Saving money on groceries: Meet "neat" balls

Good morning! I hope you had a wonderful weekend (with a holiday bonus, for those in the USA). I've been catching up on various tasks that were awaiting me when we returned from our trip to the sunshine.

Our weather has been a mixed bag, here. But that's typical of Seattle spring (okay, so it's still winter, but I can dream, can't I?). Sunshine on Friday, rain on Saturday, with hail in the evening, then just clouds on Sunday and Monday.

Late Saturday afternoon, very dark clouds rolled in. Looking out into the woods behind our house, I felt like I was living in a fairy tale. Not a fairy-tale life (too much grit in my own life for that), but something out of Little Red Riding Hood. I half-expected to see the Big Bad Wolf in the shadows of our uber-tall evergreens!

But all this gray was whisked from my mind, Sunday night, when a very sweet young woman friend of my son's, gifted me with these! She just knew I would be needing a spot of color in the house! Lovely, thoughtful girl.

On another floral note, the branch cuttings from the red-flowering currant that I took on Friday are very close to showing color. I'll post a pic when the blossoms open.

But, I'm way off topic for the moment. What I wanted to share with you, today, is one of the ways we save money on our grocery bill. We eat several vegetarian dinners per week, specifically, we eat beans. I buy them dry, in large sacks, spending somewhere around 75 cents to $1 per pound, dried. When reconstituted with water, this per pound price drops to about 40 cents, or so, per pound. Not bad for good quality protein!

So, beans are cheap thrifty (trying to banish that "cheap" word from my vocabulary). They're also a good protein source. They're high in fiber and low in fat. And beans are great for a cholesterol-reducing diet. Beans are an all-around healthy food that are light on your wallet, too!

I like to mix things up a bit with my bean preparation. After all, beans could get monotonous, if we only ate them in a few ways.

Here's one variation on the theme of beans -- "Neat" balls.

Meet "neat" balls.

"neat" balls on homemade wheat roll, topped with marinara and cheese

"Neat" balls are a vegetarian alternative to meatballs. They are bean and grain based, held together with egg.

A batch of about 35 "neat"balls (8 or more servings), costs about 65-85 cents, a fraction of the meat alternative.

In these photos, I've used black beans, as that's what I currently have in the pantry. But I've also used pinto beans, garbanzo beans and small white beans. I mash mine with a potato masher, but they can be run through a food processor, for a more uniform look (great for disguising the bean-iness from the finicky eaters in your household). You can make them with canned beans or cook your beans from dried.

Here's what I use and how I make them:

about 4-5 cups drained, cooked beans
2 large slices bread (I use whole wheat sandwich bread, but any bread product will do fine)
1 large egg
1 teaspoon salt or 1 teaspoon beef soup base
4-6 small (or 2-3 large) cloves garlic
1/2 to 3/4 cup minced onion
dash red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons flour
1/2 cup rehydrated bulger wheat (optional, but it gives a nice chew to the balls)

• Beat the egg in a large bowl. Tear the bread into pieces, and allow to soak in the egg. Mash or puree the beans into the egg/bread. Stir in remaining ingredients. Allow to rest for 30 minutes in the fridge, to firm up the mixture.
• Butter a large baking sheet. Form the bean mixture into walnut-sized balls and place on the baking sheet. 
• Bake at 350 degrees F (176 C), for 20-25 minutes, or until firm when pressed lightly.

before baking

These can be used right away, or frozen, as is (no sauce), to be used later.

Some variations on the "neat" balls themselves

• for Italian neat balls, add oregano, basil, parsley
• for teriyaki neat balls, add ginger and chives

after baking -- lightly browned and firm to touch, and ready to sauce up

"Neat" balls will fall apart if left to simmer in a sauce for a length of time. So, ladle the sauce over just before serving.

Saucing up "neat" balls

• We eat these Italian-style with a marinara sauce poured over, and served atop pasta, or,
• in marinara sauce, on buns, then topped with mozzarella cheese, and toasted under the broiler until bubbly, for "neat" ball sandwiches.
• "Neat" balls, served in a mushroom gravy is a delicious comfort food when served with noodles.
• If made teriyaki-style, I serve on a bed of rice and pour a thickened teriyaki glaze, with green pepper and pineapple, over all.

The texture of "neat" balls is not much like meat. As well, they tend to be drier. So whichever way I serve "neat" balls, I allow for a lot of extra sauce.

Mixing things up a bit with the beans.

Forcing blooms indoors with cuttings from spring-flowering shrubs

I came home to beautiful winter-spring. That's what this time of year feels like to me. The morning was foggy as I drove my two daughters to school yesterday morning. But it was light out for a change. The fog burned off by 9 AM, and we had a glorious, sunny, but chilly, day -- so I call it winter-spring.


I walked the yard in the morning, looking for a hint of color. I found some primroses about to bloom.

butter-yellow primroses, all set to begin adding color to the spring garden

Crocus have broken through the soil,

in the garden, these creamy yellow snow crocus aren't ready for bloom

both in the garden and up on the deck.

but in a pot on the deck, Blue Pearl snow crocus are beginning their show

Rhubarb is just now popping up.

I can hardly wait for rhubarb pie!

Of the flowering shrubs, the flowering currant and forsythia are the first to bloom here. I can see the currant branches are aching to put on a show for me.

several of the red-flowering currant bushes have buds 

So, I ran and got my clippers and took several red-flowering currant branch cuttings and a couple of the forsythia as well. I think the forsythia still needs a few more days outside for good bud formation.

red-flowering currant branches standing in a sink of warm water

In less than a couple of weeks, I hope to have a nice show of color indoors!

I chose a wide-mouth canning jar for my branches.
I think they'll look lovely once in bloom.

How to force blooms on branches indoors

• February and March are the months to force forsythia and flowering currant. In our area mid to late February is the ideal time. The shrubs need about 8 weeks of below 40 degrees F temperatures, for bud formation. If your winter was late in beginning this year, wait a few weeks longer
• a woody plant such as forsythia is one of the best candidates for indoor forcing, but you can also force pussy willow, flowering currant and any of the early spring-flowering fruit trees. 
• leaf buds are the smaller buds on a branch, while flower buds are the larger ones. Look for branches with plenty of larger buds 
• take cuttings on a day when the temperature is above freezing. You can even do this while there is still snow on the ground, if the air temp is above freezing
• using pruners, clip off several branches about 2 to 3 feet in length
• bring indoors to a sink of warm water
• under water, cut off about 1 inch more, to allow uptake of water into the branch
• allow branches to stand in the water for 4 to 6 hours, 
• we have a rainy climate here, so the branches were wet with rain when I cut them. Standing the branches in water is sufficient. But if your climate is dry in winter, then you may wish to submerge the branches for this time period, to hydrate them thoroughly. 
• re-trim the ends under water once more
• stand in a vase with clean water. You can add flower preservative, if you have some. But I've taken cuttings and had them last beautifully for a couple of weeks, without any of the preservative.
• some people cover the branches with a plastic bag. In my experience, this just invites fungus to set in and ruin the blossoms as they form. But perhaps in drier climates this isn't an issue.
• keep out of direct sunlight, in a coolish room, about 60 to 65 degrees F. Too warm and the blossoms mature too quickly, then degrade rapidly
• keep out of direct air flow from heat registers. If air is particularly dry in your house, spray with a plant mister once or twice per day.
• if the buds were large to begin with, then you should expect to see some color within 4 to 8 days. If the buds were small at cutting time, then it will take longer to see color
• change the water and trim ends once per week

Enjoy your taste of spring!