I stopped eating ground beef almost five years ago after having my gall bladder removed. I learned very quickly that my body can no longer tolerate greasy, fatty or fried foods. It has taken a long time to develop recipes that would replace the ground beef in certain recipes. I finally came up with the perfect meatless ground meat substitute that works great for any recipe where ground meat would be used. I even use it for hamburgers. But, it just doesn't work right for meatloaf.
I kept working with different ingredients and tweaking recipes until I came up with the perfect meatless meatloaf. To keep this recipe totally vegan you can use one flax egg in place of the regular egg. This recipe is made with cooked lentils, bread crumbs, grated carrot, onion, red bell pepper and celery and just the right amount of seasonings. The SOFT bread crumbs in this recipe really help give this meatloaf a lighter texture and helps keep if from being too dense. This has become my go-to "meatloaf" recipe that we have at least twice a month.
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
First place the cooked lentils into a large bowl and lightly mash them. You could use a potato masher for this step, but I just use my washed, clean hands. Next add the rest of the ingredients to the lentils. For the vegetables, I throw them in my food processor and pulse them until they are a grated consistency, but you can totally do this by hand.
Next, thoroughly mix the lentil mixture. Again, you could use a spoon, but I just use my hands.
Finally, scoop the mixture in to a baking sheet lined with foil or parchment paper. It will be very loose. Using your hands, shape the mixture in the pan into a loaf shape. Top the loaf with ketchup. Cover with foil and bake at 400 degrees for 45 minutes.
This is so good served with baked or mashed potatoes, oven roasted garlic broccoli and biscuits.
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2 1/2 cups cooked lentils, lightly mashed
1 1/2 cups SOFT bread crumbs
Grated: 1 medium carrot, 1 stalk celery, 1/4 each bell pepper and onion
one egg OR one flax egg
1/4 cup tomato juice
2 tsp. garlic powder
2 tsp. onion powder
Salt & Pepper to taste
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
First place the cooked lentils into a large bowl and lightly mash them. You could use a potato masher for this step, but I just use my washed, clean hands. Next add the rest of the ingredients to the lentils. For the vegetables, I throw them in my food processor and pulse them until they are a grated consistency, but you can totally do this by hand. Next, thoroughly mix the lentil mixture. Again, you could use a spoon, but I just use my hands.
Finally, scoop the mixture in to a baking sheet lined with foil or parchment paper. It will be very loose. Using your hands, shape the mixture in the pan into a loaf shape. Top the loaf with ketchup. Cover with foil and bake at 400 degrees for 45 minutes.
Love life and be well,
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