Vegan Meatloaf

In this recipe I am going to show you how to make a delicious meatloaf loaded with great sources of protein and vegetables. No need to eat ground up animals when you can get even more flavor and nutrition from a cleaner, cruelty free option! I promise you will get zero complaints from this dish!

(this is before baking)

 Ingredients:

2 cups of cooked chickpeas

2 cups of cooked lentils
1 cup of walnuts (optional)

1 cup of mushrooms

1 red bell pepper

1 green bell pepper

1 onion

2 flax eggs (2 tsp flax mill mixed with 2 tsp of water)

1 cup of spelt flour (or whatever kind of flour you have)

salt and pepper

garlic

onion powder

rosemary

thyme

burger seasoning

1 cup of tomato sauce or ketchup

1 cup of bbq sauce
1tbs of agave
Italian seasonings

 Directions:

1. After rinsing and drying off chickpeas, place them in a high speed blender and pulse until shredded. Place them in a large mixing bowl along with the lentils.

2. Take the bell peppers, onion, and mushroom and either dice them in small pieces or if you are lazy like me put them in the blender and pulse away until they are shredded into small pieces. Place them in the same bowl with the chickpeas and lentils.
3. Pulse walnuts in blender until grounded to resemble ground beef and add to the bowl with lentils and chickpeas

4. Add onion and garlic powder, salt and pepper, rosemary, thyme, and burger seasonings in the bowl with chickpeas and lentils. Feel free to use as much or as little as you like to suit your taste buds.

5. Add the flax eggs and flour to the bowl with everything else.

6. Make sure hands are clean and use them to mash and mix all the ingredients together like you would do with traditional meat loaf. If its too dry add another flax egg and if its too mushy add more flour.

7. Grab a large baking dish and line with foil and cooking spray and mold your meatloaf into the shape you like on the dish.

8. Bake for 45 minutes at 400 degrees

9. While loaf is baking mix together tomato sauce, agave, bbq sauce, and Italian seasonings after the 45 minutes pour the sauce on top of the loaf and put back in the oven for another 15 minutes.

10. Remove meatloaf from oven and let it cool down for at least 20 minutes. This step is important because it gives the loaf a chance to really firm up and take the texture of actual meatloaf.

11. Slice and serve!

Here is the dish pictured with mashed potatoes and mushroom gravy, stay tuned because that recipe is up next! Name a better duo than meatloaf and mashed potatoes???? Hope you give this recipe a try and if you do be sure to let me know how you enjoyed it!

~Peace begins with your plate~