Vegetarian Meatballs

Ingredients:

4 carrots peeled and cut in half
4 celery stalks cleaned and cut in half
2 onions cut in quarter’s and peeled
2 pints of cleaned mushrooms
2 cloves of peeled carrots
1 teaspoon dried oregano
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup chopped basil
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive oil to roast vegetables
Roast Veggies at 375 degrees for 35-40 minutes until tender
1/4-1/2 of grated romano cheese
1-2 cups of panko bread crumbs
2 cups of cooked lentils
1 egg (optional)

Sauce
1 -28 oz can of San Marzano Plum Tomatoes (can substitute to whatever you have)
1/2 cup Extra Virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
2-3 cloves of garlic chopped
handful of chopped basil (can substitute 1 teaspoon dry basil)
1 can drained and rinsed cannellini beans

Cover the bottom of the pot with about 1/4 inch olive oil and heat up. Add chopped garlic and saute until soft. Puree’ tomatoes in a blender, don’t over mix, about 10 seconds. Add the tomatoes, cannellini beans to sauted garlic and cook for about 30 minutes on a simmer. Add basil, salt and pepper to taste (can use prepared sauce if desired.)

Remove vegetables from oven cool and put in food process and pulse until chopped to the consistency of ground meat. Add romano cheese, bread crumbs, parsley, salt and pepper to taste. Add egg if desired, pulse until the you are able to form a ball with the mixture. After the lentils are cooked according to package directions drain out all liquid add to the mixture, if mixture is too wet add more breadcrumbs. Place in a bowl and carefully form into the size of meatballs. Cover bottom of skillet with about 1/4 inch of olive oil and heat until hot. Carefully place meatballs in skillet until browned, remove from skillet carefully.

Carefully place meatballs in sauce and heat through 10-15 min. Remove from heat and ENJOY!

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