Sunday in the Kitchen- Hippie Loaf (Vegan Not-So-Comfort Food)

One of my mom's favorite meals is meatloaf with mashed potatoes and peas- a near perfect comfort food meal. She loves to mix the peas with the potatoes, and it has always grossed me out. So it would be just my luck that Hunk has the same affinity for this exact meal. While browsing the Happy Herbivore site this morning for my weekly meal plan, we came across a recipe for "Hippie Loaf" that OF COURSE was pictured with mashed potatoes and peas. Hunk was sold!

Since I'm less of a fan, we bargained for roasted new potatoes and green beans. The loaf was really easy to put together. Black beans and quinoa made up the bulk of the loaf. I already had to make quinoa for another dish I was working on, so it was nice to be able to knock that out in one step. All the other ingredients got chopped and dumped in a big bowl, and then into a loaf pan. I cooked it with the roasted potatoes (tossed with veggie broth, garlic, salt and fresh rosemary), and I think that made it take longer to cook. I had the oven set to 375, and even cooking it closer to an hour (plus), the inside was still a little mushy.

The taste was alright, but I don't know that I would make this again. The texture just made it hard to enjoy. I might be able to broil the leftover slices and make something decent with it, but I'm just not sold yet. Fortunately, the bulk of my work in the kitchen today went toward lunch items that hopefully will have a better return on investment. The one redeeming quality of the meal was a delicious bottle of Bordeaux, (and possibly some ice cream for dessert).