I don’t say this often enough, but I have a wonderful husband.
He will eat anything I put in front of him and act like it’s the best thing he’s ever had. Now, maybe I’m just a good cook or maybe he’s incredibly sweet, but I truly appreciate his encouragement of my creativity in the kitchen. I guess he makes out pretty well in my quest to make healthy delicious meals.
But don’t get me wrong, I know how lucky I am. I get plenty of comments from readers saying that their husband refuses to try healthy dishes, much less meatless meals. Thank heavens, that is not Brad at all!
However, there’s one healthy food that hasn’t won him over.
Tempeh.
Until I made these.
And turned them into this.
Meatless Meatballs (serves 4)
These meatless wonders taste meaty! They’re just a tad on the spicy side, so omit the spicy pepper if you are a spice-a-phobe. I used a yellow hungarian wax pepper, but jalapeno or serrano will work as well.
3/4 8 oz. pack of tempeh (6 oz.)
1/2 cup white onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup quinoa, cooked
1 chopped and de-seeded spicy pepper
1/3 cup fresh basil (or 2 Tbsp. dried basil)
1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes
1 tsp. rosemary
1 tsp. parsley
1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes
2 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 Tbsp. soy sauce
3/4 tsp. sea salt
1/4 tsp. fresh ground pepper
extra virgin olive oil
Soak tempeh in water for at least 15 minutes. Remove from water and place in a food processor. Add all ingredients and process until all ingredients are chopped finely and distributed throughout the mixture. If needed, stop the processor, scrape the sides with a spatula, and process again.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Grease a baking sheet with olive oil. Roll mixture into ping-pong size balls (about 1 1/2 inch each) and bake for 30 minutes. Use a spatula to remove from pan.
To go along with our spaghetti dish, I roasted some yellow zucchini and red bell pepper. I also used some homemade marinara I made last weekend, but any brand will do. These meatballs are something special!
Do you how I know?
Because they changed Brad from being just “okay” with tempeh to really liking it.
Of course, I really liked it too. I’ve tried several different ways of making tempeh, including another version of tempeh meatballs. Is it wrong to say that I like my version best?
But I couldn’t have done it without the help of the Umami Principal that I learned from the Flexitarian session on Friday. You see, I had combined all of the ingredients except one and I felt like they were still lacking in that “meaty” flavor. Sundried tomatoes to the rescue! They were exactly what my meatballs needed to go from “meh” to “yum”.
What’s your favorite meatless wonder?
Is your significant other up for trying new things, especially healthy food?
It is great when you can win your boyfriend over to yummy veggie food! Success!
These sound and look great, Kelly! I absolutely love tempeh, so I’ll have to give them a try. Michael is a lot like Brad. He’ll try anything and always acts like it is the best thing on earth. We’re lucky ladies because I know that this is a rare thing.
Unfortunately, I am still working on winning my husband over when it comes to healthy food! Your dinner looks absolutely amazing!! 🙂
My boyfriend is definitely gun shy when it comes to trying new things, and the more I insist, the less likely he is to try it. I’ve learned to just give him space and he’ll try it on his own, but it’s definitely a slow process! I don’t know if tempeh will be on the menu anytime soon, but these look delicious to me!
Have you tried sneaking things in his food? hehe
I still haven’t worked up the courage to try tempeh yet! I just have this horrible idea of it in my head, even though I am sure it is just as delicious as tofu (which I love). Perhaps this will be a good recipe to break the ice?
I’m a bigger fan of tofu than tempeh, but maybe because I haven’t worked with tempeh very much. It’s more flavorful than tofu so it’s more difficult (for me) to figure out what to do with it, unlike tofu, which just soaks up whatever you marinate it in. I think this is a good starter recipe, but I’m totally biased. 🙂
Thanks so much for this! I am definitely going to try it. I love tempeh, and hopefully this will win over the hubby. At least we both love sun-dried tomatoes!
I hope you both like it!
I just stumbled upon your blog and so glad I did! I’m a vegetarian food blogger and I was looking for meatless meatball recipes – now I can’t stop reading Food Fresh!!
Yay! I love new readers! 🙂 Thanks for stopping by.
Hi Kelly!
I am wondering how many “meatballs” you got out of this recipe? Just want to know what I should aim for 🙂 Thank you!
I got about 20 out of them, so I think of five as a serving.
Yum! These are now on my to-make list. They look amazing!
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