Italian Quinoa Sprouted Lentil Balls (GF, Nut Free, Soy Free, Vegan)

I'm excited to share this recipe for a couple of reasons. First off, it's fabulous. Secondly, I don't often see burgers, patties, balls or any of the like using fresh sprouted lentils, and I have looked! So I took the Italian Lentil Sliders from The Tolerant Vegan and made them gluten free as well as put my own twists on it. I didn't want sliders. They look cool, but dealing with GF buns just isn't my thing. But I think making this as an "Italian meatball sub" would be pretty cool. But, I really wanted to have these meatball style over noodles. I spiralized some zucchini (made it into noodles) and then boiled it for about 3 minutes and strained. My parents are in love with spaghetti squash, and will make these again and put them over spaghetti squash for sure. Of course, regular pasta is lovely too.
These balls hold together well so long as you make sure to pack them when you make the ball before they bake. Also, if you don't feel like going through all the hassle of making the sauce to go with it, just use your favorite marinara sauce. Simple as that!
When I made these, I sprinkled some homemade raw parmesan over the top of it, and it was an amazing addition. For my fiance (non-vegan) I put some mozzarella over it and let it melt as well as the raw parmesan. I would maybe sprinkle some daiya over it for myself next time, didn't have any on hand, but it certainly wasn't lacking because of it.

right before the balls hit the oven

sauce after being processed

spiralized zucchini

Makes 15 balls


Quinoa Lentil Ball Ingredients:
1/3 of a red onion
3 garlic cloves
1 1/3 C cooked quinoa
2/3 C sprouted lentils (fresh/raw)
1/4 C gluten free oats
1/2 TBS ground flaxseed (flax meal)
1/4 C + 2 TBS oat bran
2 TBS coconut aminos (or braggs/tamari/soy sauce)
1 TBS olive oil
1/2 lemon, juiced
1/4 c buckwheat flour
1/2 tsp real salt
1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp liquid smoke
1/4 tsp smoked paprika
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp chili powder
2 tsp yellow mustard powder
2 tsp molasses


Sauce Ingredients:
1/2 TBS grapeseed or coconut oil (or other cooking oil of choice)
1/2 onion, chopped
1 medium shallot, chopped
1 small carrot, finely chopped
3 celery ribs, finely chopped
3 springs (fresh) Italian parsley (can use regular parsley), finely chopped
3 clove garlics, minced
1/2 TBS coconut aminos (or preferred soy sauce)
1 15 ounce can diced tomatoes (I used fire roasted tomatoes)
1 TBS capers (can omit if you don't have any on hand)
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/4 tsp italian seasoning
1 TBS sundried tomato
Sea salt, to taste
Fresh ground black pepper, to taste
1 TBS nutritional yeast (optional)
 

QL Balls... In a food processor with an S blade, put in the onion & garlic, pulse until it's chopped small. Scrape down the sides and add all of the other ingredients to the food processor bowl. Pulse until combined. I did about 20, 1/2 second pulses *Make sure to pulse it because you don't want it to become a puree which will happen if you just turn it on.

**If you don't have a food processor, or it's a small one, don't fret! This is really easy to just finely chop the onion & garlic, then put it into a medium-large bowl and add the other ingredients and stir together. It won't combine quite as well, but still will turn out just lovely. I promise.   I'm kinda lazy and if I am going to be using my food processor for one thing in the meal I will use it as much as I can to save me time.

Heat your oven to 300 degrees F.
On a baking sheet, lay out parchment paper (if you don't have any, you can grease up some foil).
I used a 2 TBS Cookie Scoop packed tightly. Then put them out on the baking sheet.
Cook for 12 min, pull out, flip all the balls over and return to oven for an additional 15 minutes.

Sauce... put the onions & shallots in a medium size pot with oil. Saute for about 5 min on medium heat. While onion mix is cooking, throw the celery, carrot & parsley in the food processor and process to a fine chop. Add to onion mixture, mix, cover and let cook for 5 min
Now add the rest of the ingredients and bring to simmer. Cover and let simmer for 10 min. Remove from heat and let it cool off for about 2 min. Pour back into food processor (or blender) and blend for about 30 seconds. Then return to pot.
Once you are ready to eat, heat sauce on low heat. Prepare preferred pasta. I spiralized zucchini and blanched it. Another great option would be spaghetti squash, or of course regular pasta. When you drain your pasta from the water, go ahead and bring the sauce to a simmer put the balls that you will be using for the meal into the sauce for 2 min. 

Crispy Quinoa Cookies (GF, Vegan)

I made these cookies on a whim, just playing around with a few different things. Later I discovered they are AWESOME for ice cream sandwiches. I used dairy-free maple pecan ice cream in the middle and they went together sooo well! Scroll to the end of the link's page for the  above recipe, it's great, no ice cream maker needed & it's soft no matter how long it's frozen!
If you don't have quinoa flakes or buckwheat flour, there are other options, see options section at the bottom of this post.

ice cream sandwich

Makes about 30 cookies

1/2 c brown rice syrup (can sub agave, honey or maple syrup if you do, exclude the stevia below)
1/3 c sucanat (or dry sweetener of choice)
1 med to large banana
1/2 c almond butter
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp stevia powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 c buckwheat flour
3/4 c quinoa flakes
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

Heat the oven to 350 F. Mix together brown rice syrup, sucanat, banana, almond butter and vanilla until creamy. Add in dry ingredients and beat until well blended. Drop rounded tablespoonfuls about 2 inches apart onto greased cookie sheet. Bake for about 15 min or until light golden brown. Cool for 1 minute and then remove from the cookie sheet.When they cool off, they will be crisp.


OPTIONS: If you don't want to use quinoa flakes, you can switch them for oats. Rather than buckwheat flour, you can use brown rice flour.

Buckwheat Graham Crackers (GF, Vegan)

Seriously great graham crackers, if you like graham crackers. When I was little I used to have graham crackers with all sorts of things, like; peanut butter, frosting or apple sauce. I wouldn't eat it with the same kind of frosting on it today, but I still love them with any sort of smooth topping like that. These ones I made though to use for a graham cracker crust for a pie. Figured if I was going to make a pie, may as well make all of it from ingredients I like, right?

I edited this recipe from Nativas buckwheat graham cracker recipe.

36, 4 inch crackers

1/4 c flax seed, ground
1/2 c coconut sugar
3 TBS sucanat or turbinado sugar
*1 TBS maca (Optional, but recommended)
1/4 c coconut oil
*5 drops vanilla stevia, optional
2 cups buckwheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp sea salt
1/3 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
1/4 c agave nectar
2 Tbsp vanilla extract

Optional: Sugar mixed with cinnamon for topping

Directions
Mix together all dry ingredients. Then add in the the wet ingredients, and mix together with a mixer until a dough ball is formed. If the dough is too dry you can add a little more almond milk, one tsp at a time. Dough will be kind of sticky.
Heat the oven to 325 degrees F. Put half of the chilled dough on a large piece of parchment paper then put a second piece of parchment paper on top, then use a rolling pin to flatten it out – about 1/8 inch thick. Place on a baking sheet, and carefully remove top layer of parchment. Using a butter knife, cut the dough into rectangles then use a fork to make those necessary graham cracker holes. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar, if using. After first batch is done, repeat with second dough half or do at the same time and place on a second baking sheet. Bake crackers for 22-25 minutes or until dried out but not burned.
Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes, then place crackers on a wire rack to finish cooling and become crisper. They will stay good in an airtight container for about 2 weeks, if they stay around that long.