Vegetarian Sweet and Sour Meatballs

"The first time I made them I followed the recipe the way it is. But as I was adding the ingredients, I realized how much sodium and fat would be in it. The texture turned out way too hard and all you ..." See morecould taste was bread crumbs, I think that 2 cups of bread crumbs is too much. However, I still had a feeling this recipe could be good, so today I made several changes: 1 whole egg + 2 egg whites, fat free cottage cheese, 1/4 cup of 2% cheddar + 1/2 cup parmesan, 2 minced garlic cloves, onion, spices and 1 cup of bread crumbs. For the sauce: I reduced apricot jam to 1/3 cup, ketchup to 1/3 cup as well, and didn't add any oil just sprayed some Smart Balance before baking. I think that the key was to add less bread crumbs, you really don't need more than 1 cup. It turned out fantastic! I would have never imagined this combination of flavors would be soo good!"

"Great, delicious recipe! What a wonderful way to have meatballs again. The only advice I have with it is to make sure the pecans are FINELY ground. I left ours a little big and they added an unnece..." See moressarily crunchy quality to them-- but they still tasted great!"

"Even though these are vegetarian, they seemed overly high in calories and fat. I pulled out all the stops in order to try to reduce both. Instead of 4 whole eggs, I added 1 cup of egg substitute (li..." See moreke Eggbeaters). I also used fat-free cheddar cheese and non-fat cottage cheese. I used 1/2 nuts instead of the full 1 cup (I had cashews and almonds on-hand) and finally I used panko bread crumbs instead of regular bread crumbs. Things I added include: 1 tsp Italian herb mix, 2 carrots and 2 stalks of celery minced in a food processor, and 1/4 cup vital wheat gluten. For the sauce I completely omitted the oil and used sugar-free apricot spread. This made about 16 large balls. The flavor was actually very good and I've already made this recipe this way a couple of times. Even my non-dieting and non-vegetarian boyfriend liked them. The only slight issue with them may be the texture (they come out of the oven a little soft). When left in the fridge overnight they actually firm up quite a bit and are perfect. I think one could also throw the batter into a loaf pan and make a "meat"loaf out of this. According to my (rough) calculations, each meatball has only about 120 calories and very little fat."