Tomato Glaze-Crusted “Meat”loaf Casserole

Post by Megan Stulberg

I’ve been working like a crazy person lately, hence the delay in writing up recipe posts. But hey, a girl’s got to eat! If there’s a silver lining from this, it’s just that I have tons of recipes up my sleeve for y’all in the near future.

This was my Christmas day feast, yum yum. Being the only vegan in a family of carnivores is both good and bad. The bad is that they don’t want to eat the food I make, the good is…more for me! I ended up eating leftovers for breakfast, lunch and dinner on Boxing Day. Not a single regret.

I paired this dish with my sweet potato mash that’s already up on Vegan Girlfriend here, as well as some roasted asparagus! I also paired it with a gravy/stuffing hybrid that I’ve nicknamed “gruffing” that was oh-so-good but honestly was an accident so I don’t have a write-up for that.

Ingredients…

For the loaf: 

• 1 1/4 cup gluten-free vegetable broth
• 1 cup brown rice flour
• 1 cup canned lentils
• 1/4 cup cremini mushrooms, sliced
• 1/4 cup roasted nuts of your choice (I chose walnut)
• 1/4 cup 100% maple syrup
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 celery stalk, chopped
• 1/2 carrot, chopped
• 1/2 white onion, diced
• 3 tbsp gluten-free soy sauce
• 2 tbsp ground flaxseed
• 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
• 2 tbsp cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 tbsp dried thyme
• 1 tbsp basil
• Cracked pepper and sea salt, to taste

For the glaze: 

• 1/2 cup organic ketchup (or tomato paste)
• 1/4 cup 100% maple syrup
• Pinch of sea salt

Directions…

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Rinse canned lentils. Set aside.
3. Heat olive oil in large saucepan on medium heat. Once oil begins to sizzle, add garlic and onion. Sauté 5 minutes until brown, then add carrot, celery and mushrooms. Add broth at this point.
4. Use a high-speed blender or food processor to chop toasted nuts into small pieces.
5. Add sautéed veggies to blender, along with rice flour, flax, maple syrup, nutritional yeast, soy sauce, apple cider vinegar, thyme, basil, sea salt, pepper and of course, the lentils! Pulse until coarsely combined. If the mixture needs to be thickened, add additional brown rice flour by the tbsp and combine by hand. Be careful not to over-process, you want some chunks of veggies and stuff to stay intact for texture.
6. Coat casserole dish with olive oil to prevent sticking. Use large spoon to transfer mixture from food processor to casserole dish, then flatten out.
7. Bake casserole dish in oven for a total of 40 minutes.
8. During this time, make the glaze! Simply whisk organic ketchup, maple syrup and sea salt together in bowl.
9. Remove casserole dish from oven after 15 minutes, add glaze in a thin layer on top, then place back in oven covered and let bake for remaining 30 minutes.
10. Wait for dish to cool, then slice and serve with side dishes accordingly.

Dig in! Serve warm, makes 4-6 servings.

No-Bake Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Pie

By contributor Alexandra Courts

This was the perfect dessert to finish off a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner with my family over the weekend! They couldn’t believe this dish was gluten-free, vegan, refined sugar-free and raw. Try the recipe out and you’ll be in shock, too.

Ingredients…

Crust

• 2 cups raw walnuts
• 2 cups dates, pitted and soaked
• 1/2 cup shredded coconut
• 1/4 cup raw cacao powder
• 1 tbsp pure vanilla extract

Filling

• 1 standard can pumpkin puree
• 3 cups cashews, soaked
• 1 cup 100% maple syrup
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional)
• 1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
• 3 tbsp cinnamon
• 2 tbsp nutmeg

Directions

1. Blend walnuts, shredded coconut and raw cacao powder together. Add dates and vanilla and continue blending until thoroughly combined.
2. Move mixture from blender to a round 8-inch pan lined with plastic wrap. Press mixture down evenly in a thin layer to form crust. Set aside in freezer for 20 minutes.
3. Blend cashews until creamy. Add pumpkin, maple syrup, coconut oil, and spices. Continue blending.
4. Remove pie crust from freezer and add mixture evenly overtop the crust. Top with chocolate chips if desired.
5. Freeze pie for 1 hour until the mixture has settled. Serve immediately.

Makes 1 pie (6 serving).

Easy Vegan Holiday Season: Day 11

By Raven Steepe

This holiday season, why not spice things up with a good ol’ summer food? Pesto is delicious and doesn’t need to be plagued by dairy! It can easily be made from raw, fresh ingredients. This pesto recipe makes a great salad dressing, bread or veggie dip. I modified my original recipe to make it vegan, as it originally called for parmesan cheese.

A little seasonal tip: for the holidays, try serving this with our gluten-free stuffing!

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups fresh basil
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1 cup pine nuts (almonds or walnuts may be substituted)
• 5 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1/3 cup nutritional yeast
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Directions

1) Combine all of the ingredients in a food processor. That’s it!

The pesto should not be completely smooth and should have texture. Tada. Enjoy!

Easy Vegan Holiday Season: Day 9

By Raven Steepe

Apple pie, in my humble opinion, is the best winter comfort dessert. There is something about the combination of cinnamon, nutmeg and apples that just makes my mouth water. Unfortunately, traditional pie crust usually contains a lot of butter, lard and shortening to get it super flakey so I came up with a super easy and delicious alternative.

This is a recipe for Vegan Apple Crumble or if you want to get fancy…Vegan Deconstructed Apple Pie! If you are pressed for time but want something that is satisfying and wholesome, give this a try.

Ingredients for Filling 

• 6-8 small – mediums apples, peeled, cored and chopped
• Dash of lemon juice
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 heaping 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 pinch of salt

Ingredients for Topping

• Heaping 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup gluten-free flour blend*
• 1/2 cup gluten-free old fashioned oats
• 1/2 cup sliced almonds
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/3 cup or 1/2 one stick of non-dairy butter (I used Earth Balance)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease a glass dish or baking pan.

2. Slice apples evenly and place in a large bowl, then sprinkle with lemon juice. Toss and coat the apples with sugar, cinnamon and salt.

3. Transfer the coated apples to your baking dish.

4. In a bowl mix together oats, almonds, flour, brown sugar, and salt. Add the non-dairy butter while stirring.

5. Sprinkle the mixed ingredients over the apples and bake until the apples are soft and the topping is a golden brown.

**You can use an all purpose gluten-free flour blend such as Bob’s Red Mill Brand.

Enjoy!