Italian Style Meaties

These are really delicious and they can be used in many ways. You can serve them as patties, topped with your favorite salsa or pasta sauce, or you can cut them into strips or coarse chunks and throw them back into the skillet and toss them with some tomatoes, peppers, onion rings and a bit f your favorite pasta sauce, until they are juicy and tender and have soaked up some of the sauce and the vegetables have softened but are still crunchy (3 or 4 minutes) and you can use them to top rice, millet, quinoa, couscous, pasta or pair them with mashed potatoes or anything you like. They are also delicious as an addition to burritos, wraps and pita sandwiches. Enjoy!

1 cup Old Fashioned oats (soaked in 1/2 cup water until soft)

1 cup Arborio or any starchy, short grain rice of your preference, cooked till soft (follow package instructions)

1/2 cup cracked wheat, cooked as per package instructions until it has the consistency of rice

1/2 cup breadcrumbs

1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1 large tomato, seeded and coarsely chopped

1/4 cup sweet green pepper strips

1/4 cup sweet red pepper strips

1 small onion, peeled and coarsely chopped

1/4 cup raw sesame seeds

1 tsp. garlic powder or 2 garlic cloves (1/2 tsp. garlic powder or 1 garlic clove if you are not a great garlic lover)

3 1/2 Tbsp. cornstarch

3 Tbsp. sweet paprika powder

1 Tbsp. olive oil + more

Salt to taste

1 tsp, Italian Seasoning

1/2 tsp. coriander seed powder (you can grind them with a mortar and pestle or in a clean coffee grinder)

Water

In a food processor or blender with only enough water to process, grind the tomato, onion, peppers, the garlic (if  you use cloves), into a paste. Scrape into a bowl and add the rest of the ingredients. Form patties of your preferred size with your hands.

Cook in a skillet that has been barely painted with olive oil till golden brown on both sides.

Yield: About 14, depending on size you make them in

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