Meatless Meatballs “Bean Balls”

The weekends in my house usually go something like this…. My mom makes a big Friday night dinner for the Sabbath that include a variety of delicious food and throughout the weekend between me, my brothers and my parents the food is usually gone. Except brown rice is always left over and by Tuesday we have stale rice that gets thrown out. Wasting food really bothers me so I like to use it any way I can. Plus, it’s so fun to make something totally different out of left overs.

This weekend my mom made black rice instead of brown rice. I love black rice because it contains more fiber and protein than brown rice. It also contains more antioxidants than a spoonful of berries! Just some more reasons to incorporate black rice into your daily diet. So I thought I’d hop on board with “Meatless Monday” and put the left over black rice to good use! Meatless meatballs AKA bean balls was what I came up with. My pantry is always stocked with organic canned beans so I thought to combine the black rice with beans. It was a winning combo! You can also use any bean or rice you have on hand, so this recipe is totally versatile!  I would love to here your take on this recipe!

Recipe: Pre heat oven to 350 degrees

• 2 cups of cooked rice  (black or brown)
• 2 cups of beans or 1 15 oz can of organic beans (I used black beans)
• 1 teaspoon of acid (either lemon juice or apple cider vinager)
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh herbs (optional)
• 1 1 /2 cups tomato sauce

1. In a food processor combine all ingredients, process for a couple of minutes making sure to start and stop the machine and scraping down the sides in between 
2. Pre-heat a medium size pan with non stick spray.
3. Scoop mixture into balls place in hot pan around 12 balls, cook on each side for around 1 minute making sure to flip them.
4. Once all sides are cooked and browned add your tomato sauce. 
5. Place pan in the oven at 350 for around 20 minutes to finish off and absorb the tomato sauce. Let cool.
6. Place over your favorite pasta… I used brown rice spaghetti