Recipe: Lentil meatballs and spaghetti

Before becoming vegetarian and before I started really cooking for myself, I could give or take spaghetti. Now whenever I don't know what to make for dinner I automatically go for spaghetti. I know spaghetti sounds really boring if you're never able to have meatballs, but I have a solution: lentils. Maybe you don't know what lentils are or you think they're some boring legume rarely used in American cuisine, but these are one of the best answers to meat in the veg world, in my opinion. So without further ado, here's my spaghetti:

Spaghetti and Lentil Meatballs

1 cup cooked lentils (1/2 cup uncooked)

About ½ cup swiss cheese, shredded

1 egg, beaten

1/3 cup bread crumbs

(You can use any seasoning combination you want, it's kind of like making meatloaf)

My seasonings: Smoked paprika, salt and pepper, Johnny’s, garlic powder, granulated onion, crushed red pepper

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well squishing the lentils so some of them get mushy.

Form into balls and put on a baking sheet

Bake at 375 for about 20 minutes.

Spaghetti Sauce

It's so easy to make homemade spaghetti sauce, you'll wonder why you haven't been doing it all along. Just take a can (what size depends on how much sauce you want) of regular tomatoes (whole, diced, sauce, whatever you want) and then put it on the stove and season it however you want. Don't be afraid of the seasonings, either. Go crazy with them. Oh, and if you get diced or whole tomatoes, you'll probably want to puree them somehow. Either with a food processor, a blender, or an immersion blender. After seasoning and whatnot, just leave it on med-low to simmer for at least 30 minutes.

Enjoy :]