Even before going vegan, I was never a huge fan of meat and potatoes kinds of dishes. They are always so darn heavy. My husband, however, grew up in this type of family and so I spent some time searching for a compromise. After several tries, I came up with the following recipe. Often times, I will vary the ingredients a bit and try out other veggies, but the gist is always the same. You end up with a lighter, more healthful version of the traditional dish, and that is exactly what I aimed for. This stuff is truly scrumptious. We had it tonight with a cous cous salad and some “cheesy” brussell sprouts, but you can pair it with anything really. It’s just like your typical meatloaf, except…not. I would venture to say that it is much, much better! I can certainly say that my husband never complains. In fact, he's taking two slices of it to work for lunch tomorrow!

Vegan Meat(less) Loaf

• 1 carrot shredded
• 4 mushrooms minced
• 1 celery stalk minced
• ½ cup cous cous
• ½ onion
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 can of blackbeans, drained and rinsed
• 1 tbsp ketchup 
• ½ cup water
• 1/2 cup flour

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Cook the cous cous according to directions and go about chopping, mincing, and shredding all of your veggies.
3. Drain and rinse your black beans and throw all of the ingredients except the flour into a blender, beans first. Most of your stuff will not blend entirely, and that’s completely okay. Just have the beans on the bottom, so they get the brunt of the mashing and then mix the rest that did not blend by hand, adding your flour at this point.
4. Pour into a glass baking dish and smoosh down until flat and smooth, like a regular meatloaf would look.
5. Put a few stripes of ketchup across the top and throw in the oven for 45 minutes.

*Image courtesy Flickr Creative Commons.