Meat(NOT) Loaf, vegetarian loaf just like mom used to make

A tasty dish for those "meat and potato" vegetarians such as myself. You know, we grew up on meat and potatoes dishes but no longer eat the meat part of the equation. But sometimes you still long for a comforting plate of meatloaf, mashed potatoes, maybe some corn on the cob. Yum!

Definitely a dish for those who are vegetarian for ethical or religious reasons, this is not the healthiest of health foods. It is one of my (meat eating) husband's favorite dishes I make though! Also, I use eggs in mine but it could be made vegan by using an egg substitute.

Step 1: Gather ingredients

Ingredients:
Equivalent of 1 pound ground-style burger alternative, See note below*
1 medium Onion, diced small
2 teaspoons seasoned salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 cup prepared bread crumbs, plain or Italian seasoned
2 large eggs (or egg substitute)
1-2 tablespoons of water if the mixture is too dry

Tools:
large mixing bowl
spatula or spoon
spoon
loaf pan
oven

*This could be Gardenburger or Boca crumbles, which are available at most supermarkets, or a dehydrated-style crumble like Dixie Diners Club Beef(Not!) or Nutlettes, which are available at health food stores. TVP (textured vegetable protein) is also available in the bulk food section of some grocery stores. If you use the dehydrated variety, rehydrate per instructions.

Comments

[stealthy_ninja_1]

oohhhh this looks sooo good !
when i was a carnavor *shudders* i use to love meat loaf but now
im a vegitarian i cant eat it so im glade i can eat a versian without murdering an inosent animal YAY thanks i think i will try it for lunch today!

[AnarchistAsian]

i am a meat and potatoes kind of guy.

cooked rare.

i promise to never, EVER become a vegitarian...

[Fredrick_chilton]

Take a walk through a mass production beef farm. You might just throw up a little. Hunted and home farmed, or small farmed meats I support, though I don't eat them. If I were to eat an animal, I would definitely make sure it was healthy at the time of death. No Bovine Growth Hormones, Steroids, or Anti-biotics for me.

[vampierwolf]

if you have the means to find it look up a documentary called "food inc." it really changed my view of food.

[AnarchistAsian]

no, i wouldn't throw up a little. I WOULD THROW UP ALL OVER THE PLACE, UNTIL MY EYES BLEED.

look, i hate mass production beef farms as much as the next guy, but it's not really something you can avoid all the time. I eat all-natural meat alot, but not always... I would say a growing boy needs meat, but i know you can get protein other ways....

[bettbee]

A growing boy does not need meat! And neither does a full-grown one. Just ask Olympiad Carl Lewis or any of a number of other world-class vegan and vegetarian athletes! That being said, while I wish you didn't eat meat, I recognize that it is your right to do so. I'm glad you eat the more local organic product as much as you can. If you will go see "Food, Inc." you may wish to go veg on those occasions when you can't find the local organic product. Did you know that soy and eggs are both as high quality proteins as meat? (In their whole food form, that is.)

[AnarchistAsian]

yeah i know, that's why i said i would say a growing boy would need meat

[Fredrick_chilton]

Well thank you for actually being informed then! I live in Michigan. Lots of contact with northerners, hicks, and dairy farmers. The majority of which are pretty ignorant. Most cook their burgers to char bricks, and their steaks to hot dry lumps of gray. I don't strive to eliminate meat in everyone's diet. I just try to educate others that the mass production stuff is disgusting by taste, ethics, and morality. A cow that cannot stand is diseased, and not fit for human consumption.

[AnarchistAsian]

woah... woah... i'm from utah, that's north-ish, alot of those people you talked about may be well informed, and be more natural. Some people just want to make money, others want to do the right thing... And also, if you think about it, it's better for the animal to be eaten than the meat be wasted... Bad sales would cause a decrease in production, but... i don't know, i just eat meat....

[deathsmileyinc]

im from holland and i hang out with anarchists all the time, most of them are vegans, party's and concerts in squatted buildings rarely serve non vegan food, ie been to a anarchist festival where they didn't serve meat. plus a lot of vegans are anarchists (or at least from the left wing) i don't think you will fit in.

[SanAntonioSweety]

I dont like your comment, it is elitist & it implies that anyone who is different is not fit. I believe your opinion is no more valubale than my own & vice versa. Many of us nowadays are taught to respect those that are different from us. You & I are different, I respect you but I completely think your comment is full of judgment.

[deathsmileyinc]

what do you mean? i just think he would fit in a anarchist community when he eats meat and claims to be informed:"it's better for the animal to be eaten than the meat be wasted" when he clearly doenst know anything, animals are bred in way to small cages, they get unhealthy food and antibiotics all the time. animals get to eat stuff people in 3e world countries would eat. its a huge waste to eat animals.
i could go on for days dicussing this but i feel like you are a person who's just too afraid to admit he doesnt respect me.

[bettbee]

Actually some of us think that it's better for the animal to be given a respectful burial as people are. And for no new animals to be bred just to be killed.

[amar55in]

Quite true, animals have emotions and feel pain too, they too love their children, love to live and fear death.They have every right to live.Think what would you have done if you were in the animals place, they deserve mercy, protein are found in soybeans too. Please say no to meat eating.

[jsharpe3]

and a little plus for the vegetarians...world hunger and world poor health could be solved by everyone growing food.

