Two Meatloaf Recipes

Meatloaf Recipes

(Vegetarian and Beef)

When my children were small, one thing I'd fix for supper was meatloaf. I grew up having this for dinner, and when drowned in ketchup, everyone would eat it. When I became a vegetarian, I still hankered for the taste of cold meatloaf sandwiches, but nothing came close until I came across a recipe and tampered with it. It fits the bill, is good hot from the oven, and makes a good cold sandwich, to boot! You may be hard-pressed to figure out which was veggie and which one was made with ground beef; thus it may prove to be a good recipe for Meatless Monday!

First the vegetarian recipe, which uses tempeh as it's base...

*PLEASE NOTE*

This makes a large batch, as I like to freeze these to have on hand for a quick supper. Therefore, I bake these in either mini loaf pans or in muffin pans, let cool and stick pan and all in the freezer. When completely frozen, I remove them from the pans and seal in plastic bags. When I want one or two, I remove them from the freezer, place in a pie tin, and heat in a 350 degree oven for 12-15 minutes or so.

You can easily cut this recipe in half, as it makes about 18 muffin-size servings.

Meatless Loaf

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. In a food processor, coarsely grind up a one pound slab of tempeh. (I cut it in chunks first, then grind). Dump the ground tempeh into a large bowl and set aside.

In the processor, add 

1 large cut-up onion

3 or 5 cloves of peeled garlic

1 sweet pepper cut into chunks

1 carrot cut into chunks

1/3 cup walnuts

1/4 cup sunflower seeds

1/4 cup pumpkin seeds

Pulse all together a few times til everything is chopped and crumbly... not too much, or you'll end up with mush! Dump all this mixture into the bowl with the ground tempeh, and stir well to combine. Add 

1 small can of tomato paste

a few pinches of basil and thyme

salt and pepper to taste

2 eggs

1 cup of oatmeal

about a half-cup of either Ketchup or BBQ sauce

1/4 cup Worcestershire Sauce

1 can of Black Beans, pulsed in the food processor.

Mix well with either a sturdy wooden spoon or your hands. Press into oiled pans, and bake the smaller pans for about 15-20 minutes, a large loaf pan for 35 to 45 minutes til heated through. Very good served with gravy, cranberry sauce or ketchup!

Meat Loaf (my recipe from 30+ years ago)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, combine

1 1/2 pounds Ground Beef

1 medium chopped Onion

about 1/2 cup Oatmeal

2 cloves pressed Garlic

Salt and Pepper to taste

1 tablespoon Brown Sugar

1 cup Tomato Sauce(or substitute 

either Apple or Cranberry Sauce)

About a tablespoon-sized squeeze of Mustard

a teaspoon or so of dried herbs such as

oregano, thyme and/or basil

Mix well with hands or wooden spoon, and dump into a loaf pan. Bake for an hour or so, and serve with gravy or ketchup.