Baked Vegan Nut Loaf
I’ve been doing a lot of reading and research lately following my childrens’ decision to be vegetarians. After recently learning what meat is my two little animal-lovers were devastated. So, faced with the guilt of lying to them about it, I thought it best to face the facts and allow them to decide *not* to eat animals. While their decision seems to change and deviate daily, I have been trying to incorporate more vegetarian meals into our repertoire none-the-less for health, environmental and ethical reasons.
I suppose going back to this way of life should be second nature for me but I have struggled to provide my children with the proper protein they require, while preparing the traditional veggie dishes I used to make. Balancing proper nutrition and actually getting my kids to eat well, while omitting meat from their diet is proving to be quite a challenge thus far, and we’ve only just begun! It doesn’t really help matters any that my two are *extremely* picky eaters, and even a cheese sandwich is occasionally rejected if not properly presented, shaped or cooked just right. I blame this on my husband, who was apparently also Mr. fussy as a child, and evidently passed this along to our offspring. Meanwhile, I ate anything and everything I was given. Let’s hope that at least our kids got my genes in the height department 
When I was following the veggie lifestyle, I made dishes such as chickpea burgers, spicy rice and beans, stir-fry’s with nuts and of course plenty of tofu. Generally speaking, these don’t go over too well with the young’uns. So, I am on a mission. I am searching for recipes that are both vegetarian and that my children will actually try. Notice I said *try* not *eat* That is an entirely different matter all together.
This evening I came across a very inspirational set of vegetarian and vegan recipes and was particularly interested in trying this one because it sounds delicious. Basically it seems to be a vegetarian “meatloaf” minus the meat part. I can’t wait to try it and will let you know if I can convince my kiddos that it is in fact meatless and delicious enough to try. Fingers crossed!
Baked Vegan Nut Loaf
8 oz chopped mixed nuts
1 onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
1/2 cup broccoli, finely chopped
1 stick of celery, chopped
1 grated carrot
1 cup mushrooms, finely chopped
2oz breadcrumbs
1 oz wholemeal flour (I used regular unbleached)
5 oz vegetable stock
1 TBSP Mixed herbs (I used garlic powder, thyme, salt and pepper, parsley flakes)
1 TBSP vegetable oil
Preheat oven to 375 °F. Heat the vegetable oil in a pan and saute the onion for a few minutes. Add pepper, celery and mushrooms and saute for 2 more minutes. Add the grated carrot and fry for one more minute. Remove from the heat, add the flour and stir. Add vegetable stock, nuts, breadcrumbs, mixed herbs and a little salt and pepper. Grease the inside of a loaf tin. Put the mixture into the tin, pressing it down with a spoon. Bake for around 35 minutes and serve with mushroom gravy and a salad.
Timely discovery: http://www.carnivoresdilemma.net/
Thank you so much, I love to read about other vegetarians and vegans as it gives me the strength to continue. I have about a thousand vegetarian feeds in my google reader, but another can’t hurt!! I did manage to find a good lentil recipe here, but I’ll be sure to try yours too. Thanks!
Did not realize pre-vegetarian how good vegetables are and how fun and creative you can get with them, there are just so many recipes:)!!!more about easy vegetarian recipes
What gravy did you use in the picture? And does it taste good with ketchup? Thank you for your help and I look forward to making this dish!
It was just your basic Clubhouse Gravy (I think they have a vegetable base one) The loaf is VERY good!!!
Let us know how it goes for you.
As for ketchup, not my taste on this, but if you LOVE ketchup, then sure
For the Vegetarian nut loaf we prepare at work, we use cranberry sauce as the gravy.