[I died with my head in a washing machine]

this sounds great i have not tried it yet but will soon. im a veggie and can never find veggie recipes so thank u for posting one. :)

[caityjay]

Random tip: When my mom makes meatloaf, she mixes the ketchup with some brown sugar. It makes delicious topping (don't knock it til you try it!). I like your variations! I'm going to have to try this, thanks!

[Pazzerz]

I don't care much for the TVP, but I did find a trick to make it taste MUCH better. Depending on your degree of vegetarianism, try re hydrating it with beef bullion cubes or crystals in the water. It does give the TVP a much more pleasant taste in my opinion.

[bettbee]

Well then it's not vegetarian! The whole point of meat replacements is that they don't contain dead animal . . . However I will say that there are some decent mock meat bullion cubes out there which would do the same thing and still be vegetarian. Another tip; if you must eat TVP, get the organic variety. It won't contain vestigial solvents from the defatting process.

[Pazzerz]

That would be Vegan. Vegetarians don't necessarily eat NO meat. Some will still eat fish, etc.

[bettbee]

No, that isn't right. Vegans eat no eggs or dairy in addition to not eating meat, and many do not eat things like honey, or foods containing whey, or the like - in other words, anything that comes from an animal in any way. Most also do not use or wear animal products like silk, leather, wool, etc., as far as it is possible to avoid doing so. Posers who want to look "cool" will call themselves vegetarian when they are not, but actual vegetarians do not eat any animals. Non-posers who eat very little meat generally call themselves flexitarians, those who eat fish say pescatarian, etc.

[Pazzerz]

OK, well, then I've only met the latter.

[beastbunny]

Or vegetable broth works too if you are keeping vegetarian.

[Stercus Fit]

As I told LasVegas, I prefer the taste of vegan foods over regular foods. However, I've yet to find a brand of egg substitutes that I like, so this sounds absolutely perfect for me! :) Thanks, I'll definitely have to try this. :) :)

[bettbee]

Stercus Fit, I will post my recipe for eggless salad. Do instructables need to have photos?

[Stercus Fit]

They typically do -- it makes recreating things a lot easier. But if you're just posting a recipe for one person, you can just post the text on their OrangeBoard. If you want to post it for many to see but you don't want to post pictures, you can always put it in the forums. Let me know what you're doing with the recipe... I'd love to see it! :)

[bettbee]

When I can get it together I'll make a proper instructable. This stuff is so good I used to sell it and people couldn't get enough.

[riku-riku-chan]

i just think it's great that you call yourself a "meat and potatoes" vegetarian - my dad always called me that! i'm very picky and don't like many veggies (so i'm gonna try it without the onion!), which always baffles others...

[basjan]

Great stuff, thanks

[kentuckygold]

just wanted to let you know--this is darn tasty! I sure do appreciate it... i have been looking to expand my TVP usage. Do you happen to know any good "fakin chicken salad" recipes? Thanks!

[Culturedropout]

The deli at our local natural food store has a pretty tasty mock-chicken salad based on crumbled tempeh, cashew pieces, raisins, and chopped green onions, with some kind of mustard-y, curry-like sauce mixed in.

[beastbunny]

Excellent! Glad you liked it! I have never tried to recreate chicken salad and most chicken subs I've found are rubbery and kind of gross. I did just order some from a person etsy that was pretty tasty, it was friend chicken style but I wonder if she could make small bite size chunks that you could then put into a regular chicken salad recipe. Here is who I purchased from:
http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5189503

[kentuckygold]

thanks so much!

[SlothOnSpeed]

If you are not a vegetarian, but wish to cut your meat consumption by a whole lot for health, financial or other concerns, this kind of recipe is wonderful for stretching a tiny amount meat to feed a whole family. I have a similar recipe, although I add 1/4 cup browned ground beef to the TVP, then continue the recipe as before. That small amount of meat is enough that the loaf tastes "meaty," and the carnivores in our home feel completely satisfied. Not too bad for 1 oz of meat per person. Thanks for posting this recipe. It's a really wonderful comfort food.

[highlands]

try adding dried onions too yumm

[LasVegas]

No critique against the Instructable. It's written and put together very well. This sounds like it would taste like every other meat substitute I've ever dared to try. Stuffing! For me, stuffing without poultry or pork, just doesn't work. I've never understood the need for vegetarians to substitute meat. If one doesn't like meat, why try to imitate it? I had a vegan girlfriend once (very short relationship) and she made me a very good Stroganoff without meat; Basically just mushrooms, butter, sour cream and spices on noodles. It was quite tasty and didn't try to fake the beef.

[bettbee]

Many vegetarians just don't want to contribute to hurting animals. It's not about the taste of meat.

[Stercus Fit]

I am by no means a vegetarian or vegan as I eat both meat and dairy. However, I definitely prefer the taste of vegan food and its substitutes over regular meat and dairy (I don't know why though). I can't speak for anyone else, but I definitely prefer tofurkey over actual turkey and Tofutti brand ice cream (it tastes like mousse to me!) over real ice cream. PS: If your ex was a vegan, I doubt she used real sour cream -- it may have been a sour cream substitute if sour cream was indeed used. :)

[LasVegas]

I guess there are different levels of vegans. She had no problem with dairy. Just the killing of animals for food.

[bettbee]

Nah, vegans by definition do not eat anything at all that comes from an animal. Your girlfriend is a vegetarian. Not that it matters.