"Meat"balls

Meatballs are very versatile.  You can use them on a pizza, a sandwich, in a pasta, as an appetizer..and on and on.  You can also flavor them to reflect the cuisine.  For instance, toss meatballs in teriyaki or sweet and sour sauce for an Asian flair, marinara for Italian or serve with tzatziki sauce for Greek.

1 cup TVP (textured vegetable protein)
1 cup vegetable stock
1/4 cup dried lentils, cooked
1/2 recipe tempeh sausage crumbles or 4 oz spicy veggie tempeh
1 tbsp minced onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup instant oats or breadcrumbs
3 tbsp vital wheat gluten
1 tbsp nutritional yeast
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp liquid smoke
1 tbsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp crushed fennel
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp salt

- Bring veggie stock to a boil, pour over TVP and let sit for 10 minutes to re-hydrate

- Stir soy sauce, liquid smoke, tomato paste and nutritional yeast into TVP

- In a food processor combine tempeh, lentils, oats, onion, garlic, vital wheat gluten and seasonings

- Blend until broken down and combined

- Add to TVP and use hands to thoroughly mix


- Shape into balls (I used a 3/4 oz scoop for even portioning) 

- Cover bottom of heavy bottomed skillet with olive oil and heat to medium

- Add meatballs to skillet and brown on all sides

 - Meatballs are now ready to be used in any application

Here I used the meatballs on a pizza...my husband loves his pizza!

If you are unable to find spicy veggie tempeh, you can add 2 more tbsp of soy sauce, double the fennel and red pepper flakes, and add 1 tbsp of thyme.