Meatless Meatloaf and Meatless Crumbles

VeggieYogi ♦ June 24, 2012 ♦ 2 Comments

I never really cared much for meatloaf even back when I was still eating meat, but this recipe is really good. You can make it as a loaf, or crumble it to use as a substitute for ground meat.

While I was in Canada last week with my Mom, we made this recipe as a loaf. It has a really great flavor, but it didn’t stick together very well. We used long-grain rice so I thought that might have something to do with it. This weekend I tried it again using sticky rice but it still didn’t stick together very well. Regardless it is worth making and just know that it might not cut into nice neat slices.

We had it the first night with mushroom sauce as shown below. I’m not crazy about using canned soup in recipes but we were in a hurry and this worked well in a pinch. I promise to post a better mushroom sauce soon though. The second night I had it while the rest of the family had spaghetti with meatballs. I had the meatless meatloaf with tomato sauce over it, a few noodles, and a sprinkle of fresh-grated mozzarella cheese.

The recipe is adapted from Edna Staebler’s Meatless Meat Loaf recipe in More Food That Really Schmecks. She was a really neat lady from the Kitchener-Waterloo area in Ontario, Canada and published a series of cookbooks based on Mennonite cooking in that area. Most of her recipes come with little stories behind them. In this case she talked about how she made this recipe for several members of an Ashram in Toronto who stayed at her house after talking to the local University Women’s Club about their yoga beliefs.

I hope you enjoy it!

Here’s what you’ll need:
1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts or other nuts
1 cup whole wheat breadcrumbs
1 cup cooked rice (approx 1/4 cup uncooked)
1 1/2 cups carrot, grated
1 300g pkg frozen spinach
1 onion, chopped
1 tsp basil
1 tsp thyme
Salt and pepper to taste
3 shakes Worcestershire
3 tbsp water or enough to moisten
3 tbsp olive oil

Mushroom Sauce (optional)
Cremini mushrooms
Olive oil
Low sodium cream of mushroom soup

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Mix all the ingredients except the olive oil in a large bowl using just enough water to moisten it.

Spray a loaf pan with non-stick spray. Press firmly into loaf pan. Sprinkle olive oil on top.

Bake at 375 degrees for 35 minutes.

For the mushroom sauce, first cook the cremini mushrooms down in a little bit of olive oil. Then add some undiluted canned cream of mushroom soup and heat well.

Serve mushroom sauce over the mushroom loaf or crumbles.