Favorite recipes for "meat"balls + breakfast links?

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Favorite recipes for "meat"balls + breakfast links?

Postby Health 1st » Sun Sep 19, 2021 12:55 pm

Hello!

A family member is requesting "meat"ball sandwiches + Morning Star Breakfast Links for a get together. Without even looking at the packaging, I know from the past that they both contain oil, + I believe the Morning Star Breakfast Links may not even be vegan. Anyway, I'm wondering if any of you have recipes that you've used that actually taste good, hold up, + most importantly are McDougall compliant (even if the recipes have yellow light ingredients like tofu, vital wheat gluten, etc.)? Thank you! :)
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Re: Favorite recipes for "meat"balls + breakfast links?

Postby michaelswarm » Sun Sep 19, 2021 6:17 pm

I don't know of any packaged products for McDougall compliant meatballs or sausage.

I have made lentil, brown rice and oat based versions of both, with difference being flavoring and spices.
Meatball sandwichs also requires whole wheat sub roll, and good marinara sauce.

I generally would not serve family or friends a recipe I have not made many times before.
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Re: Favorite recipes for "meat"balls + breakfast links?

Postby Health 1st » Mon Sep 20, 2021 5:28 am

michaelswarm wrote:I don't know of any packaged products for McDougall compliant meatballs or sausage.

I have made lentil, brown rice and oat based versions of both, with difference being flavoring and spices.
Meatball sandwichs also requires whole wheat sub roll, and good marinara sauce.

I generally would not serve family or friends a recipe I have not made many times before.


Thank you for your input, michaelswarm!

Yeah, I was thinking of having 2 of each--the store bought "meat"balls probably from Trader Joe's, + some of the Morning Star Links along with my homemade versions. Likewise, I was planning on having store-bought white rolls + then some Ezekiel brand buns. For marinara, I was thinking of making my own, or cutting a good, McDougall compliant bottle with tomato sauce.

Your homemade versions with the various seasonings sound really good! Would you mind elaborating a bit more?
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Re: Favorite recipes for "meat"balls + breakfast links?

Postby Health 1st » Mon Sep 20, 2021 1:41 pm

P.S. Believe you me, I am not happy about serving unhealthy foods like the ones I mentioned above. :-( But we can only lead "horses" to water. In this case, I'm grateful that these "horses" are at least vegetarian + are slowly but surely getting on a healthier path. Hoping any alternatives I make may spark their interest in becoming completely whole food plant based, no oil, etc.. :)
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Re: Favorite recipes for "meat"balls + breakfast links?

Postby michaelswarm » Tue Sep 21, 2021 6:55 pm

Yes, meet them where they are. Let them eat what they want. Be an example.

My meatballs or burgers or whatever use my hamburger-meatball base:
- 1 cup cooked brown lentils
- 1 cup cooked brown rice
- 1 cup rolled oats, blended into oat flour
- 1 cup sauce or vegetables (marinara sauce, or tomatoes, or onions, celery and carrots, etc.)
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp cumin powder
- 3 Tbsp flax meal

This basic recipe is very easy to work with. Just mix, spoon onto tray with parchment, and bake 450F 20m in toaster oven or oven.
I also add these burgers crumbled as ingredient into baked pasta and shepherds pie, for example.

To adapt to spicy sausage
- 1/2 cup marinara sauce
- 1/2 cup adobo sauce (Mexican BBQ sauce: chili-tomato base with vinegar and piloncillo-Mexican brown sugar)
- 2 Tbsp crushed red chili flakes (kind used on pizzas, or use seeds from chili arbol)

The idea is change the sauce. You could also add other herbs and spices like thyme, sage, fennel seed, mustard seed, black pepper, etc. I think the sweet and sour flavors also make sausage different from burger. Here the adobo sauce has touches of apple cider vinegar and piloncillo (Mexican brown sugar). I once made a pastrami flavor version.

You can probably use any burger-meatloaf as base and adapt for flavor. Keys for sausage are herbs + spices + chili + vinegar + sugar.
I like spicy sausage and I like to play with chili flavors. But you could make mild sausage with more focus on herbs and spices.

Note: Edited to add 1 tsp cumin powder, which I forgot in initial post.
Credit inspiration to Chef Eddie Garza. You can see a couple of his versions below.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=O99Gt0MqERA (English)
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=R62KD-qJ0bQ (Spanish)
Last edited by michaelswarm on Sun Sep 26, 2021 4:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Favorite recipes for "meat"balls + breakfast links?

Postby Health 1st » Sat Sep 25, 2021 2:29 pm

michaelswarm wrote:Yes, meet them where they are. Let them eat what they want. Be an example.

My meatballs or burgers or whatever use my hamburger-meatball base:
- 1 cup cooked brown lentils
- 1 cup cooked brown rice
- 1 cup rolled oats, blended into oat flour
- 1 cup sauce or vegetables (marinara sauce, or tomatoes, or onions, celery and carrots, etc.)
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 3 Tbsp flax meal

This basic recipe is very easy to work with. Just mix, spoon onto tray with parchment, and bake 450F 20m in toaster oven or oven.
I also add these burgers crumbled as ingredient into baked pasta and shepherds pie, for example.

To adapt to spicy sausage
- 1/2 cup marinara sauce
- 1/2 cup adobo sauce (Mexican BBQ sauce: chili-tomato base with vinegar and piloncillo-Mexican brown sugar)
- 2 Tbsp crushed red chili flakes (kind used on pizzas, or use seeds from chili arbol)

The idea is change the sauce. You could also add other herbs and spices like thyme, sage, fennel seed, mustard seed, black pepper, etc. I think the sweet and sour flavors also make sausage different from burger. Here the adobo sauce has touches of apple cider vinegar and piloncillo (Mexican brown sugar). I once made a pastrami flavor version.

You can probably use any burger-meatloaf as base and adapt for flavor. Keys for sausage are herbs + spices + chili + vinegar + sugar.
I like spicy sausage and I like to play with chili flavors. But you could make mild sausage with more focus on herbs and spices.

Oh my goodness, this all is awesome information + sounds so yummy! Thank you for the gift of your time + for explaining all you did; I greatly appreciate it + look forward to "playing" with this recipe.

I apologize for not thanking you sooner. I was very short on time this week + not on the Forum since Monday.

Luckily the get together has been postponed a few weeks, so that'll give me some time to experiment. :) Again, thank you!
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