My Little Vegetarian

Much to my hubby's dismay, our LBB has taken quite an aversion to meat. (Dear Sweet Hubby loves steaks, burgers, chicken...you name it.)

And thusly, I've been having a little bit of difficulty finding things to feed him besides pasta, pasta, and more pasta. :) But today for lunch, he finally ate a healthy meal of Strawberries, Rice Balls (I'm going to post the recipe in a bit), and shelled edamame.

It was LBB's first time eating edamame, and to be honest, I wasn't expecting a lot, but surprisingly, he ate! Woo Hoo! Score one for Mommy!

And it's crazy because this little guy can find a tiny shred of pork mixed in with his tomato salsa when we eat at Chipotle! He'll sit there, put the tomato in his mouth, and pull the little tiny nearly invisible piece of pork out of his mouth. Craziness.

So, needless to say, in an effort to eat better, get LBB to eat, and honestly, save some money, we are starting to eat more vegetarian meals. We still have meat twice a week...one night red meat, another night white meat. It's working out pretty well, and we're all learning to get accustomed to new foods.

And here's the recipe for Rice Balls...we made them with our spaghetti the other night, but to be honest, these are delicious even by themselves! LBB and I had the leftovers for lunch today...yum yum yum!

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SPICY RICE BALLS

2 C cooked white rice
1/2 C quick-cooking oats
1 medium onion, chopped (1/2 C)
1/4 C dry bread crumbs (although I did increase this to make it all stick together)
1/4 C milk
1 TBSP chopped fresh or 1 tsp dried basil leaves
2 tsp chopped fresh or 1/2 tsp dried oregano leaves
1/4 tsp ground red pepper (cayenne)
1 large egg, beaten
1/2 C wheat germ
1 TBSP vegetable oil

Mix rice, oats, onion, bread crumbs, milk, basil, oregano, red pepper, and egg. Shape mixture into 12 balls. Roll balls into wheat germ. Heat oil in 10-inch skillet over medium heat. Cook balls in oil about 10 minutes, turning occasionally, until light golden brown.

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These are seriously so yummy, and so simple to make! The rice does get sticky, and I ended up having to wash my hands a few times in between just so I could roll the balls without having issues. :) But that was my only issue with the recipe, and I've gotta say, Dear Sweet Hubby even loved them...and gave the A-OK for making these the majority of the time when we have Spaghetti and "Meatballs". Yep, they were THAT good.