Sunday Comfort Food: Lentil Loaf

I don’t know if it is childhood nostalgia or just being home with family, but Sunday to me is all about comfort food and a nice family dinner. 

Although we eat as a family every night for dinner, Sunday is more special.  I love to prepare something my grandmother would have made. Only my version is a meatless comfort food.  Lentil loaf with mashed potato/cauliflower, veggies and apple cinnamon muffins were my menu.  These meals are a little more calorie dense, so Sunday, just as my grandmother made, dinner is early, about 3pm.  Eating early gives you plenty of time to digest and get your body moving before bed.  I also rarely make a dessert, because the meal is always lick your plate good, and would rather have seconds than dessert, most days.

I did not write down the whole recipe, I made this as I saw what was in the fridge, but I will give you a brief description of what is in it and how I made it. 

Lentil Loaf

For the lentil loaf, in a skillet I sautéed finely chopped peppers, onions, mushrooms, celery, garlic and bits of carrot. Kind of like what you would put in a stuffing.  I added the lentils to a bowl, rehydrated 1 cup tvp in vegetable broth, then added all my sautéed vegetables to the bowl.  I made a flax egg, and added some whole wheat bread crumbs.  To season, I used a pinch of salt, Mrs. Dash Steak Blend, garlic and onion powder, Italian seasoning, a little ketchup and Worcestershire sauce.  To bind extra well, I added two tbsp. of vital wheat gluten.  I mixed the whole bowl of ingredients to form a big ball.

In a casserol dish, I spread a tsp. of olive oil.  Then I turned the ball into the casserole dish and formed a log.  Once it looked good and solid, I coated the loaf with a mixture of sweet and spicey bbq sauce.  I poured my frozen vegetables around the loaf, added a splash of vegetable broth to the veggies, and popped it in the oven for 45 minutes at 400.

It came out gorgeous.  My mom and neighbor Lisa stopped by later in the evening and both tasted it.  I got the thumbs up for both of these omni’s.  My mom had made a meatloaf earlier that day and said hers was not nearly as tasty, she wanted the recipe to try and make it instead of the meatloaf next time. Now, that is progress!

THE SIDES:

Mashed Cauliflower and Potatoes

I steamed two red potatoes in with a bag of cauliflower and turned them into pure heaven in the food processor.  They were superb. Creamy, thick, and so full of flavor.  The only ingredients I added to them were, a pinch of salt, Mrs. Dash Garlic Blend, a tbsp. of vegan sour cream, some nutritional yeast and 1 tbsp. of Earth Balance.  I mixed them in the food processer until they were thick and creamy.

Apple Muffins

I used an  organic store bought muffin blend, I mixed in flax eggs and two small diced up apples, with some extra cinnamon.  I put them in the oven the last 20 minutes of bake time with the lentil loaf.  They came out beautiful and tasted like my grandmother’s Jewish Apple Cake that she made on special occasions.

Because the whole meal cooked itself in the oven over forty five minutes, I even got most of my mess cleaned up before dinner.  Mya and Andy devoured the whole meal. 

 

 

I hope you try this some Sunday.  It is a delicious and healthy way to enjoy a family meal.

Ciao,

Maria