Nate's Zesty Italian Meatless Meatballs

Tonight's dinner was an interesting event.  I had decided to make spaghetti and "meatballs"  since my 6 year old son had been begging for some and we had some night rolls I had picked up that I wanted to eat fresh.  My plan was to try a meatball recipe that I had been given while at whole foods from an employee who had heard me talking to my friend about my son wanting meatballs.  Her meatballs involved 2 types of beans and some tofu among other things.  Enter husband's best friend who is the biggest anti-bean and picky eater I know.  So beans are suddenly out of my dinner plans.  Hmm okay, well we'll just go with Boca crumbles in the sauce and it will be fine and I  have some frozen meatballs I had been meaning to try that the rest of us will eat.  So I send the boys to the store for Boca- I don't really use it much anymore so I had non on hand and they come back with :

• Angry Orchard
• Falafel balls
• mushroom and egg white meat balls (for the friend)
• and spring rolls (which they promptly start heating up)  Seriously??  

So I tell my hubby we're gonna pass on using the Falafel balls because I honestly can't picture using them as a meatball substitute and he gets all crabby knowing we won't eat the mushroom and egg white ones.  I thought we were just doing meat sauce and I was going to heat up a few frozen meatballs for the kid? Okay. So I pull the Nate's Zesty out of the freezer and the hubby freaks out "I thought you said you weren't gonna make meatballs because of the beans"  Well dear as I stated before your trip to the store the home made ones I was going to try to make were being canceled but I had frozen ones hanging around to try.  "Well then why did I buy all of this?"  ......  "I have no idea."

To the point

So I baked them up.  There is an option to cook them stove top (in the sauce), in the oven, or in the microwave.  I chose the oven based upon the fact I had to heat it up anyway for the best's friends mushroom and egg white balls.  I never tossed them in the sauce so I do not know if that would have changed the texture severely or not.  I baked them, plated them with the spaghetti and the poured my sauce over the top of it all for each individual.  The texture of the meatballs this way in my opinion was nice- they were firm and not mushy at all. I've had trouble in the past with other meatball type products falling apart of being crumbly but these held their form and didn't have a crazy texture at all .  The flavor was good.  It was nothing like my grandma's meatballs but I do not really expect any vegan product to be.  I could see using them for a meatball sandwich easily and it being delicious.  I had one without sauce and liked it just as well.  It just had a good flavor that blended nicely with the sauce and did not seem out of place or lacking in any way.  I would buy them again no problem, and enjoy them.