Thanksgiving
Prep Time: 1 hour Cook Time: 40 mins Servings: Yield 6 Source: [ilovevegan.com]
Ingredients
2 tablespoons reverse osmosis water
1/2 onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium-large carrot, grated
1 rib celery, thinly sliced
1 1/2 cups kale, shredded and tightly packed
1 1/2 cups mushrooms, thinly sliced
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon salt optional – I do not use salt
black pepper to taste
1 cups overcooked green lentils
1 cups cooked quinoa or millet or rice (all will make this gluten free)
1/3 cup oat flour (or ground oats). Look for gluten free label to make this gluten free
3 tablespoons ground flax seed
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1/2 cup ground walnuts
1/4 cup dried cranberries
Cranberry Glaze
3 cups fresh or frozen cranberries
1 cups maple syrup
1 cups reverse osmosis water or filtered water
Directions
Cook your quinoa or millet or rice and lentils. We don’t use a lot of rice because of the high levels of arsenic found in some rice. Leftovers will make the process go faster.
Prep and chop all of your ingredients. Try to keep everything relatively small, your loaf will hold together better that way. A food processor will speed up this chopping. Just pulse so everything is similar in size and relatively small.
Preheat your oven to 400°F.
Heat 2 tablespoons water in a large frying pan and heat over medium-high. Once your frying pan is heated, add the onion, garlic, carrot, celery, and kale. Sauté until the onion starts to become translucent (about 2 minutes.)
Add the mushrooms, oregano, thyme and pepper and continue sautéing until everything is just tender.
In a large bowl, combine the sautéed vegetables, cooked grain, lentils, oat flour, ground flax seeds, nutritional yeast, walnuts, and cranberries.
Mix everything VERY thoroughly. It’s best to mix everything quite roughly so that you’re mashing some of the ingredients together. This is really important for proper binding in this recipe.
Firmly press the mixture into a parchment paper lined loaf pan or 9×9 cake pan.
Bake for 25 minutes. Remove from oven, pour the glaze over the loaf and bake for another 10-15 minutes.
Remove from oven and let sit for 10-15 minutes to fully set. We set in the freezer for 10 minutes. Once set loosen edges with a spatula or butter knife and invert onto a serving platter. Spread on cranberry glaze (recipe below) just prior to service. Place any extra glaze in a serving bowl for the table.
Cranberry Glaze
Rinse cranberries. We used frozen and did not thaw them.
In a saucepan combine the cranberries, maple syrup, and water, and bring to a boil. Turn heat down to medium and simmer for 5 minutes (until the skins have broken.) Refrigerate before serving. The sauce will thicken up as it cools. Double this recipe for Thanksgiving. You can never have too much cranberry sauce.