quinoa and (not)meatballs

this was meant to be spaghetti and meatballs but at the last minute i looked in the cupboard and there was no spaghetti! so out came the quinoa instead! the photo i took looks very professional with the white background - however the meal was just plonked on his white high chair tray and the white tray turned out to be quite an effective background for the shot!

you could follow the recipe for lentil balls on the 11/3/11 post and the tomato based pasta sauce recipe on the 5/2/11, however the following recipe i whizzed up a less complicated version.

1/2 C cooked green lentils
1-2 T protein powder (i use sun warrior raw brown rice protein powder) or flour
1/2 tsp golden kelp
1/4 C quinoa (or 25g spaghetti)
1/2 C boiling water
1/2 C tomato paste
1/2 C broccoli, kale and eggplant chopped
1/2 clove garlic
1/4 C water

mix the lentils and golden kelp with enough protein powder or flour to make a dough that will clump together easily into small balls. shape the balls and fry, grill or bake.
place quinoa with 1/2 C boiling water in a pot and cook covered on low heat until water is absorbed (normally takes 10-15mins).
add the remaining ingredients in a separate pot. cover and cook over medium heat for 10 mins (or until vegies are soft but brocolli hasn't lost it's bright green colour).
serve together on the high chair tray. blend quinoa, sauce and lentils (before making them into balls) for younger babies.
make larger proportions of this to share as dinner for the whole family.

a drizzle of tahini over this dish would make it even tastier i think.