Tofu-Walnut Meatless Balls

In our family, I'm often the one who likes to make up wacky recipes and try out new things in the kitchen, while JH often sticks to his favorite standbys. But last week, when we had some tofu in the fridge that needed using, I suggested making some sort of meatless-balls to go with spaghetti, and JH stepped right in and said he wanted to try to make them without a recipe, just combining ingredients and seeing what we came up with.  His ingenuity paid off, and now you get an inside peek into what he came up with.

Besides the actual combination of ingredients, another good idea he had was to pre-bake the little guys in mini-muffin tins, so we'd be sure that they maintained a spherical shape:

 

While he was working on the meatless-balls, I put together a saucy mixture of sauteed onions and garlic, Portuguese kale (from our Harmony Valley CSA box), and tomato sauce:

Once the balls came out of the oven, we mixed it all together:

And then serve the yummy mixture over spaghetti mixed with bowties, along with the last of our garden tomatoes:

Here's our best attempt at a recreation of the recipe, to share with all of you:

Tofu-Walnut Meatless Balls

1 large onions, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1.5 cups mushrooms, chopped

herbs, to taste (basil, oregano, sage)

16 oz tofu

~2/3 cup walnuts

~ 1/3 cup wheat germ

~1/4 cup Progresso bread crumbs

1 egg

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1.5 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 teaspoon liquid smoke

1.5 tablespoon ketchup

1 tablespoon of your favorite hot sauce

1. Saute onions and garlic in oil on medium heat, until beginning to soften and turn golden.
2. Add mushrooms and herbs and saute until softened, about 10 minutes more. 
3. Meanwhile, combine remaining ingredients (tofu through hot sauce) in food processor and pulse until it achieves a uniform consistency.
4. Combine sauteed vegetables with tofu mixture in a large bowl. Mixture should be wet and pretty soft, but not runny. Add more wheat germ/bread crumbs if it seems runny. 
5. Fill greased mini-muffin tin with mixture. If you don't have such a tin, you can just try to form balls from the mixture and place it onto a greased baking sheet, an inch apart. You'll probably have to do this the remaining balls, even if you use a muffin tin anyway. 
6. Bake the meatless-balls at 375 F until brown and firm, about 35 minutes. Break one open to make sure it's no longer wet on the inside.
7. Combine with your favorite veggies and sauce, and serve over pasta. Delicious!