Pumpkin Sage Balls shaped with SXSW performers Arms and The Megaphonic Thrift

With standardized testing season upon us at school, it is easy to forget about some of the finer things in life. Like birthdays. Our team, which has been pretty good about making everyone's special day just that, totally blew it with KC. We skipped right over her birthday and didn't even recognize it. Thankfully we were given the opportunity for a do over and we made the best of it.

KC's special lunch included a fruit bowl, Cuban bread, various mayonnaise based salads, a cookie cake and mini pumpkin sage balls dipped in Tabasco sauce (my addition). Due to a lack of bread crumbs I had to slightly modify the Vegetarian Times Recipe. Here's my version:

Pumpkin Sage Balls (adapted from Vegetarian Times, March 2009)
(printable version)

-olive oil
-1/2 of an onion, finely
-2 cloves garlic, minced
-2 1/2 tsp sage
-3/4 cup pumpkin puree
-1/2 cup plain breadcrumbs
-1/4 cup saltines, finely ground
-1 egg
-sea salt to taste
-ground black pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.

2. Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray. Set aside.

3. Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add onion and cook until light brown (about ten minutes), stirring occasionally. Add garlic and sage, and cook 2 minutes more. Set aside.

4. Combine pumpkin puree, breadcrumbs, saltines, egg, salt, and pepper in a large metal bowl. Mix until the egg has been beaten. Add the onion, garlic and sage mixture. Mix until the onions have been spread throughout the puree. Form into 1 1/2 -inch balls. Place the balls on the coated baking sheet and bake for 13-15 minutes (you want the bottoms of the balls to be golden brown).

5. Serve with Tabasco Sauce.

KC is a big karaoke fan, so as I slaved over the hot oven heat I did my best to make her proud. I belted out the tunes of Brooklyn's Arms, who have just released a new EP and are offering it for free. My favorite track so far is "Hot Heat and Water." You can check that one out here courtesy of MV Remix.

Arms-Hot Heat and Water

But why do that when you can, like I mentioned above, get the entire EP free. Just follow the link below.

Arms EP 2010

I also busted out "Acid Blues" by Norway's The Megaphonic Thrift. These guys have a new album Decay Decoy which was released March 1st via Hype City. You can purchase the album here. The Megaphonic Thrift are currently stateside. You can catch them tonight in NYC at the Bowery Electric for a SXSW send off show or at SXSW where they will be appearing five times over the course of two days (17th and 18th). Here is their video for "Acid Blues."



A couple other balls recipes you might enjoy:
Vegetarian Meatballs
Tofu-Spinach Dumplings