Vegan Baked Meatballs in Tomato Sauce With Rice

Ok, we have a secret. Sometimes we cheat. That is, we are constantly looking for super quick and easy ways to create a healthy recipe that needs as little time and work as possible from us, on those super busy days. I’ve created a recipe that until now, we’ve shared only with close friends, and we are now offering it to you. 

Before we went vegan, we used to love a Greek recipe called, Soutzoukakia. This was a recipe with large meatballs baked in tomato sauce, paired up with rice on the side. Well, I, of course, have veganized this but we also have thrown it all together to make it like a 2 for 1. It’s super-duper easy, requires hardly any effort and no extra attention once it’s baking. You just toss it in the oven and forget about it for 40 minutes. You’ll only need to buy main 3 things: – Yves Veggie Meatballs (frozen) or similar- Whole Grain Brown Rice (I use Uncle Ben’s)- Your favourite Ready Tomato Sauce (I use Healthy Harvest’s Tomato & Basil) Ready? Let’s go!

Method

1. Preheat oven to 400 F.

2. In an oven dish, pour olive oil (EVOO) to cover the base, then add about 1 cup whole grain rice. Season if you like, but not necessary.

3. Cover rice completely with pre-boiled water.

4. Add in the veggie meatballs

5. Pour an entire 570 ml bottle of Tomato & Basil Sauce.

6. Cover and bake for 40 minutes.

Make sure that the lid is closed well and do not mix in between because you want to make sure that the rice remains submerged in the water to fully cook. The best thing about this awesome recipe is that we can toss it in the oven in under 3 minutes as soon as we get home from work, and by the time we have settled in, the meal is ready. Of course, you can substitute any of the 3 main ingredients with a similar one. We especially make it for our kids so if you have picky eaters at home, give it a try and tell us what you think. Enjoy!