Veggie Loaf: Not this recipe

I was looking through some of our vegetarian cookbooks this past week and ran across a vegetarian meat loaf recipe. It sounded like something that the kids might eat, especially since they already like traditional meatloaf.

The recipe was from a Vegetarian Times compilation cookbook. They actually have two separate loaf recipes but the only real difference between them is one of them contains cashews. My wife isn’t a big fan of nuts in her food so I decided to make the recipe without nuts.

The recipe is mainly lentils (LOVE THEM) and bulgur. I hadn’t worked with bulgur before but it is quite simple. You can cook it like couscous if you want. Just add boiling water and let sit. This recipe suggested cooking for 15 minutes but was totally unnecessary. Don’t confuse bulgur with cracked wheat. They are different, bulgur is wheat that has been steamed, dried and cracked, making it a quick cooking grain. Cracked wheat on the other hand is simply cracked wheat and requires longer cooking times.

Unfortunately, even with the enjoyment of learning about bulgur, the recipe was disappointing. We served it to the kids who were excited because they thought it was meatloaf. They instantly made horrible faces and announced that it wasn’t very good. I figure that I have a more advanced palate. Unfortunately, my reaction was much the same. It was flavorless. It wasn’t dried out but nothing really helped it taste like anything. I tried to melt cheese on top of one slice and that was unsuccessful. I poured copious amounts of hot pepper sauce over another slice and that was decent, assuming that you like hot pepper sauce.

We wont be making that recipe again, but would love to hear from anyone who has a vegetarian loaf recipe that actually tastes like something.