Family Movie Nights & Vege Spaghetti and Meatballs

I love a family tradition.
There is something so wonderful and warm and loving about them.

We don't have all that many of them in our family so my girls and I started a few of our own and one of our absolute favourites in our Family Movie Nights

Every Friday night our little group of 3 get excited about our Friday night. We plan it all week.
We pick our movie, and a lot of thought goes into this. Sometimes it a beloved classic aka Disney, sometimes it's a family fave, sometimes its a recent release and sometimes it is blast from the past!
(these are the most fun for me - recently we watched The Aviator!!)

I always make a big batch of organic homemade popcorn seasoned with pink himilayan salt and a tiny dash of olive oil, usually something like Pink Lemonade or my kids favourite Coconut Water, coconutty water as my youngest calls it! (and mummy might have a nice wine - especially if it is say a Barbie movie!)

And my favourite part is the fun dinner we put together, to go with the movie we usually have our own version of a popular takeaway so it could be pizza's, fish and chips, nuggets and dipping sauces, kebab's, burgers, noodle boxes, sausage rolls, party pies, hot dogs or something that goes with the movie!

One of our latest was spaghetti and vege meatballs while watching, yep, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs! It was such a hit with the kids! I have since made it several times and the 'meatballs' themselves, also make stunning hors d'oeuvre's - make them much smaller with extra chili and serve on toothpicks YUM!

  Vege Spaghetti and Meatballs

Ingredients

• 1 cup breadcrumbs (I made my own with spelt, sour dough bread but you could make your own with any nice bread, I would just recommend not white bread)
• 1/2 cup Quinoa crumbs (most supermarkets have these now - or you could check your local health food store)
• 3 free range eggs
• 1 can sanitarium nutmeat - see NOTES for my alternative to make your own
• 2 teaspoons dried thyme
• 2 tablespoons grated fresh Parmesan (please not the icky stuff in the tin)
• 1/4 cup finely chopped walnuts
• 1 cup baby spinach
• 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves
• extra basil leaves
• 4 cloves Australian garlic (you could also use Gourmet Garden)
• 1/2 fresh red chili, fineli chopped - optional (You could also use Gourmet Garden)
• 1 small onion

Method

• Fry the onion in a frying pan until lightly transparent, add in the garlic, chili and thyme, stir together 2-3 minutes.
• Remove from heat.
• Finely chop the baby spinach leaves.
• In a large bowl roughly mash up the nutmeat until pliable, add in the breadcrumbs, eggs, quinoa crumbs, spinach, walnuts and onion mix, mix well together. 
• Roughly tear up the basil ( I love doing this the smell is always so gorgeous!)
• Mix the basil and Parmesan through the mix.
• With your hands (yes I love my hand on cooking) roll mixture into balls until you have done all of it.
• Lightly fry a few of these at a time over a medium heat in a little olive oil or oil of choice..
• Remove from heat and drain on paper towel.
• Make your favourite tomato pasta sauce here is one of my really hearty ones you can make well ahead or you can make a lovely simple one by frying some onion and garlic, add in a tin of tomatoes,some fresh basil leaves, a little thyme and chili and some passata sauce.
• Cook your spaghetti noodles of choice (we are really loving CT Fine Foods Pasta at the moment)
• When your noodles are almost cooked add the meatballs into your still warm cooked tomato pasta sauce for a few minutes so they become plump, warm and delicious.
• Serve bowls of spaghetti, topped with tomato pasta sauce and delicious vege meatballs.
• You can serve topped with some fresh basil leaves and a sprinkling of fresh Parmesan.

Notes

• These vege meat balls make incredible hors d'oeuvre's, make them nice and small, with an extra hit of chili and serve warm or cold on toothpicks with a great dipping sauce.
• For an alternative version:
  1 & 1/2 cups breadcrumbs, 1/2 cup quinoa crumbs,1 cup peanuts, 1/2 cup cashews, 1/4 cup macadamias, 1/4 cup walnuts, 1 cup spinach, 1/2 cup basil, 1 onion, 4 cloves garlic, 3 free range eggs, 2 teaspoon thyme, 2 tablespoons Parmesan,
  Bash the nuts in a morter and pestal until mostly crumby. Mix all ingredients together in a bowl and follow directions above. 

Toddler Tips

• This is great for toddlers who love the tomato pasta sauce and spaghetti noodles.
• Make some of the meatballs nice and toddler bite sized.

(c)RebeccaMugridge2013