Cold Weather, Spiralizing and Spaghetti - Comfort Food for the Minnesota Soul

The holidays are just a few short weeks away; actually 18 days - if you are counting. If you’ve been outside the past few days you are most likely pondering hibernation and the upcoming Minnesota winter, if you live in the area that is. For me winter always signals robust, hearty dishes like chili, bean soups and spaghetti. Some of my favorite dishes. 

When I was young my mom made the best chill and chicken and dumplings. I’ve mastered the chili (vegan and meat eaters alike) but I never got the hang of the chicken and dumplings. I was successful with the chicken and the sauce but my dumplings, well let’s say that one could either use them for trap shooting or toss them in the trash - not sure what my issues are but I’ve given up making them; some things are not meant to be. 

On Sunday, I noticed that my spiralizer was gathering dust in the hall closet so I decided we needed a spiralizer intervention and of course Dan agreed - actually he agrees to most things as long as they are not painful or disgusting, which by the way is really hard to do with him. 

Anyway, I grabbed some tomato sauce from the freezer, made a “meat sauce” of ground sunflower seeds, lentils, quinoa, rosemary, thyme, sage, salt and pepper. Actually truth be told the “meat” was suppose to be meatballs, and they started out really well as meatballs but then I added the tomato sauce into the pan and they turned to meat sauce - next time cook the sauce separate from the meatballs and pour it over the “noodles and meatballs”. Ah live and learn right?

Recipe:

Meatballs/meat sauce

1 cup green lentils, rinsed & drained

¼ cup quinoa, rinsed and drained

1 Tbsp olive oil for cooking onions + 2-3 Tbsp for sautéing lentil balls

1 yellow onion, minced

1 tsp garlic powder

Italian seasoning - rosemary, thyme, sage to taste

¼ cup sunflower seeds, ground to a fine powder

¼ cup fresh basil, thinly sliced + extra for garnish

Sea Salt and pepper to taste

Cooking:

Rinse and drain the lentils, cook according to package. Drain the excess water, transfer to a large bowl and mash with the back of a fork until you don't see anymore whole beans.

Rinse and drain quinoa. Cook according to package directions, add to the bowl with the mashed lentils.

Mince onion and sauté in olive oil in a large pan, over medium heat until translucent. Add onions to the bowl with lentils and quinoa. Don't wash or drain the pan because you're going to cook the lentil balls in the reserved onion infused olive oil.

Use a food processor to blend the sunflower seeds into a fine powder, add the powder to the bowl.

Add basil, Italian seasonings, garlic powder, salt and pepper to lentil mixture. Using your hands, mix until everything is completely combined.

Create medium sized balls, and add them to the pan with a little extra olive oil. Cook for 8 - 10 minutes, gently turning to brown on all sides - this is where things went wrong!

After cooking the “meatballs” I added some of my homemade tomato sauce and the meatballs simply fell apart, while it was still tasty it was not the look I was going for. 

Skip the starchy pasta and spiralize 2 medium sweet potatoes, toss them with a bit of olive oil and roast them in a 400 degree oven for approx. 10 minutes until tender. Place sweet potato noodles in a bowl and top with lentil meat sauce, serve with a salad and garlic bread.

It was delicious and we finished the leftovers for dinner tonight. 

Thanks for stopping by!