Lentil Loaf

Lentils! Its whats for dinner! Does your mouth start watering when you hear the word? Oh well, pooh.


Now you should know that my dear husband is very much a carnivore. He's not full until he's had meat with his meal.Wanting to expand my legume horizons I delved into lentils last year. We had them in stew, we had them as sprouts but the best way to have them was as meatless loaf.

I naturally had to research meatless loaf for just the best recipe. They all called for some random ingredient that I am apparently just not granola-crunchy enough to have in my cabinets. Having a newborn and a two year old a the time this lentil cooking urge hit, hunting down random culinary ingredients was not an option. Finding dried lentils with the kids in tow was achievement in itself. So, I consolidated several recipes into one that contained standard to my kitchen ingredients.

 I'm using the term "loaf" loosely because actually I spread it out in 9x13 pan about an inch or so thick for quicker baking. It will look like something that the cat hacked up. Fear not. It will look like meat loaf once cooked. Even the meat eaters will eat this. Lentils has its own taste that I would describe as spicy but not hot. Between the lentils and the mushrooms it is satisfying like meat even if it doesn't taste like ground beef.

• 2 cups dry lentils boiled until soft and lightly mashed
• 1 cup cooked brown rice, (or my dad loves this with black rice)
• 1 cup oat flour (stick rolled oatmeal oats in your blender--voila, oat flour)
• 1 large onion
• 1 package mushrooms
• 1 bell pepper (optional)
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp salt (more or less to taste)
• 1 tsp thyme
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp rosemary
• 2 tbs Worcestershire sauce
• 3 tbs vinegar

cook drain and mash up lentils a bit
chop and saute veggies
mix all ingredients and bake in greased dish at 375 30 min
then top with catchup and finish baking until well set 

My dad doesn't digest ground beef well anymore. I've shared the recipe with him and now it is one of his favorite. He uses, french lentils, black rice and he adds cheese at the end to melt on top.