Vegan Spaghetti and "Meatballs"

So. No other way to say it. Coronavirus is impacting our daily lives. Due to closures set in place by our governor, J and I find ourselves working from home, J as much as possible. We are thinking about ways to keep ourselves busy, but sane, and still continue to eat good food. 

Number 1: Continue to support your local restaurants. For we Columbus folk, as of March 19, we were able to support our friends at Seventh Son Brewing, Woodhouse Vegan, and Luxe & Lemons. 

Number 2: Cooking at home. We obviously love cooking at home, but now is the time to get the whole family involved in the process (healthy members, of course). We made this great dish on Monday night, and have been eating the leftovers for a few days. Literally, one of the best vegan meatballs I have ever made or tasted. Recipe is originally from Nora Cook's. 

We used my favorite, Banza Spaghetti, and tried a new sauce (which we LOVED), a Dairy-Free Vodka Sauce from Primal Kitchen. 

Ingredients:

• 1 lb (2 boxes) Banza spaghetti- of course you can use any spaghetti, gluten or gluten-free as needed or preferred.
• Your favorite jar of sauce- we reeeealllly liked this sauce from Primal Kitchen
• "Meatballs"
  • 2 cans chickpeas (Save the aquafaba! We are planning on using it to bake some banana bread!)
  • 3 tbsp. ground flax meal
  • 1/2 c. water
  • 1/2 c. breadcrumbs (we had leftover fresh garlic breadcrumbs- delicious!)
  • 1/4 c. Nutritional Yeast
    
  • 2 tsp. onion powder....or my favorite, Onion Onion 
  • 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
  • 1/2 tsp. sea salt
  • 1/4 tsp. dried basil
  • 1/4 tsp. dried oregano
  • 1/4 tsp. dried parsley

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​​Instructions:

1. ​Preheat the oven to 425. Line a baking sheet with parchment.
2. ​In the food processor, add all ingredients for the "meatballs" and process until it comes together in a thick paste/almost dough like combination. 
3. Use a cookie scoop (mine were 2 tbsp.), and scoop the dough onto the sheet. You could also roll them into balls, but I found having the flat side helped because you do flip them over. 
4. Place in oven and bake for 15 minutes. Flip, and then bake for additional 15 minutes. 
5. While baking, cook pasta per instructions on package.
6. Heat sauce in a big saute pan on low. Once the "meatballs" are done, let them rest for about 5 minutes to solidify. 
7. Before draining the pasta, take two ladlefuls of pasta water and mix into the heating sauce. Then add the rested "meatballs," followed by the cooked pasta. Toss to combine. 

SO delicious. Have fun cooking. Be safe and stay healthy. - J&L