Black Bean Spaghetti with Pasta Sauce and Soy-Sausage "Meat"balls

I've overlooked Lightlife's Gimme Lean sausage for a long, long time.  You can find it nearly everywhere so I never felt intrigued to try it.  Finally, I thought it was time.

I decided to use it to make spaghetti and "meat"balls using a number of delicious ingredients!

When I was last in My Organic Market, I picked up a package of Organic Black Bean Spaghetti Noodles made by Opal International in China. These gluten-free spaghetti noodles are just made of black beans and water. How cool!

I also got a jar of Bean Good pasta sauce by Mama Jess. This delicious pasta sauce has white bean puree in it giving it a hearty beany taste.

So, I put it all together to make the following meal:

Black Bean Spaghetti with Pasta Sauce and Soy-Sausage "Meat"balls
Ingredients

• 1/3 cup bread crumbs
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• Spices - basil, sage, and oregano to taste
• 1/4 cup soy milk or water
• 2 tsp vegan Worcestershire sauce
• Energ-G egg replacer mixed with water - equivalent to one egg
• 2 T minced onion
• 1 package of Gimme Lean's Sausage
• 1 package of Opal International's Black Bean Spaghetti or whole wheat spaghetti
• 1 jar of Mama Jess' Bean Good
• Galaxy Nutritional Foods' Vegan Parmesan Cheese

Instructions
This recipe is about as easy as it gets.  First, preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Then, mix the bread crumbs, salt, garlic powder, and spices together. Add the soy milk, vegan Worcestershire sauce (typical varieties contain anchovies), Ener-G egg replacer mixed with water to equal one egg (follow the directions on the box), onion, and Gimme Lean sausage. Mix it all together with your hands, then form little "meat"balls about 1.5-inches wide.

Place the "meat" balls on a non-stick pan and place them into the oven for 20-25 minutes until they are lightly browned.

In the meantime, boil some water and prepare your noodles.

You should also heat the spaghetti sauce in a saucepan on low heat.

The black bean noodles were surprisingly pretty plain tasting so they needed a flavorful sauce. This is where Mama Jess' Bean Good sauce comes in. With the great taste of tomatoes and white beans along with spices such as basil, fennel, and oregano, you get a sauce that carries its own!  Then top it off with these sausage "meat"balls and you have a complete meal. The Lightlife Gimme Lean sausage "meat" balls were delicious -- the perfect accompaniment to this meal.

Finally, I topped it with Galaxy Nutritional Foods' Vegan grated topping, which I have always loved!  This topping is non-dairy and casein- and lactose-free and tastes great. I use it any recipe calling for parmesan cheese.

I have to say that I loved this dish, but if I were to make it again, the only thing I would change is the noodles. As I mentioned, the black bean noodles were very cool, but they just weren't very flavorful. Regular, whole wheat noodles would probably be my choice in the future. Enjoy!