Lentil & Veggie Loaf
This year Thanksgiving has been a bit different than usual … different in a good way, I’d say! I celebrated my very first Thanksgiving back in 2010, when I was living in Qingdao, China with Mike (my ex-husband). I was actually home with a fever that day and he came home with a whole turkey bought at the store, something I had never really seen or bought before – I thought it was one of the funniest and craziest things he had ever bought! A whole turkey?! I didn’t even know what to do with it … we ended up roasting it in a small portable oven (Chinese kitchens do not come with an oven, we had to buy our own) and I did like it a lot … but I came to the conclusion it was way too messy to clean up, haha!
Since then, every Thanksgiving was spent here in the US in a quite traditional way (with the exception of one year in which we went to Vegas), even though we never had our own family to celebrate it with, we were always invited to someone’s place.
In 2016 my life changed quite a bit and here I was with Pablo, my current boyfriend. That year, we were invited for Thanksgiving dinner at Sydney’s, one of his friends. Her mom did the cooking and that for me had been THE best Thanksgiving meal I had ever had so far.
For the past two years, instead, Pablo had to work on Thanksgiving day so I accepted the invitation from my friend/co-worker Briana to join her family gathering. She didn’t have a boyfriend to bring over (while her sister was married) so she decided to bring me instead… kind of funny, but there was a specific reason behind this invitation, which I’m not going to dig into. I liked spending time with them (since I don’t really have a family here) and I did enjoy the food, which was actually NOT home-made but still quite good (even though we all know home-made food does make quite a bit of a difference).
Long story short, for the past 7 or more years all I had to prepare for Thanksgiving was a dessert to bring over … I kind of missed preparing a full Thanksgiving meal (last one I did was in 2012) and this year I finally had the opportunity to do so.
Briana now has a boyfriend so this year I was not “needed” anymore for lunch (I’m laughing as I’m writing … so typical of Californians!!) – but what a coincidence! Pablo was finally given a day off without even asking for it (he works in a restaurant, so the holidays are never “granted”): I finally had a good reason to cook!!
I spent my morning at the gym (there’s no or holiday in which I’m not working out,
Thanksgiving included) and a good portion of the afternoon in the kitchen, more than happy to prepare a meal for the two of us, who actually spent most of the day at home eating, watching movies and relaxing … he definitely relaxed more than me though 🙂
Since we are both trying to steer away as much as possible from meat and fish and any other animal-derived food, this year we opted for a vegetarian Thanksgiving and we didn’t buy the turkey. This was my very first Thanksgiving without turkey or other meat… oh well, I haven’t missed it a bit!!
I prepared a mushroom risotto, a green bean casserole, roasted sweet potatoes (spicy and sweet, two versions) and a lentil loaf to sub the turkey.
Our Thanksgiving meal was one of the healthiest and most satisfying I have ever had and I was so happy with how each dish came out: healthy and full of flavor at the same time. This is proof of how healthy eating doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice the flavor and of how meat and fish aren’t really any necessary. I’ve never really been a
meat lover but Pablo went from being a big meat eater to not missing it at all when properly replaced by an adequate source of plant-based protein. Both of us were perfectly satisfied and didn’t feel even a bit stuffed with food (as it usually happens during the holidays).
This lentil loaf is very easy to prepare, it stays good for quite a few days and is completely gluten-free and vegan, an excellent source of protein for those who like to follow a plant-based diet. Definitely a great alternative to bean burgers that lately I have been eating a lot!
Let’s start with the recipe 🙂
Servings |
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- 1 cup dry lentils green/brown
- 2 1/2 cups water or vegetable broth I used a mix of both
- 3 tablespoons flaxseed meal (ground flaxseeds)
- 6 tablespoons water
- 2 tablespoons Extra virgin olive oil
- 3 garlic cloves
- 1 small onion
- 2 small red bell peppers
- 1 small fresh chili pepper jalapeño works as well
- 1 large carrot
- 1/2 cup gluten-free oat flour
- 1/2 cup gluten-free bread crumbs
- 1 teaspoon dried Herbes de Provence
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon each garlic powder
- cracked pepper & pink Himalayan sea salt to taste
- Classic mustardgrains
Ingredients
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- Rinse lentils under tap water and place them in a large pot with 2-1/2 cups water/vegetable broth. Once the water starts boiling, reduce the heat, cover and simmer for about 40 minutes until all the water has been absorbed. It’s ok if the lentils get mushy since we are going to puree most of them when cooled. Once done, remove the lid and set aside to cool for about 15 minutes (do not drain the water if any is left).
- In a small bowl, combine flaxseed meal and 1/3 cup water, set aside for at least 10 minutes in the fridge.
- Prepare the vegetables: since I like to have my veggies sliced VERY thin and I find it extremely time-wasting to do it with a knife, for when I make patties, burgers or loaves like this one, I usually blend them all in my small Ninja food processor – works great, takes less than a minute and you have your veggies chopped REALLY THIN. If you wish to have bigger veggie chunks in your loaf, I suggest chopping them with a knife. Once you have all of your veggies ready (which include: garlic, onion, bell pepper, chili pepper, carrot), sauté them in a frying pan with the olive oil (avocado oil works great as well) for about 5~8 minutes, then set aside to cool.
- Using an immersion blender (or food processor), blend 3/4 of the cooked lentils. I cooked my lentils in the morning before going to the gym, so they sat for about 3~4 hours in the pan before I blended them and – I believe as a result of this long wait – my mixture was extremely dry, I didn’t have any water left from the cooking and I had to add about ½ cup water. If you find your lentils are not watery enough to blend them, feel free to add some water but do not exaggerate, otherwise your loaf will be too mushy. Alternately, you can mash the lentils with a potato masher or fork.
- Combine sautéed vegetables with the lentils, gluten-free bread crumbs and oat flour, flax egg, spices, salt, pepper and mix well. You may want to taste a little bit of the batter to make sure there’s enough salt.
- Place the mixture into a loaf pan lined with parchment paper, leaving it overlapping for easy removal later. Press down firmly filling in along the edges too.
- Bake for about 45~50 minutes in the center rack of the oven at 350F. Let cool a bit before slicing.
- Top with mustard in grains – this helps a lot in flavor and moisture but it is an optional addition as I know not everyone likes it. I particularly like this loaf together with a sauce and since I try to stay away from ketchup and other unhealthy sauces, mustard seemed to be a great and simple pairing.
The loaf has about 8 servings and it is pretty filling, one big slice was enough for me (I had it with mushroom risotto and green bean casserole as part of my Thanksgiving meal). The loaf is great also when re-heated but I suggest only re-heating the slices you’re going to eat right away. It stays good for up to 4~5 days properly sealed in a glass or plastic container in the refrigerator. We ate another slice of this loaf the next day for lunch and it was just as good as the day before, excellent protein choice for those of you who like meal prepping 🙂