A Winning Loaf

Let me be honest: I have a strange attraction to meatloaf. Through the years (and cookbooks), I've tried many varieties of meatloaf. Usually, they turned out poorly...I mean, let's face it: meatloaf as a concept is kind of gross! Perhaps this is why I always wanted to find a good one...one that would forever disclaim the notion that meatloaf is gross.

Of course, since I don't eat meat, traditional meatloaf is out of the question now. To my delight, a new challenge came along in trying out vegetarian "meat"loaves. Say what? Nearly every vegetarian/vegan cookbook has some kind of faux-meatloaf. And - I'm sure you'll believe this - making a good faux-meatloaf has proven way harder than making a good real-meatloaf. I've tried variations with tofu (bleh) and tempeh (double bleh) and, until tonight, I thought I'd never find an acceptable faux-meatloaf.

But I did find one that's truly delicious! It comes from this great cookbook circa 1992 called The Peaceful Palate by Jennifer Raymond. One of my favorite contemporary cooks, Colleen Patrick-Goudreau, cited The Peaceful Palate as her favorite cookbook of all time...so of course I had to get it! It's a really great and innovative book. I love that the recipes all have nutrition information (the author is a nutritionist) and most are fairly easy to make. This "meat"loaf uses a great mix of finely chopped vegetables, walnuts, wheat germ, oats, and brown rice to simulate that thick, "meaty" flavor I've been chasing for so long. It tastes great with extra ketchup on the side.

Neat Loaf

- 2 cups cooked short-grain brown rice
- 1 cup walnuts
- 1 cup sliced mushrooms
- 1 onion, roughly chopped
- 1 green bell pepper, roughly chopped
- 1 medium carrot, roughly chopped
- 1 cup wheat germ
- 1 cup old-fashioned oats
- 1/2 teaspoon each: dried thyme, marjoram, & sage
- 2 tablespoons yellow mustard
- 2 tablespoons lite soy sauce
- ketchup

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease or spray a 9x5 loaf pan.

Finely chop the walnuts in a food processor and add to a large bowl. Repeat this process with the mushrooms, onion, pepper, and carrot. I processed each vegetable separately because I didn't want to over-process anything...onions and carrots especially can turn to frothy liquid if over-processed. You don't want that in this recipe because the loaf won't firm up...make sure everything is just finely chopped. To the bowl with the processed vegetables, add the wheat germ, oats, spices, mustard, and soy sauce. Mix the ingredients together for about 2 minutes, until everything starts to stick together. Pour the mixture into the loaf pan and lightly press it down. Cover the top of the loaf evenly with ketchup. Bake for one hour and remove from the oven. Let cool for ten minutes before cutting and eating. serves 4-6