Vegetarian Swedish Meatballs

I was bringing Swedish meatballs to the potluck at work, and wanted to bring a vegetarian version as well. I really couldn't find a good one online, so as usual, I made one up.

I had a lot of trouble getting the flavor of the meatball the way I wanted it, I accidentally used twice as much black pepper than I intended, and I couldn't get a veggie brown sauce that didn't taste like bitter onion soup - so I almost scrapped the whole thing. However, after a few additions to the meatballs and an herb sauce in place of the brown sauce, they turned out great! I am planning to make bunches to freeze, and make Italian versions for spaghetti as well.


meatballs:

• 8 oz cooked black eyed peas, drained and mashed
• 1/2 onion, minced (can saute or leave raw)
• 3 TBS olive oil or melted butter
• 1/3 cup bulghur wheat, soaked overnight, drained
• 1/3 cup oatmeal, cooked or soaked overnight in water, milk, yogurt, or sour cream
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp allspice
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 2 TBS soy sauce (Kikoman works very well for this)
• 1 tsp thyme
• 1 tsp garlic salt or adobo
• 2 eggs

gravy:

• 1 cup milk or cream
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 tsp thyme, ground
• 1 TBS parmesan/romano or Jarlsberg, shredded
• 1 tsp garlic salt or adobo

Heat oven to 300F with a small pan of water on the lower rack.

Mix meatball ingredients together.
Form into 1" balls and place on a well oiled cookie sheet. (They are easier to roll if you cool the mix).
Drizzle or brush olive oil on the balls.
Bake for 30 mins. Make sure to keep the water pan filled as they bake.

Mix gravy ingredients in a medium sauce pan and bring to simmer.
Simmer until it thickens to the desired consistency.
If you are having trouble getting it thick enough, add a little more flour mixed in milk to the mixture, and simmer some more.

Serve the meatballs with just the sauce or over noodles.

Swedish Meatballs

We had a pot luck at work and someone requested Swedish meatballs. I agreed to make them, even though I had never made them before! So I had to do a little research.

Yes, I visited Ikea.

I saw an article that said that they had gotten chicken meatballs, but alas, when I got there, they had discontinued them sometime in the seven months since that article was written. Oh well. I bit the bullet and took a chance that my digestive system could take a few small bites (I have an intolerance to certain proteins found in pork, beef, and the dark meat of poultry, so I avoid those meats altogether - because it does not contribute to me living my best possible life, if you know what I mean).

I survived and was able to come up with a recipe that I think, although maybe not authentic Swedish meatballs, is pretty close and really tasty!

Swedish Meatballs

meatballs:

• 3 TBS butter or olive oil
• 1/2 sweet onion, minced
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp ground allspice
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp salt, or garlic salt or adobo
• 1/4 tsp tarragon *
• 1-2 cups bread/cracker crumbs
• 2 eggs
• 1 lb ground meat

gravy:

• 3TBS butter or olive oil
• 1 cup mushrooms, chopped into small pieces *
• 1/4-1/2 cup flour
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1/4 cup sour cream *
• 1 TBS Worcestershire sauce *

*optional ingredients:

Preheat oven to 300F for non-browned meatballs or 350F for browned meatballs.

Heat the butter/oil for the meatballs in a large sauce pan. Add the onions, saute for 1 minute. Add the seasonings for the meatballs. Saute for 1 minute. Scrape out into a large mixing bowl. (Don't clean the pan, you'll use it for making the sauce later and the drippings add to the flavor.)

Mix in the bread/cracker crumbs, then the eggs. Add the meat and mix everything until uniform.

Oil a cookie sheet. Roll the meat mixture into 1" balls and place on cookie sheet about 1/2 apart. The mixture is much easier to form into balls if it is chilled first.

Bake for about 15-20 minutes.

Heat the sauce butter/oil in the same pan you sauted the onions. Add the mushrooms and saute for a few minutes. Add flour and mix until incorporated. Mix together broth, sour cream, and Worcestershire. Whisk into pan. Simmer on low until thickened to desired consistency. 

Serve meatballs and gravy over cooked egg noodles or mashed potatoes. 

Lasagna Bake

I had a bunch of ingredients that needed to be used up: mozzarella, cottage cheese, sweet onion, and unflavored yogurt. Hmmm... what could I make?

Lasagna bake!!!

What's that? What about the yogurt? Trust me.

First, turn the oven on to 350F and grease a lasagna pan well with olive oil.

• 1 lb mini lasagna noodles
• 1/2 lb shredded mozzarella
• 1/2 lb cottage cheese
• 1/3 lb plain yogurt
• 1 lb ground turkey
  
• 1/2 sweet onion
• 1 jar/can favorite spaghetti sauce
• 1 TBS garlic salt
• 2 cup shredded mozzarella for topping
  
• Parmesan

Par-cook the noodles and mix with the mozzarella, cottage cheese, and yogurt.

Then mix in the spaghetti sauce and ground turkey sauteed with sweet onions, garlic salt, and top with shredded mozzarella and parmesan.

Bake for about an hour at 350F.

How was it?

DEEE-LICIOUS!!