We were craving some good old fashioned spaghetti and faux meatballs for dinner this evening, so I decided to take another stab at creating the perfect faux meatball–this time using forbidden rice in place of the quinoa that I usually use.

Here we go!

Faux Meatballs

Step One:

To make your flax eggs, mix and refrigerate for fifteen minutes:

2 TBS ground flaxseed
6 TBS cold water

Step Two:

Saute in a pan sprayed with oil:

• 1/2 white onion, chopped
  1/2 red pepper, chopped
  3 cloves garlic, minced

After the onions have softened, add the spices, so they can toast for a bit:

• 1 tsp basil
• 1 tsp oregano

Step Three:

Mix together in a large bowl:

• 1.5 cups cooked forbidden rice
  1.5 cups cooked black beans (pulsed a few times in a food processor)
  1/2 cup panko crumbs
  1/4 cup sriracha
  2 TBS soy sauce
  the ingredients from step one and step two.

Mix well, and form into into 1-inch faux meatballs, roll them in panko crumbs (makes them very crispy), bake them at 400 for 25 – 30 minutes.

Serve them with a this fresh marinara and a nice dusting of this vegan Parmesan over brown rice pasta.

The meal was exactly what we needed after a long hike with the pups this afternoon.

Oh, and it was a red letter day because I’ve achieved the “Daily Dozen” for two days in a row! If you recall, a few days ago, I started using Dr. Michael Gregor’s app called “The Daily Dozen.” The beauty of the app (other than the fact that it’s free!) is that it’s simple: all you do is check off whether you’ve eaten the various foods that research has shown will keep us healthy.

I was so pleased yesterday when I managed to ring every bell, but was stricken today when I realized that I still hadn’t checked off the appropriate number of greens (dark leafy stuff) and we’d finished off the last of the greens yesterday.

Luckily, I checked my deck garden and was able to gather enough kale, chard, and beet greens to meet the requirement. I simply chopped them up, sauteed them, and incorporated them into the pasta sauce. I also found a perfect little zucchini in my garden, which I grated and incorporated into the sauce as well.

And it is surprisingly difficult to fit in all of the items.

For example, even though I love fruit, I don’t eat it that often, and when I do, it’s at most one piece of fruit a day. And while I never fail to hit the required number of beans, grains, and vegetables, fitting in leafy greens doesn’t always happen. I was a bit disappointed when I realized I hadn’t had any of the required nuts today…until I realized that seeds count as nuts for these purposes, and I’d had a variety of seeds on the fruit salad I made for breakfast.

It’s kind of fun to tick off the little boxes and, if nothing else, the app can alert you to elements missing from your diet. I’m sure it’s not a big deal to miss one kind of food for a few days, but the app helps you notice trends in your diet.

Anyway, I’ve been successful for two days in a row, so yay me!

Here’s a screen shot of my triumph (I couldn’t fit the entire list on one screen)! Notice the gold star at the top–it’s been a long time since I received one of those!