Veggie Nuggets
My husband ate my blog post.
Yep, you read that right, my husband ATE my blog post.
I made some delicious little veggie nuggets for dinner last night, and before the ravenous hoards scoffed the lot, I hid a couple in a container in the fridge so I could photograph them in better light this morning.
So, this morning rolls around, the sun is shining, our family room is filled with glorious, good photo taking, light so I go to the fridge to grab the veggie nuggets and they are gone. GONE!
I send a frantic text to my husband.
Me – Do you know what happened to the left-overs from dinner that were in the red container?????
Him – I ate them.
Me – You WHAT?????
Him – I got hungry last night while I was watching a movie. Was that a bad thing??
Me – Arrrrghhhh!!!!!
I am pretty sure these things don’t happen to the real food bloggers.
I am pretty sure Not Quite Nigella and Averie Cooks don’t have to deal with peckish husbands who snack on their blog posts in the middle of the night! But that’s how it is at our place.
I’m going to have to start labeling my fridge containers like I am a uni student living in a share house – “Blog post, DO NOT EAT!’
Lucky for my husband, I happened to put a few in the freezer to see how well they’d freeze (and they freeze well) so I cooked up a few more while the sun was still shining, and turned them into a monster lunch for Noah.
- 6-8 medium sized mashing potatoes
- 1 onion, finely diced
- 1 clove of garlic, finely diced
- 2 large carrots, grated
- broccoli, diced and steamed.
- spinach finely chopped and steamed.
- 1 egg
- 2 cups breadcrumbs
- 2 tbs herbs
- salt and pepper
- olive oil
- The exact amounts in this recipe will vary according to how many nuggets you want to make, and feel free to substitute other veggies to add to the potato base.
- Boil and mash the potatoes and allow to cool.
- Steam or microwave the broccoli until it is quite soft but not falling apart.
- Steam or microwave the spinach until soft (I put it in with the broccoli!)
- While potatoes are cooling add a little olive oil to a medium sized pan and cook the onion and garlic until they are soft and translucent.
- Add the grated carrot and cook on a medium heat until the carrot is nice and soft.
- Add the broccoli and spinach to the carrot mixture and cook until everything is nicely softened, mash the broccoli slightly as you cook it.
- Add the veggie mixture to the mashed potatoes along with a tablespoon of fresh or dried herbs (whatever you have on hand), salt and pepper to taste, and an egg. Mix well.
- If your mixture is too dry add another egg, if it is too wet add some breadcrumbs until it is of a consistency that you can roll into balls and squish into nuggets.
- Combine the other tablespoon of herbs with the breadcrumbs in a shallow dish. Form nuggets from your veggie mixture and coat them with breadcrumbs .
- Once you have made all your nuggets, heat a little more olive oil in a fry pan and fry the patties until they are warmed through and brown on both sides.
- Serve with your favourite dipping sauce.
We ate these as a side dish to our chicken strip dinner last night, with a simple garlic, yoghurt and mint dip. And today Noah ate his monsterous veggie nuggets for lunch with salad and tomato sauce.
These veggie nuggets look delicious! I can see why hubby helped himself to the left-overs. I’m not the greatest cook Kate so I was wondering if you have any ideas of what I could use instead the egg? Any thoughts? I’m keen to try this. :)
The egg is just to bind it… so it may be find without it, but if you find it’s not staying together enough I’d try adding a little plain flour and a splash of milk (or any non-dairy milk).. the milk and flour kind of act like a glue and should help it stay together more.
Let me know if you try it, and perhaps someone else who is dealing with an egg allergy can tell us what they use to stick things together!
You can use flax seed and a little water for the binding consistency of an egg… :-)
I use an egg free mayo. It works to bind. Approx a tablespoon is enough. :)
To replace the egg you can use one of these things (the amounts listed will replace one egg):
-Ener-G Egg Replacer (follow package directions)
-2Tbsp cornstarch + 2Tbsp water
-2Tbsp potato starch + 2Tbsp water
-2Tbsp instant mashed potatoes
-1Tbsp finely ground flax seeds whipped with 1/4 water (someon
-1/4 cup any kind of tofu blended with 1Tbsp flour
You can also for some recipes use:
-flour (wheat, bean, oat, soy)
-tomato paste
-arrowroot starch
-quick cooking rolled oats or cooked oatmeal
-finely crushed bread crumbs, cracker meal (can stick crackers in the blender), or matzo meal
Hope this helps. I compiled these from PETA’s Ultimate Vegan Baking Sheet (available on their page) and from literature I received from the C.H.I.P. program. (Coronary Health Improvement Project).
aaha my husband ate my blog post.
it’s the blogger version of ‘the dog at my homework’ LOL
When you said they freeze well, is that before or after you browned them? Do I need to keep them separated with wax paper?
I am looking for inspirational ways to feed the children vegies,, I cooked these for lunch for my 2 and they loved them! Although I did substitute the bread crumbs for crushed cornflakes for my son who is gluten free. I am sure this recipe will become a regular at home. Thankyou!!
They look delicious! Think they’d freeze well?
Have you or anyone tried to bake them?
What herbs did you use in your veggie nuggets?
We use whatever herbs we have in the garden – usually rosemary, chives, oregano and basil, but you can use whatever combination you like.
I bookmarked this recipe awhile back, and finally got around to making them tonight. They were a huge hit! Just delicious. Thanks!
So glad you liked them, they are very popular here too!
Instead of potatoes, would it be possible to use mashed chickpeas? I am trying to incorporate more child friendly vegetarian meals and thought that may make them more filling (to be used as a meal instead of a side)?
I’ve never tried making them with chick peas. I think you’d need to whizz them in the food processor and add something (bread crumbs, or flour maybe?) to help it all stick together. If you give it a try let us know how you go.