Eggplant Provencal + Black-Eyed Pea and Tempeh Beanballs

Happy Meatless Monday VegCookbook Cooks!

Last week I went outside my cooking comfort zone twice. It was my first time making my own meatless meatbals with the Black-Eyed Pea & Tempeh Beanballs recipe from Appetite for Reduction.

Black-eyed Pea and Tempeh Beanballs on Spaghetti with Mom's Marinara pp. 190-195

The hubs really liked them, but honestly, they were a little too tempeh-tasting for me.  I *did* love the addition of sliced zucchini and scallions from the Cajun Beanballs and Spaghetti recipe. Instead of making the Spicy Cajun version of Mom’s Marinara, I made it with mushroom and onions. Delish.  I love knowing that I can make my own spaghetti sauce now, and don’t have to buy it.

My second cooking adventure was cooking with fennel for the Eggplant Provencal recipe. I had to watch a video to learn how to clean the fennel!

Eggplant Provencal pp. 260-261

This photo doesn’t make it look very appealing, but I loved this dish. It reminded me of a beef stew that my mom made when I was little.  I’ll definitely be making it again. A terrific winter meal.

What recipes did you try this week?

You can participate in the VegCookbook Club in a variety of ways:

• Write about the recipes you tried in the comments. What did you like? What didn’t you like?  What changes did you make?
• Ask a question in the comments.
• Share a link to a post from your own blog about the recipes you made this week.
• Post photos of what you made in the VegCookbook Flickr group.
• Tweet about what you cooked with the hashtag #vegcookbookclub
• Post a photo on Instagram of what you cooked with the hashtag #vegcookbookclub

Full disclosure: The link to Appetite for Reduction is connected to my Amazon Associates account.  If you make a purchase after clicking on the link, I get a small percentage of the sale.