Veggie Quinoa-Lentil Loaf with two sauces

This is a deluxe edition of Tasty Tuesday because you are receiving three original recipes! I figured out my BBQ sauce over a year ago, actually, and had recently been craving meat, specifically meatloaf (I have no idea why). I fought the temptation for weeks, trying to resist the calling of red meat as I have been otherwise very good about keeping it off of my plate. I know somewhere there ought to be an excellent vegetarian alternative and wouldn’t you know it, there were lots of them! Except most use soy. And I am soy sensitive (hypothyroid).
(head + deak) = *headdesk*
So, with a little encouragement from Mark Bittman’s excellent book How to Cook Everything Vegetarian I set out on making my own soy-free vegetarian loaf.
Recipes behind the jump:
Veggie Quinoa-Lentil Loaf
Sugar ‘n’ Spice BBQ Sauce
Mushroom wine gravy

As this is a test-run, I highly encourage you to read my notes at the end regarding what I would tweak in the future.

VEGGIE QUINOA-LENTIL LOAF
- Veggies of your choosing
- 1 c. diced onions
- 1 c. cooked quinoa
- 8 oz. cooked lentils
- seasoning of your liking
- BBQ sauce (recipe below)
- 1 egg
- Breadcrumbs (homemade or store bought, I used Trader Joe brand)

Cook lentils & quinoa as instructed

Bought my lentils precooked

Wash veggies

Wash veggies. Pictured: mushrooms, carrots, zucchini, broccoli

Slice up veggies (they don’t have to be finely chopped)

They’ll go into a food processor later

Saute veggies until excess water is out

Add lentils, quinoa and veggies to food processor & pulse until finely processed

Scrape mixture into a large bowl, add diced onions, your seasons (sea salt, pepper, sage, basil, thyme, curry, garlic, onion) and incorporate ingredients. Add binding: one beaten egg (or one of these methods for vegan substitute of eggs) & as much finely chopped bread crumbs as necessary.

Spread BBQ sauce on bottom of sprayed loaf tin, then empty mixture into sprayed loaf tin and mold to its shape. Add BBQ on top if you like.

Cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes at 375 degrees. Once heated through, remove from oven, slice, serve and enjoy!

Are you a fake meat and potatoes kinda gal?

NOTES
- My oven runs cold – if yours doesn’t, check at 35 minutes
- Instead of using the egg/breadcrumb method for binding, my friend suggested using the BBQ sauce for seasoning and binding. I am going to try this next time.
- If you’re not a fan of BBQ sauce, make the veggie loaf plain and make some mushroom gravy (recipe below) to add later
- I did not indulge in too much seasoning, which I now regret. GO WILD!
- Next time, I would use more veggies, less lentils and the same amount of quinoa.

SUGAR ‘N’ SPICE BBQ SAUCE
By now all of you are probably familiar with the way I don’t measure. This recipe is no different, but I made an effort to approximate. Rule of thumb: TO TASTE owns all.

1 finely chopped medium yellow onion
6 smashed & chopped garlic cloves

- Take these two and heat them in a medium sauce pot with either butter or olive oil. Cook over medium heat, stir but don’t brown.

Then add:
- 1 can of tomato paste (I used Trader Joe’s)
- 1 can of tomato sauce (I used Trader Joe’s)
Mix with onion & garlic. I also added 2 tsp of minced jar garlic.

Holy @#!% that looks & smells fantastic!

Meanwhile, in a separate small bowl, mix:
- Pinch of sea salt
- Pinch of black pepper
- Pinch of red pepper flakes
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp ground cloves
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp curry powder
- 1 tsp Chili powder

Or just add whatever kind of seasoning you like

Add the dry seasoning to the pot, stir in. Taste, add whatever needs to be added for your liking. I added another pinch of sea salt.

Add & Stir in:
- 1 tsp soy sauce
- 1.5 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
For sweeteners I added: Molasses, agave nectar. Alternatively, brown sugar is a great option as well.
For spice I added: Sriracha (I used the kind pictured here).

Incorporate all of your delicious seasoning, be sure to taste and add what you deem necessary to your personal taste.

Spicy sweet BBQ sauce a-cookin’

After everything is incorporated, I removed the pot from the heat and let it cool. Then I put the sauce in my food processor and processed it until all of the onion & garlic pieces were super minced. You can use a blender, I imagine.

Best foodie invention ever

Your BBQ sauce is now ready to be used for marinade, dipping, slathering, flavoring, whatever! I highly recommend making it ahead of time because it not only SAVES time but it lets all of the ingredients really get to know one another and become tastier. Can be kept up to a week in the fridge, but any longer and I’d recommend freezing for future use. You can recycle empty plastic squeeze condiment bottles for your sauce!

BBQ sauce, though wonderful, can get pretty tiring after a while. On my second day of veggie-lentil loaf leftovers, I decided to make mushroom gravy to accompany that and a homemade mashed potato.

MUSHROOM WINE GRAVY
- handful of mushrooms, sliced (I used baby bellas)
- handful of diced onions
- 1 can stock/broth of your choice (I had organic beef broth handy, but veggie broth does well)
- 1/4th c. red wine (white/sherry/vermouth for veggie stock)
- Slurry made from broth and cornstarch

Saute mushrooms and onions in a skillet
Add stock and wine, simmer and stir
Add slurry, stirring until incorporated
When it thickens, it’s done!