Neatloaf

Ingredients:

• 3 T ketchup
• 1 T Dijon mustard
• 1 12-oz bag/box soy crumbles (mostly thawed if frozen)
• 1/8 cup onion, finely diced
• 3 T whole-wheat breadcrumbs
• 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 tsp dried parsley flakes
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1/8 oregano
• 1/8 tsp black pepper
• 1/4 c egg beaters

Instructions:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
• Combine the ketchup and mustard in a large bowl, and blend well with a whisk.
• Add all of the remaining ingredients into the bowl; mix well.
  (I used a spoonula to help ensure thorough integration of all ingredients.)
• Spray a 9×13” glass baking pan with nonstick spray.
• Divide the mixture into five even portions. Form each portion into a patty, then place each patty into the glass baking pan.
• Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the patties are brown and cooked through.
• Once removed from the oven, let the patties sit for 5 minutes before serving.

Makes 5 servings.

Nutritional information per serving (approximates): 105 calories, 1 g fat,
11.5 g carbohydrate, 4 g fiber, .5 g sugar, 17.5 g protein.

The patties before cooking...

...and after.

My notes:

• I used Boca crumbles as my soy product of choice.
• You can use 1 egg in place of the Egg Beaters if you would like; but this change will affect the nutritional information slightly.

The ratings:
Mental Cost (ingredient availability): Low
Financial Cost (ingredient cost): Low
Emotional Cost (cooking skill level): Could not get any lower
Time Cost (recipe preparation): Super-low
Life Cost (clean up time/effort): Low
Worth It? (rate from 1-5): 4.7

The Bottom Line: Will I make this recipe again?

For some reason, recently I have wanted a remind-me-of-home, like-my-momma-makes, ‘steak-and-potatoes’ kind of meal. A hearty beef stew, a pot roast, goulash…something to warm me, fill me, soothe me.

Maybe it’s the weather.

At any rate, I don’t eat steak anymore. Or any of steak’s beef-related friends.
But still, I’ve had this yearning for some red-meat-like food.

Enter neatloaf. Faux loaf. “Fake” meatloaf. Whatever you want to call it.
(Just not “feetloaf” – that’s gross.)

I wondered if I could make a vegetarian, healthy, and tasty “meat” loaf. It seemed like a difficult trifecta to achieve. Nearly mythical, in fact. Was it possible? Could it be done?

I’m delighted to report that yes, I think this meal comes very close to a successful meatloaf recipe. For hard-core carnivores, they may be able to sense a slight taste difference between this loaf and a loaf that is made of hamburger. They will certainly experience a texture difference. However, just tell them that the meal is made using ‘exotic’ meat – and they might think the meal is adventurous instead of hippie.

Regardless, this meal is ridiculously simple to make, as well as very fast. Given the incredible ease, the oh-so-quick speed, and the very good taste that this recipe yields,
I would absolutely make this meal again.

A neat loaf, indeed.

Stef