Flexitarian Cajun Meatballs

What?!!? Sorry, I didn't know what else to call these mystery meatballs--since they're part-meat/part-veggie, "flexitarian" is the best I could come up with :) I was inspired by The Pioneer Woman's post of Ryan's Cajun Meatloaf. It looked so delicious, and spicy, and filled with colorful sweet peppers--how could I resist? The only problem being I was short on meat and short on time (notice I wasn't short on peppers :)). Solution? Cajun meatballs with the addition of pureed black beans. I added too many beans, however, making the insides a bit mushy (eek) so I had to flatten them out a little. Mini cajun sliders, anyone? It didn't effect the taste, though, and I made the adjustment to my recipe. I served these mystery delights with cooked carrots and cottage cheese which I though balanced the spicy/sweet meatballs nicely.

Sidenote: Since I was running short on time, I was a little chagrined at myself for buying regular carrots rather than the convenient baby-cut carrots (I kind of bought into all the hype about baby-cut carrots being dipped in chlorine, etc.). But I bucked up, and peeled and chopped some organic-grown carrots, and you know what? They were fantastic and worth the extra two minutes (seriously). Lesson learned.
Flexitarian Cajun Meatballs
2 large bell peppers (I used orange and yellow), small diced
1 large onion, small diced
4 stalks celery, small diced
3 to 4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp salt
1/2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 to 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/3 cup ketchup
1 cup bread crumbs
2 eggs
1 cup pureed black beans (w/ 1/3 cup ketchup added)
1 lb ground beef (I actually used 1.3 lbs)
ketchup
honey
(main difference with PW's recipe: I used smaller amounts of the spices (because of the kiddos), less meat, and omitted the milk since I was using pureed beans)

1. Heat a couple Tbsp of olive oil in a large saute pan. Saute peppers, onions and celery until they begin to soften. Add garlic and salt and cook a few minutes more. Add the rest of the spices, ketchup and bread crumbs. Remove from heat and mix well (mixture will be thick). Let cool.
2. Puree canned or cooked black beans with a little ketchup to loosen mixture.
3. In a large bowl, combine pepper mixture, beans, eggs and meat. Mix well. Roll into small balls (or use an ice cream scoop) and place on baking sheet lined with foil. Bake at 400 degrees for 20-30 minutes.
4. In a small bowl, mix 1/2 cup ketcup with 1 1/2 Tbsp honey. Glaze the top of the meatballs with ketchup mixture and bake an additional 3-4 minutes.
Makes 40-50 meatballs.