Hearty Italian Meal — One Run to Trader Joe’s Series

August 12, 2018 ♦

Food, Michele the Trainer's Recipes, TraderJoe's, Vegan

♦

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Ciao Bellas! I grew up on pasta, cheese and meatballs made from meat.

This is a favorite meal that I not only re-created vegan, but it’s suitable for weight loss too. Everything here is a veggie and while you can choose to also use this recipe as for meatball sandwiches, you really do NOT need to add the bread.

Today I make Meatless Meatballs on Zoodles.

I’ve been making this assembly recipe for years and I just made it yesterday and it’s still fantastic AND a favorite.

Today, I’ve been vegan for 100 years.

It all starts with the vegan meatless meatballs from Trader Joe’s. One portion is 6 meatless meatballs! That’s a huge amount of food if you add tons of veggies to the sauce.

In the USA, some cities have Trader Joe’s. You can still enjoy this recipe by locating the ingredients at a healthy or bio store near you.

Please read the entire recipe first and remember, use organic food ingredients when you can!

Shopping List:

Meatless Meatballs

Spaghetti Sauce (pick any vegan sauce in glass that you fancy from Trader Joe’s…I use the Organic Spaghetti Sauce in a jar. If you choose carefully you can choose organic, vegan and relatively fat free too)

Can of Marinara (I choose the large can with the green label) <yes I use a can and a jar, don’t ask me why I just DO!>

Frozen organic corn kernels

Frozen organic string beans

Salt (to taste, if needed)

Optional – Zucchini so you can make zoodles (you will need a zoodle maker) There is a link here http://www.engineeringwellness.com/better-broth-with-the-ganesta-with-italian-veggie-broth-and-tumeric-broth-recipes/

Directions:

Wash your zucchini

Dump the sauce (both can and jar) into large pot

Dump the frozen veggies into same pot and heat for awhile.

Meanwhile, make your zoodles directly into large serving bowls (do NOT heat the zoodles..you will ladle the sauce and balls onto the zoodles)

Back to the pot on the stove…Add the frozen Meatless Meatballs last so they don’t fall apart

Stir gently until everything is hot and ladle the sauce and balls onto your bowls of zoodles, and serve. Start with 3 balls and veg, and you can have ANOTHER serving with another 3 balls….TONS OF FOOD HERE!

OPTION-this is great with NOOCH or Nutritional Yeast which Trader Joe’s may or may not have (they did have it recently in bags). Bragg’s brand is good too, but not available at Trader Joes. Nooch gives you a cheesy taste similar to Parmesan.

Yes you can top with herbs, vegan parmesan, olives, etc!