Cranberry Orange Sauce

1. In a small bowl or a glass measuring cup whisk together the water and ground flaxseed, set aside.
2. Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium heat. Add oil, onion, carrot, celery and mushrooms. Sauté for about 4-6 minutes or until they are partially cooked without becoming soft. Add ground sage, salt, and pepper, stir well and remove from the heat.
3. Make sure the oven rack is in the middle of the oven and the second one is just below. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two large rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper and set them aside.
4. In a food processor, gently pulse the cranberries until they are finely chopped. Tip into a large bowl. Add walnuts to the food processor and gently pulse them. Add them to the cranberries. Add rolled oats and lentils to the food processor and pulse gently, you don’t want to make a paste, they should still look like oats and lentils just finely chopped. Tip into the large bowl. Stir well.
5. Tip the cooked vegetables into the food processor and gently pulse until they are more finely chopped, but not a mushy mess. Add to the bowl. Stir in well.
6. Add the soy sauce or tamari to the water flaxseed mixture and whisk well. Pour into the vegetable/lentil mixture and mix really well.
7. Scoop a heaping 1 Tbsp amount of the lentil mixture onto the prepared pans. You should get between 40-42 lentil balls. Bake for 20 minutes and then reverse the pans: bringing the bottom one to the top rack and vice versa. Bake for another 10-15 minutes.
8. Meanwhile, make the sauce: In a small saucepan mix together the cranberries, orange, sugar, and water. Bring to the boil, reduce heat, and stir occasionally until the cranberries have burst and the mixture is fairly thick. Remove from heat and let cool.
9. When the lentil balls are ready, serve each one with a dob of cranberry-orange sauce.