Magical Loaf Studio

[Mok]

I wanted to share an awesome resource for making vegan loaves,  The Magical Loaf Studio, courtesy of the Vegan Lunchbox Blog.  If you aren't savvy, vegan loaves are pretty much like meatloaves except without the meat.  This "studio" allows you to generate a recipe for a vegan loaf from any number of ingredients, although it does not guarantee a tasty result.  Below is an example of a recipe that we recently generated and cooked which turned out rather well (which, incidentially, I am feeding to BabyMok right this moment):


Ingredients:

1/2 cup sunflower seeds
2 TB olive oil
One onion, diced
One large garlic clove, minced
Two celery ribs, diced
One cup mushrooms, cleaned and chopped
2 cups mashed firm tofu
1 cup cooked quinoa
1/4 to 1/2 cup vegetable broth, as needed
1/2 cup uncooked Cream of Wheat
1/4 tsp. dried thyme
1/2 tsp. dried sage
1 tsp. dried basil
2 TB nutritional yeast flakes
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 TB soy sauce

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350º. Spray a loaf pan or 8x8 square baking pan with nonstick spray and set aside (an 8x8 pan makes a crisper loaf).

Grind the sunflower seeds into a coarse meal using a food processor or spice/coffee grinder. Place in a large mixing bowl and set aside.

Sauté any vegetables you've chosen in the olive oil until soft. Add to the large mixing bowl along with all the remaining ingredients. Mix and mash together well, adding only as much liquid as needed to create a soft, moist loaf that holds together and is not runny (you may not need to add any liquid if the grains and protein are very moist). Add more binder/carbohydrate as needed if the loaf seems too wet.

Press mixture into the prepared pan and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until cooked through.

Let the loaf cool in the pan for 10 to 15 minutes, then turn out onto a plate or platter and slice. Serve with potatoes, vegetables, and vegetarian gravy, if desired.

Cold leftover slices of make a great sandwich filling.




Note:

I find cream of wheat to make an excellent binder, but the tofu made the loaf a bit squishy.  Next time I will likely use half-and-half tofu and garbanzo beans (beans alone make it rather chunky and dry).