Lentil loaf and veggie pilaf

I’ve been making lentil loaf for years. I make it for all of my meat eating friends who always and for the recipe and even my six year old who doesn’t like anything loves it!

I’ve modified my old recipe which calls for cheese and eggs and you can’t even taste the difference. I thought I would miss the cheese but it must not have been needed in the first place because the lentil loaf tasted exactly the same as ever.

Lentil Loaf

one onion

3 cloves garlic

2 ribs celery

2 carrots

1 14 oz can of lentils

1 14 oz can or red kidney beans

1 cup whole wheat bread crumbs

1 Tbsp tomato paste

1 Tbsp ketchup

salt and pepper to taste

Egg substitute of your choice, equivalent of one egg (like Ener-G)

I wanted to make this as super simple as possible since I am a working mom. Who has time to spend an hour making dinner on a weeknight? I cut this prep time down to 15 minutes with the help of my food processor and the grater blade.

Just toss in your onion, garlic, carrot, and celery and let the processor grate it up. Once you have all of those vegetables blended, add the rest of the ingredients and blend away. Pour into a large bread/loaf pan that has been coated with olive oil. Bake this loaf for one hour at 350 degrees. And there you have it, super simple to prepare lentil loaf. It comes out with a delicious crunchy coating mmmmmmmmm.

As for the pilaf, this almost took longer to prep than the loaf did but is equally as yummy.

1 cup basmati rice, rinsed until water is clear

2 cups water

1 cup frozen corn

1 cup frozen peas

1 vegetable bouillon cube

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp coriander or fresh cilantro

salt and pepper to taste

Rinse the rice until water runs clear. Add water and remaining ingredients to a medium sauce pan and bring to a boil over high heat. Cover and reduce to a simmer. Simmer for 20 minutes. Turn off the heat without lifting the lid and let sit for 10 minutes.

Here is my pilaf sitting in the pan of water. I forgot to take after pictures of the meal. I also added some zucchini that I had leftover form yesterday's baba ganoush. You could add any veggies that you want to this recipe. It would make a great main course too.