MEATBALL CHALLENGE! fourth entry

Super Italian / Juicy-as-HELL / Better-Than-Dave Meatballs

Ingredients:

• 1 package of Gimme Lean ground tofu
• 1/2 to 3/4 cup minced fresh flat leaf parsley
• 1 cup ricotta cheese
• 1/2 to 3/4 cup toasted almond slivers
  
• 1/2 cup grated mozzarella cheese
• 1/4 cup grated parm cheese
• 1/4 cup cream
• 1 large egg
• 1 to 2 tsp salt
• 1 to 2 tsp pepper
• 2 to 3 tsp chili powder
• 2 dashes of nutmeg
• 2 dashes of garlic powder
  
• 1/2 to 1 cup panko bread crumbs

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375f
2. Spray 9x13 or larger baking dish with non stick spray
   
3. In a small bowl beat egg and cream together (omit cream if you are using real meat)
   
4. In a large bowl add and mix thoroughly the meat, almonds, all cheeses, salt, pepper, parsley, nutmeg, and chili powder
5. Mix together egg/cream mixture into the meat mixture
6. Add breadcrumbs half at a time until main mixture is able to form peaks and hold its shape
7. Using your hands scoop out golf ball size amounts of mix and roll into ball and place in your greased baking dish
8. Cover with foil and bake for 15-20 minutes
9. Remove foil and bake for another 5-10 minutes
10. Serve hot ;-)

Commentary:
I make pretty damn good turkey meatballs, but havent be able to make them in ages....coughcough. These meatballs are BANGIN!! I was so impressed with myself!! The only veggie meatballs I have had have been made by dave and mine are better. daves are good, but mine are better! Its totally the ricotta cheese and the cream. I was inspired to try those two ingredients from a few Italian style cooking shows on the Food Network. I am glad I gave it a shot b/c now I make veggie meatballs like the ones I used to make :-). I encourage EVERYONE to give this recipe a try. I used the larger amounts of pepper and chili powder to give it an extra kick. I think adding minced jalpeno to this would be a good replacement to the chili powder.

To go with them, I made a simple pasta casserole and an even simpler cucumber side salad.

Hope yall enjoy!