Scraps and Snippets ~ Meet "Meatloaf" (Not the Singer).

So this is kind of fun.

I subscribe to lots of Vegan blogs because I need lots of help in the creativity department, some or MOST of the time. Most posts I delete, but some I save for future reference. Today I found a fun one.

Okay. Maybe not fun. Fun might be kind of an extreme adjective for what I'm talking about.

I'm going to say quirky. Yeah. Quirky. Gazing In send me to The Magical Loaf Studios. Where you pick from a list of "meat"loaf components and the program gives you a recipe. A few months ago, when we first started eating Vegan I was on a quest to make a perfect meatloaf. The closest I got looked like this. And, it was okay. The downside, besides the texture, was that I had gone over dozens of recipes to find the tweaked recipe that I thought would work for me. Well, I didn't. I haven't given up. But summer is not a high "meat"loaf season anyhoo. And the darn quest just went on the back burner so to speak. But then here comes this little website.

I named mine Lentil Loafabout. Ha. Ha. And I'm totally going to make it.

Here's the recipe. And I'm thinking it's got to be pretty tasty. Go try your own idea out. I'll be sure to let you know how this goes over.

Lentil Loafabout

Ingredients:

1/2 cup sunflower seeds

2 TB olive oil

One onion, diced

One large garlic clove, minced

One large carrot, peeled and grated

Two celery ribs, diced

2 cups cooked lentils

1 cup uncooked quick oatmeal or oat bran

1/4 to 1/2 cup vegetable broth, as needed

1 heaping TB flaxseed meal

1/4 cup minced fresh parsley

1 tsp. ground cumin

2 TB nutritional yeast flakes

1 tsp. salt

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350�. Spray a loaf pan or 8x8 square baking pan with nonstick spray and set aside (an 8x8 pan makes a crisper loaf).

Grind the sunflower seeds into a coarse meal using a food processor or spice/coffee grinder. Place in a large mixing bowl and set aside.

Saut� any vegetables you've chosen in the olive oil until soft. Add to the large mixing bowl along with all the remaining ingredients. Mix and mash together well, adding only as much liquid as needed to create a soft, moist loaf that holds together and is not runny (you may not need to add any liquid if the grains and protein are very moist). Add more binder/carbohydrate as needed if the loaf seems too wet.

Press mixture into the prepared pan and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until cooked through.

Let the loaf cool in the pan for 10 to 15 minutes, then turn out onto a plate or platter and slice. Serve with potatoes, vegetables, and vegetarian gravy, if desired.

Cold leftover slices of Lentil Loafabout make a great sandwich filling.

*Disclaimer: I have not personally tried every possible combination of ingredients and therefore cannot vouch for the tastiness or efficacy of every Dinner Loaf creation. Happy eating!