eggplant Meatballs

Blogging Marathon# 31: Week 2/ Day 3
Theme: Meatless Dishes
Dish: Vegetarian Eggplant 'Meatballs'

'Meatless' Meatballs are one of my son's favorite dishes. I keep some store bought ones in the freezer for quick meal options. I posted a recipe using soy crumbles earlier. Today's recipe uses eggplant and I was surprised how moist and 'meaty' these meatballs taste (by 'meaty' I mean they have lot of body or bulk, don't know how else to express that :-)) 

Meatballs are great with some tomato sauce in pasta or on a salad or just to munch on as appetizer. I flavored these meatballs with mint and parsley to give them a Mediterranean flavor. I served them with homemade tzatziki and it was a very delicious combination.

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Vegetarian Pita Pizza with Meatless Meatballs

Blogging Marathon# 28: Week 1/ Day 2

Theme: Kid's Delight - 5 Ingredient Fix

Dish: Pita Pizza with Meatless Meatballs

Kids LOVE cheese, kids LOVE pizza, so it's only obvious that we have a pizza post for Kid's Delight: 5 ingredient fix, that I'm hosting this month right here. Thanks to Valli for giving me the opportunity to host.

Coming back to kids and their love of pizza, my 5 year old son is no different. He absolutely loves pizza and he thinks Friday is the best day of the week and he wants everyday to be a Friday just because they have pizza for lunch in school. He wanted me to make meatball pizza because he saw that flavor on the pizza box and wanted to see how it tastes. So, of course I had to make it for him.

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Vegetarian Xacuti

Blogging Marathon# 26: Week 1/ Day 1
Theme: Goan Cuisine
Dish: Vegetarian Xacuti with Meatless Meatballs

Today we start Blogging Marathon# 26 and my theme for this week is "Goan Cuisine". The only dish that  I have tried from Goa is the Vegetable Vindaloo. So when I saw this theme, I decided to try more dishes from this cuisine.

When I think of Goa, I think of scenic blue seas, beautiful churches and lush greenery. All this from watching a ton of Indian movies because I'm fortunate to visit this paradise on earth yet. Hopefully one day we can make this trip. When I think of Goan cuisine, I think of seafood and meat, because from movies like Saagar of the coast, the Portuguese colonization and the Christian population. But what I didn't know that there are vegetarian dishes that are unique to konkani region.

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