I promised you another meatless recipe this week and here it is!
I’ve been having a weird craving for lots of veggies. I say weird because lately the only veggies I’ve been into have been my bizarre burger salads that I have every morning for breakfast.
Yeah, I totally put bread and butter pickles and ketchup on top of spinach.
I told you, bizarre.
So, of course I start craving Veggie Tortilla Soup as soon as the weather gets warm. This soup is so delicious though and I’m totally willing to eat hot soup in warm weather if it tastes this good!
It’s like your typical chicken tortilla soup except I hate chicken right now so I used beans and quinoa as the protein. And then it’s got the veggies I’d been craving, mostly carrots and zucchini. So yummy, especially if you top it with lots of stuff! Tortilla strips, avocado, and cilantro are my choices but you can do cheese, sour cream, whatever you like!
I ate this for lunch all week and I’d make it again today if I wasn’t desperately trying not to buy any groceries right now.
Aaaaaand, it took about 30 minutes to make! *high five*
Meatballs are one of the few things all 3 of my kids will eat without complaint. And this recipe is proof that I can literally put anything in meatballs and they will eat them.
As I was shredded the zucchini for these, my 4 year old walked into the kitchen and said “Eww, I don’t like zucchini!”
Umm… guess who asked for more meatballs not once but twice!
If we’re being technical here, these aren’t really Thai meatballs. Honestly, I’m not even sure Thai meatballs are a thing. I think Thai-Inspired would be a better title but…
Yeah.
So these are pork meatballs with a little ground turkey which I love because I love love love the flavor of pork but not necessarily the fat/calories so I feel like I can eat more if I mix in some super lean ground turkey. The meatballs have lots of shredded zucchini and carrots mixed in with some curry powder, fresh ginger, garlic, all kinds of good stuff. And then you cover them with a peanut sauce before baking!
Except I don’t eat peanut butter because I do try to eat paleo when I’m not drinking wine and eating my weight in Qdoba 3-cheese nachos so I used almond butter in this “peanut” sauce. You could totally use peanut or even sunbutter if you prefer the taste of those!
Anyway, the sauce is SO good. I could drink it! Coconut milk, almond butter, and curry powder just make the yummiest combination.
These are super simple and I anticipate making these often in the coming months.
The other day I was in the middle of one of my pinning sprees and a chocolate zucchini bread kept popping up. I mean, I’d go to the popular tab, it would be there. I’d go to the food tab, it was there too. I’d go to my home page and 4 people I follow had pinned it. It was haunting me.
So yesterday I was making this to go with dinner and the whole time I was whispering to myself “Please have leftover zucchini. Please have leftover zucchini. Pleeeease….” And luckily I did but then I went to my baking cabinet to get the chocolate and there was none. No chips, no chunks, not even a Hershey’s bar leftover from s’mores. (I’m not saying that my husband fed all the chocolate to the kids while he was on leave but… yeah…)
I did have a bag of cinnamon chips and since zucchini bread is usually filled with cinnamon, I knew it would be delicious. They turned out so soft and delicious! My oldest wouldn’t touch the zucchini in that rice dish I linked up there but he gobbled these up without complaint.
Preheat oven to 350F. Line 2 12-cup muffin tins with liners or spray with baking spray.
Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the eggs, sugar, and vanilla until combined. Beat in sour cream, vegetable oil, and grated zucchini. Slowly add dry ingredients, scraping down the sides of the bowl as you go. Beat in cinnamon chips until just combined.
Fill the prepared muffin tins about 3/4 of the way full.
Bake for 20 - 23 minutes or until the muffins are golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
