Today’s guest post is from my friend Stephanie at My Freckled Life, a fitness and lifestyle blog. Like Lindsay, she and I met when I moved to Virginia. Stephanie was also a key sounding board when I first started blogging. She’s been to blogging conferences and everything! She’s cooked up a tasty dinner for us today.
Hello! My name is Stephanie, and I blog over at My Freckled Life, where I share my journey to finding a healthy balance through food and fitness. I am also currently halfway through my first pregnancy, so recently, I’ve also been including some fit pregnancy-related tips, tricks and struggles as well. I also talk more about just pregnancy things on my mama-to-be blog, Freckles & Fingerpaint.
I’m so excited to be taking over Aileen’s blog today. Aileen and I actually met through a mutual friend over a year ago and have quickly become great friends. She never ceases to amaze me with her baking skills (something that I have NONE of)! So when Aileen asked me to guest post this week, I jumped at the chance.
Then she mentioned that she would be interested in some vegan recipes, and I got nervous. Vegan recipe? Me?
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m a veggie-loving girl! Just one that happens to be married to a meat and potatoes Georgia boy. I’m lucky if I can get in one fully veggie meal a week! But I promised her I’d try and racked my brain for something that I could make vegan.
And then it hit me! One of my recent favourite veggie meals has been an eggplant burger recipe that I got from one of my coworkers. With a few tweaks and a bit of inspiration, I thought they could make some tasty meatballs!
So I did some research on egg substitutes and got to work, and came out with something quite delicious! I hope you enjoy it!
If you’re low on time, my one suggestion is to cook the eggplant ahead of time. The meatballs themselves don’t take long to make or prepare, but if you don’t want burnt fingertips, boiling and cooling the eggplant will take a long time. So I cooked my eggplant a day ahead of time, and it was simple to strain out the extra liquid and bring it back once it was out of the fridge.
For anyone who is vegetarian and not vegan, you could also add in some Parmesan cheese to the meatball mix for a little extra something.
I had a great time coming up with this vegan meatball recipe, and I hope you all enjoy it! Thanks again, Aileen, for letting me take over today!
Vegan Eggplant Meatballs Recipe
Course: Uncategorized4
servings30
minutes40
minutes300
kcalIngredients
1 large eggplants (about 1 lb.), peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
Kosher salt
1 cup panko
1 Tbs dried Italian Seasoning
3 cloves garlic, minced
Freshly ground black pepper
1 flax egg (or other egg equivalent)
2-3 tbsp. olive oil
Directions
- For this Vegan Eggplant Meatballs Recipe, a big pot of salted water should be brought to a boil. Cook the eggplant in the pot, stirring constantly to ensure that all of the cubes are submerged. Cook for 8-10 minutes, or until the cubes are softened. Create your flax egg and put it aside whilst this is cooking.
- Drain and cool in a colander. Spread between layers of clean kitchen towels or several layers of paper towels until cold enough to treat and squeeze out as much extra liquid as possible. Move the eggplant to a cutting board and finely slice it after it has been drained.
- Toss the diced eggplant in a big mixing dish. Combine the panko, Italian seasoning, and garlic in a mixing bowl. Add the flax egg and mix well—season with salt and pepper to taste. Make four patties out of the mixture.
- Preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit and cover a baking sheet with parchment paper or foil. In a big skillet, melt 2 teaspoons olive oil over medium-high heat. Cook the meatballs in the pan, turning them repeatedly until they have a light coating. (If possible, apply additional oil while flipping.) Remove the meatballs from the pan and place them on the baking sheet.
- Cook for around 5 minutes in the oven.
- Enjoy it with your favorite pasta and sauce!
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