The "Meat" Loaf Chronicles

Once upon a time, when I was a lacto-ovo veg, one of my favorite meals was a lentil loaf from a book called "The Gradual Vegetarian." I had always enjoyed meat loaf as a child, and this was a really good substitute. Unfortunately, it has an egg and 1/2 lb. of cheddar cheese in it. Then I wanted to give up eggs, so I eliminated the egg from the recipe. Still tasty, but the wrong texture (who would think one egg would make that much difference?) Then I found Amy's frozen vegan lentil loaf - really good (that yummy tomatoey gravy!) and so convenient, but at $5 for one serving, too pricey for this family of five. This weekend, inspired by River's meat cakes and Tracy's Salisbury Steak (for the gravy), I tried a vegan version. I looked up a bunch of recipes on the web, but nothing seemed right. So as usual, I combined a bunch of recipes to make up my own. Usually this works well, but not this time! I mixed up lentils, brown rice, cooked mushrooms, and soft bread crumbs with seasonings. The taste was ok, but the texture was all wrong. The lentils were too mushy - the overall effect was grainy paste. Maybe the bread crumbs were wrong? The loaf did hold together well, surprisingly. The gravy did not thicken at all (I sometimes have this problem with corn starch thickened sauces) and was too salty from the broth powder I used. Two of three children refused to even try it. Sigh. Does anyone have a good recipe to share?(Those are roasted parsnips on the side - at tleast they were good).

So what's a girl to do? Make scones! Yes, orange chocolate chip again. Nice rainy Saturday breakfast.