Veggie Quinoa-Lentil Loaf
Are you a fake meat & potatoes kind of person?
I was craving red meat (as in meatloaf) but as I have been trying to eliminate red meat from my plate, I did not want to cave in. Most of the veggie loafs out there are soy based, however, and I am soy sensitive (hypothyroid) so I developed this recipe instead. It uses vegetables, Quinoa (my favorite!) and lentils.
VEGGIE QUINOA-LENTIL LOAF
- Veggies of your choosing (I used six mushrooms, two carrots, two small zucchinis, four stalks of brocclini)
- 1 c. diced onions
- 1 c. cooked quinoa
- 8 oz. cooked lentils (you can add less, but sub for more veggies)
- seasoning of your liking
- BBQ sauce (optional)
- 1 egg
- Breadcrumbs (homemade or store bought, I used Trader Joe brand)
(1) Cook lentils & quinoa as instructed
(2) Wash, then slice up veggies (they don’t have to be finely chopped)
(3) Saute veggies until excess water is out
(4) Add lentils, quinoa and veggies to food processor & pulse until finely processed
(5) Scrape mixture into a large bowl, add diced onions, your seasons (sea salt, pepper, sage, basil, thyme, curry, garlic, onion) and incorporate ingredients.
(6) Add binding: one beaten egg & as much finely chopped bread crumbs as necessary. ALTERNATIVELY: Use BBQ sauce/any sauce as binding & seasoning and mix in mixture before adding to tin loaf pan
(7) Spread BBQ sauce on bottom of loaf tin, then empty mixture into cooking sprayed loaf tin and mold to its shape. Add BBQ on top if you like.
(8) Cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes at 375 degrees. Once heated through, remove from oven, slice, serve and enjoy!
NOTES:
- In the future, I am going to use less lentils, more veggies and same amount of Quinoa
More pictures and recipes for my BBQ sauce & mushroom wine gravy are at my blog