“Meatloaf” Heaven

As a kid I would have to say one of my favorite dinners was meatloaf, mashed potatoes and veggies. My mom combined beef and pork and later when I found out that beef made me sick I made mine with ground turkey and pork. These days it’s a totally different story. 

I’ve gone through a number of vegetarian loaves - one of my favorites is a carrot and seed loaf, which is not Dan’s favorite. I’ve also made and had intermittent success with a lentil and kidney bean loaf but my last few attempt were dismal. Lately I’ve been searching for a vegetarian loaf that is not mushy and filled with veggies. I found this one at Nadia’s Healthy Kitchen and decided to give it try (mostly because it has rosemary in it and I love rosemary!). Rosemary is one of my favorite herbs and it really adds a nice dimension to the dish. 

The recipe makes 10 servings, we sliced it a bit thicker but still got 3 meals out of it (so 6 - 7 servings), which was perfect because 2 nights of leftovers is generally my limit! The first night we served it with asparagus, the second roasted cauliflower and broccoli and some delicious cranberry walnut bread and tonight we finished it off with roasted sweet potato and a small green salad (ok it was not small but who can resist spinach, cukes, tomatoes, carrots, peppers, avocados, raisins, shaved onion and a red wine vinaigrette - not me!) 

If you want to view all the pretty pictures and a great blog post, go to the link below - if you want the down and dirty recipe keep reading :-) Oh and I have made a few changes (but of course)

1 can chickpea

1 can green lentils

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1 cup baby portabella mushrooms, thinly sliced

4 cloves garlic, crushed

3 medium carrots, grated

1 egg, beaten

1/4 cup ground almonds

1/4 cup wheat flour

1/2 cup oats

1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce

1/4 cup tomato paste

3 tbsp soy sauce

1 tsp mustard

2 tbsp fresh chopped rosemary (you can also use thyme or sage)

salt & pepper to taste

Sauce

4 tbsp tomato paste

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1.5 tbsp honey

1/2 tsp mustard

1 tbsp water

Preheat your oven to 375*F

Sauté the chopped onions in a little bit of oil for 5 minutes then add in the crushed garlic and rosemary and cook for another minute. Take off the heat and leave to cool.

Drain and rinse the lentils and chickpeas. Transfer them to your food processor along with the mushrooms and blend. Depending on the size of your food processor you may need to blend in batches. We were able to blend everything at the same time in our Vitamix.

Transfer the blended lentils, chickpeas and mushrooms into a large bowl.

Add in the rest of the ingredients, including the sautéd onion and garlic. Mix everything well until you have an even, thick batter. Transfer the mixture into a loaf tin lined with parchment paper and 

bake for 30 minutes.

While the loaf is baking, mix together the sauce ingredients in a small bowl. I have to confess I didn’t read this part very well. I put all the sauce ingredients into the same pan I salted the onions and mushrooms in (it could have been that Friday night glass of wine :-)) When I realized the mistake, we simply mixed the ingredients over a low heat, removed it from the burner and then continued on with the recipe. 

Take the loaf out of the oven after 30 minutes. Spread the sauce mixture evenly on top. Return to the oven and bake for another 20-30 minutes. Let rest for 10 minutes and then slice. 

I’d have to say as it aged I liked it more, the texture became firm and the spices came together - it will definitely be on the regular rotation. 

If you have a veggie loaf that you like send the recipe along I’m always looking for new veggie adventures